New Delhi/Kolkata, Feb 20,22026: Mani Sankar Mukherjee, the legendary Bengali language writer whose bestsellers ‘Kato Ajanare’ (The Great Unknown), ‘Chowringhee’, ‘Seemabaddha’ (Company Limited) and ‘Jana Aranya’ (The Middleman), were translated into many languages and made into movies by famous directors, including Satyajit Ray, is no more.
He died on Friday after a fortnight-long illness during which he was shifted to a local Kolkata hospital.
Those novels which engrossed millions of readers in Bengali as also the many languages into which he has been translated including English, Hindi, Malayalam, Gujarati, French and Spanish, form a body of literature which capture the spirit of the Indian middle class as it evolved in the 1960s and 1970s.
Mukherjee who turned 92 last December was going through a phase of rediscovery by younger readers,after new editions and translations of his books by brilliant translators such as Arunava Sinha started coming out in this decade.
In the life of Mani Sankar Mukherjee, who signed his books simply as Sankar, admiration arrived early, and from the most fastidious of quarters.
After the death of his father when he was just a teenager, he joined as a clerk in the office of the last British Barrister of the Calcutta High Court, Noel Frederick Barwell, simultaneously pursuing his studies from the now Surendranath College.
When Mr Barwell died, he wanted to pay a tribute to his mentor and ended up penning down Kato Ajanare. This was followed by, probably, his most well-known novel, Chowringhee. Later adapted into a Bengali film starring Uttam Kumar and Subhendu Chatterjee, Chowringhee revolves around the life of a Calcutta hotel in the 60s.
His other well-known works include Seemabaddha, Jana Aranya and Gharer Modhey Ghar, the former two being adapted by Satyajit Ray for the celluloid as part of his Calcutta Trilogy.
Most of his books leave a reflection of post-colonial Bengal and how the society, especially the youth were affected by it. From the lack of employment opportunities for the youth to the unusual world of a famous hotel, wherein exist all kinds of characters one would find resemblance with today, Sankar predicted the future through his pen.
Apart from Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Basu Chatterjee adapted his books to critically acclaimed films as well. His autobiographical work Eka Eka Ekashi also earned him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2021.
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