Manohar Shyam Joshi

Manohar Shyam Joshi Biography

Manohar Shyam Joshi was a highly acclaimed writer belonging to Hindi language, one of the most influential Hindi writers in the recent times. He was also known as a journalist and screenwriter. He is best known for writing the script of first television series on Doordarshan, Hum Log long back in 1982, followed by Buniyaad in 1987. These two series played a significant role in popularizing television serials and Doordarshan channel across India and made career of many popular television artists of today. Kakaji Kahin, a political satire and Kyap, a novel are other noted work. He won a Sahitya Academy Award for novels category for his work, Kyap.

His marvelous use of satire has always admired people. 'The Father of Soap Operas' was the title bestowed on Manohar for his pioneering work on Indian soaps. He enjoyed the reputation of creating work that influenced generations of today also. No doubt, soaps and serials of today are influenced by the work created by Joshi three decades back – Hum Log and Buniyaad being the best instances. India's first soap opera Hum Log, concluded with 154 episodes was aired for the first time in 1984. It had an audience of 60 million and was the longest running serial then. Veteran actor Ashok Kumar used to appear at the end of every episode with a brief introduction of the artists who appeared in the episode. Mungeri Lal Ke Hasin Sapney, Kakaji Kahin, Hamrahi, Zameen Aasman and Gatha are some of the scripts he wrote later.

He was born on 9 August 1933 in Ajmer, Rajasthan. His father was a noted educationist and musicologist. He began his career with AIR in Hindi news section, followed by Films Division of India in Mumbai, where he wrote scripts for documentaries. His famous interviews with ordinary folks were published in the Sarika magazine. He has also worked as a journalist with several newspapers. Among his works, Kasap is one of the greatest love stories of Hindi literature. Netaji Kahin is his political satire. He wrote the scripts of films and often wrote articles on cinema. He has also dubbed for a few Bollywood films.

Published: N/A

Updated: December 11, 2015