However, he was equally at home in the adult world of tragedy, grief, and loss. All of which made him as popular with filmmakers - ranging from Satyajit Ray to Aparna Sen to Tapan Sinha to Srijit Mukherji - as he was with readers. His inner child never lost his innocence and sense of wonder. Throughout his life, his countless readers were treated to the prolific writings of a man who never really lost his youth, who always remembered exactly what it was like to be a young man on the cusp of adulthood. His unconventional life and thoughts coloured everything, from his poetry to his novels, but he was merely writing what he knew.īorn on this day in 1934, Gangopadhyay died of heart failure in 2012, following a battle against prostate cancer. Whether it was his plots, his style, or his language, the sense of authenticity running through his works is what made them so relatable to his readers. He was simply stating the principle he lived and wrote by.

One of Bengal’s most popular and best-selling modern literary figures was not being unkind. Why not stick to topics you actually know something about?” Having leafed through the book, Gangopadhyay reportedly said, “Goodness, what a complicated plot. A young writer on the verge of publishing his first novel went to Sunil Gangopadhyay (or Ganguly if you like) with the manuscript, in hopes of constructive feedback.

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