Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay

Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay Biography

Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay was a noted Bengali writer who wrote under the pen name, Banaphul. He is most noted for his short vignettes. In the 65 years of his writing career, he has authored about thousands of poems, 586 short stories, 60 novels, 5 dramas, a number of one-act plays and an autobiography named Paschatpat . He has also contributed in the form of many essays. Many of his works have been later adapted to big screen. National award winning, milestone movie of Bengali cinema - Bhuvan Shome is based on his work. Other feature films are Tilottama, Agnishwar, Arjun Pandit, Paka Dekha, Alor Pipasa, Hatey Bazarey and Ekti raat. He received the Filmfare Best Writer Award for Arjun Pandit.

He was born in Manihari village of Purnia district of Bihar on July 19, 1899, to Satyacharan Mukhopadhyay, a practicing physician at the village and Mrinalini Devi. He studied at Sahibganj Railway school. He started a hand-written magazine named "Bikash" and published his early works in this magazine. Once his poem got published in a well- known magazine named Malancha. But his headmaster warned him as he feared that his writing interests may spoil his education. So, Balāi adopted his pen name Banaphul to hide his work from his tutor. Banaphul literary means A wild flower.

He passed Matriculation examination in 1918 and completed his study at Hazaribag College. He later joined Calcutta Medical College and during this time got married to Lilavati. He couldn’t complete his studies as he was transferred to Patna Medical College and Hospital where he completed his studies. Later he was employed as a physician at same medical college. He has also served in different hospitals as a physician.  

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Updated: January 21, 2014