Name Farrukh Dhondy Role Writer | ||
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Movies Mangal Pandey: The Rising, Kisna: The Warrior Poet Books Come to Mecca and other stori, The Bikini Murders, Poona Company, Bombay Duck, CLR James Similar People Charles Sobhraj, Bobby Bedi, Ketan Mehta, Mala Sen, Ranjit Kapoor | ||
Farrukh dhondy author screenplay writer
Farrukh Dhondy (born Poona, India, in 1944) is an Indian-born British writer, playwright, screenwriter and left-wing activist of Parsi descent, who resides in the United Kingdom. He is well known not only for his writing, but also for his film and TV work.
Contents
- Farrukh dhondy author screenplay writer
- Jlf 2015 farrukh dhondy on literature and criticism
- Education
- Early activism
- Writing
- Honours and awards
- Books
- Plays
- References
Jlf 2015 farrukh dhondy on literature and criticism
Education
Dhondy did his schooling at The Bishop's School, Pune, and obtained a BSc degree from the University of Pune in India. He won a scholarship to Pembroke College, Cambridge where he read Natural Sciences before switching to English. After graduating he studied for a master's degree at Leicester University and was later a lecturer at Leicester College of Further Education and Archbishop Temples school in Lambeth in London.
Early activism
In Leicester, Dhondy became involved with the Indian Workers' Association and later, in London, with the British Black Panther movement, joining the publication Race Today in 1970, along with his close friend Darcus Howe, and former, later deceased, partner Mala Sen, and discovering his calling as a writer. In his role as a race activist and academic, he came to be associated with black and left-wing intellectuals and activists such as Stuart Hall and Trevor Phillips. Uncharacteristically, it is also from this period that his close friendship with the conservative author Sir V. S. Naipaul dates.
Writing
Dhondy's literary output is vast, including books for children, textbooks and biographies, as well as plays for theatre and scripts film and television. He is also a columnist, a biographer (of C. L. R. James; 2001), and media executive (Channel Four Commissioning Editor 1984–97). During his time with Channel Four, he wrote the comedy series Tandoori Nights (1985–87) for the channel, which concerned the rivalry of two curry house owners.
His children's stories include KBW (Keep Britain White), a study of a young white boy's response to anti-Bengali racism. In 2011 Dhondy published his translation of selections from the Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi, Rumi: a New Translation. He also wrote the screenplay for the Bollywood historical blockbuster Mangal Pandey, starring Aamir Khan and Toby Stephens. In 2012, he scripted a short film called The K File. This film dealt with a fictional take on the judgement of Ajmal Kasab and was directed by Oorvazi Irani. In 2013 his critically acclaimed play Devdas was premiered in London and was subsequently replayed globally. 2013 also saw the publication of the novel, Prophet Of Love (HarperCollins). 2014 saw the publication of his collection of Rumi translations which received a 4.5-star rating on Goodreads.
Dhondy was lauded in the respected political magazine The New Internationalist, in its prestigious 'final page' which led to the resurgence of his lifelong campaign to recruit more BME talent at the BBC, with an article subsequently printed in the New Statesman (covered in The Voice newspaper), which was later taken over by actor and comedian Lenny Henry.
In 2015 Dhondy interviewed Nobel Laureate Sir V. S. Naipaul in India and in London as part of the Jaipur Literature Festival and his publishers produced a collection of his greatest works in an anthology.