Kamleshwar was a renowned journalist and literary figure of the 20th century. His full name was Kamleshwar Prasad Saxena, who was famous for his short stories. He was born on 6th January, 1932 in the District of Mainpuri of Uttar Pradesh.
He was the Additional Director General, of India’s national television channel Doordarshan. He was also the editor of a Hindi dailies like Dainik Jagaran, and Dainik Bhaskar. He was also the editor of the premier literary magazine Sarika.
Kamleshwar’s ‘Kitney Pakistan’ is an internationally acclaimed work It subtly but strongly discloses the reality of the anti social forces that endanger the survival of a pluralistic society. Most of his works deal with diverse themes. Mostly they depict the patience and endurance of a modern society that is changing fast and groping for new values and also wants to preserve the old values.
As his characters are ordinary people from middle class families, his works are about the anguish and pain of the people running after materialism, their loneliness and alienation, which is characteristic of modern life.
Kamleshwar wrote scripts for many Hindi films, the most famous among them is Aandhi, Chhoti Si Baat and Mausam. He even wrote scripts for TV serials like Darpan, Ek Kahani on Doordarshan. The famous director Gulzar made a film Aandhi that was based on Kamleshwar’s novel. The film was said to be based on the life of Indira Gandhi and was banned during the Emergency. He also hosted a talk show in the popular show, of Parikrama aired in 1980s on the national channel Doordarshan. He was one of the leading writers of Hindi’s ‘Nayee Kahani’ movement along with Mohan Rakesh and Rajendra Yadav, which started in the 1950s. They popularized a new form of story-telling, different from the previous era depicting the post-World War II and post-Independence sensibilities in a more efficient way. In 2005, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan.
This legendary writer breathed his last on 27th January 2007 as a result of a massive cardiac arrest.
