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**Bhisham Sahni**
Bhisham Sahni
	;
Born	August 8, 1915; Rawalpindi
Died	July 11, 2003 (aged 87); Delhi, India
Occupation	Author, Playwright, Activist
Writing period	1955-2003

Bhisham Sahni (8 August 1915 - 11 July 2003) was a Hindi writer, playwright, and actor, most famous for his novel and television screenplay Tamas ("Darkness"), a powerful and passionate account of the Partition of India. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan for literature in 1998, and Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 2002.

He was the brother of the noted Hindi film actor, Balraj Sahni.

[edit] Biography

Bhisham Sahni was born on 8 August 1915 in Rawalpindi. Later he earned a master's degree in English at Government College in Lahore, and also attended Khalsa College, Amritsar.

He joined the struggle for Indian independence, and was jailed for his participation in the Quit India Movement of 1942. Upon Partition, he and his Punjabi Hindu family were forced to move to Amritsar.

In the late 1940s, he worked with his brother as a stage performer in Mumbai with the Indian People's Theatre Association. In 1950, he became a lecturer in English at Delhi College.

From 1957 to 1963, he lived in Moscow and worked as a translator from Russian to Hindi, during the period he translated twenty-five books from Russian into Hindi, including Tolstoy's Resurrection. In addition to those languages, Sahni was fluent in English, Urdu, Sanskrit, and Punjabi.

He was general secretary of the Progressive Writers Association, and was the founder and chairman of 'SAHMAT', an organization promoting cross-cultural understanding, founded in memory of the murdered theatre artist and activist Safdar Hashmi.

[edit] Acting in films

Late in life, he appeared in several films, including Saeed Mirza's Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho! (1984), Tamas (1986), Kumar Shahani's Kasba (1991), Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha (1993) and Aparna Sen's Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002).

[edit] Literary works

Bhisham Sahni's epic work Tamas (Darkness, 1974) is a novel based on the riots of the 1947-48 Partition of India which he witnessed at Rawalpindi^[1]. Tamas portrays the terror-stricken Hindu exodus from Muslim majority areas, though the overall theme remained the human-story behind the entire carnage. It has been translated to English, and several Indian languages including Gujarati,Malayalam, Kashmiri, and Manipuri. Tamas won the 1975 Sahitya Akademi Award for literature , and was later made into a television film in 1987 by Govind Nihalani. Two of his masterpiece stories 'Chief ki davat' and 'Amritsar aa gaya hai' are also based on the Partition.

Sahni's prolific career as a writer also included five other Hindi novels, over hundred short stories spread over nine collections of short stories, (including Bhagya Rekha (1953), Pahla patha (1956), Bhatakti rakha (1966), and Nischar (1983)); a collection of children's short stories 'Gulal ka khel'.

Plays - Hanush (1977)-Staged by theatre director Rajindra Nath and Arvind Gaur(1993),Kabira khara bazar mein(1981)-Many Indian theatre directors like M.K. Raina & Arvind Gaur performed this play, Madhavi (1982)- first Staged by Theatre director Rajendra Nath .later USA trained actress Rashi Bunny perform Madhavi as Solo play,This solo won many Awards in International Theatre Festivals, Muavze (1993)- First performerd by National School of Drama rep.with Bapi Bose.this is a very popular play among theatre groups. Almost every known group performed it.

Autobiography and biography of his brother Balraj Sahni

Bhisham Sahni also wrote his autobiography "Aaj ke Ateet" (Pasts of the Present), and the biography of his brother Balraj Sahni, "Balraj My Brother," (English).^[2]

[edit] Awards

During his life time, Bisham Sahni won several wards including Shiromani Writers Award,1979, Uttar Pradesh Government Award for Tamas, 1975,Colour of Nation Award at International Theatre Festival,Russia for Play Madhavi by Rashi Bunny,2004, Madhya Pradesh Kala Sahitya Parishad Award, for his play 'Hanush', 1975 the Lotus Award from the Afro-Asian Writers' Association, 1981 and the Soviet Land Nehru Award, 1983, and finally the Padma Bhushan for literature in 1998, and India's highest literary award the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship in 2002 ^[3] .

[edit] Quote

"If people knew each other, they would find it hard to hate."

[edit] References

Sharma, Rajendra (2003-07-19). "A life of commitment: Bhisham Sahni, 1915 - 2003". Frontline magazine. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2015/stories/20030801003612900.htm. Retrieved 2006-08-22.
Bhatnagar, Ashwini (2003-07-27). "Commoners' chronicler". The Tribune (Chandigarh). http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030727/spectrum/main1.htm. Retrieved 2006-08-31.

[edit] External links

[0] Tamas

[1] Bhishma Sahni at U.S. Library of congress

[2] Sahitya Akademi Fellowships

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