Syed Mustafa Siraj

Syed Mustafa Siraj Biography

Syed Mustafa Siraj was an eminent Bengali writer who contributed around 150 novels and 300 short stories to Bengali literature. He is the creator of the detective character Ex-Colonel Niladri Sarkar ("Goenda Colonel"). He is the recipient of Sahitya Akademi award for his novel Mythical Man in the year 1994. The novel has been translated to 11 languages. Popular Bengali film - Faltu by Anjan Das was based on his short story "Ranirghater Brittanto". The Colonel Investigates – was the English translation of some of his popular works featuring detective Colonel Niladri. This English translation was dedicated to children.

He was born on 14 October 1930 in Khoshbaspur village of Murshidabad district, West Bengal. He was brought up in a strong literal background where he got opportunity to read many books. His mother is a poet. During his young ideas he was influenced by leftist ideology and closely worked with folk drama group Aalkaap for six years since 1950. He worked as a teacher on drama as well as a flute player during this period. In those theatre days he performed across rural Bengal and used to sleep at day time, while performs at night. This phase of his life has influenced a lot his writings later. After getting tired of this work, he got attracted to writing.

He became a prolific writer once he reached Kolkata. "Bhalobasa o down train","Taranginir Chokh","Inti, pisi o ghatbabu" and "Hizal Biler Rakhalera" were among his early works which established him as a writer in Kolkata and very soon he started his journalist career. His popular short stories - "Goghna", "Ranabhumi", "Rakter Pratyasha", "Mrityur Ghora", "Uro pakhir Chhaya", "Manusher Janma" etc are still read by Bengali readers. As a novelist, Neel Gharer Nati (1966) was his first published work. His novels Nishimrigaya and Krishna Bari were made to popular Bengali films.

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Updated: March 06, 2016