Biography:

Pritish Nandy (born 15 January 1951) is an Indian poet, painter, journalist, politician, media and television personality, animal activist and film producer. He was member of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament representing Maharashtra based party Shiv Sena. He has published a number of poetry books in English and translated poems by other writers from Bengali and Urdu into English.

Pritish Nandy was born in Bhagalpur in the state of Bihar in eastern India to a Bengali family. He is the son of Satish Chandra Nandy and Prafulla Nalini Nandy, and brother of Ashis Nandy and Manish Nandy. He was educated at La Martiniere College and, briefly, at Presidency College in Kolkata. Nandy's mother was a teacher at La Martiniere Calcutta and subsequently became the school's first Indian vice principal.

As an Artist

Pritish Nandy has held six shows of his paintings, drawings and calligraphy. The first was a calligraphy and water colours show called Looking Within with painter Samir Mondal in Gallery Ashish Balram Nagpal, Mumbai in 1990. The second was a calligraphy and drawings show called Images: The Poet and the Painter with painter Manjit Bawa which was held at CAA, the Centre for Contemporary Art Gallery, New Delhi in 1991 and then at Gallery Ashish Balram Nagpal, Mumbai. The third was a solo exhibition by Nandy called Drawings for My Childrenwhich was shown at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai and at Gallery 88, Calcutta in 1991. The show was accompanied by a street play in Calcutta in which Amitabh Bachchan and Anupam Kher participated.

Then, after eight years, came another solo show called Maverick: Poems of Love and Longing at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai in 1999. The next show was Bored at the Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai in 2008. The sixth show was again a collaboration, this time with painter Paresh Maity, of calligraphy and water colours based on Shesh Lekha: The Last Poems of Rabindranath Tagore which Nandy had translated for the first time in 1973. This show was held with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India to commemorate Tagore's 150th birth anniversary and was shown at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and then at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai and Tao Art Gallery, Mumbai and finally at CIMA, the Centre for Indian Modern Art in Calcutta during 2011.

Nandy founded Pritish Nandy Communications in 1993 and remains its non-executive chairman. The company's first programme was a chat show titled the The Pritish Nandy Show which aired on Doordarshan, a public broadcasting channel. The World This Week also aired on Doordarshan. This was followed by Fiscal Fitness: The Pritish Nandy Business Show, India's first weekly business show, on Zee TV. Nandy has presented over 500 news and current affairs shows on Doordarshan, Zee TV and Sony TV.

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