Harindranath Chattopadhyay

Life

Chattopadhyay, a poet and singer, is famous for poems such as Noon and Shaper Shaped. His father earned a Doctorate of Science from the University of Edinburgh, and settled in Hyderabad State, where he founded and acted as head of the Hyderabad College, which later became the Nizam's College in Hyderabad. His mother was a poet and used to write poetry in Bengali. His other interests were politics, music, theatre and cinema.

His first book of poems, The Feast of Youth, was published when he was 19 years old, and received praise from Arthur Quiller-Couch and James Henry Cousins. He wrote in English but of topics relating to ancient Indian culture and Vedic ideas.

He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1973. He married Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya, a socialist and leader of women, who created the All India Women's Conference, the Indian Cooperative Union, and also was the inspiration for the All Indian Handicraft's Board, a body which revived many Indian handicrafts (such as pottery and weaving) decimated by the Industrial Revolution in Britain in the 19th century. They had two sons together, one of which died in 2008. Kamaladevi and Harin's divorce was the first legal separation granted by the courts of India. It was amicable.

Harindranath Chattopadhyay often recited his poem Rail Gaadi on All India Radio (Akashavani). The song was memorably sung by Ashok Kumar in the film Aashirwad. He himself wrote the lyrics, composed the music and sang a few songs, notable among which were Surya Ast Ho Gaya and Tarun Arun Se Ranjit Dharani. He penned the first English song in any Hindi Film, and it became an all time hit – "My Heart Is Beating" – in Julie, which launched the Film Playback singing career of Preeti Sagar. He also wrote a number of poems for children in Hindi. His poems were appreciated by the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

In 1951 Lok Sabha elections, Harindranath Chattopadhyay won from Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency in Madras State as an independent candidate, supported by the Communist Party of India. He was a member of the 1st Lok Sabha from 14 April 1952 to 4 April 1957.

His most famous acting role was in the Hindi movie Bawarchi (The Chef), which was made in 1972. It was adapted by Hrishikesh Mukherjee from the Bengali film Galpo Holeo Satti, directed by Tapan Sinha. Chattopadhyay played the role of the strict and regimented patriarch of the house, where his sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren lived in a joint family and still respected and abided by his rules. He had cameos in three Satyajit Ray films: playing the wizard Barfi in Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne; the human encyclopaedia, Sidhujyatha, in Sonar Kella; and the senior member of the Board of Directors, Sir Baren Roy, in Seemabaddha.

He also acted in the 1984 Mumbai Doordarshan TV Serial Ados Pados. Amol Palekar was the protagonist in this serial.

Chattopadhyay died of cardiac arrest on 23 June 1990 in Bombay.