শরদিন্দু বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায় (Saradindu Bandyopadhyay or Saradindu Banerjee) is one of the best authors of early বাংলা (Bengali) literature. One could see the use of Sadhu or Adi Bangla (Bengali) script in his writing. Though his vivid imagination and complex thought process he presented some of the most amazing stories ever told.
Even though he is well known for his creation, Byomkesh Bakshi, a fictitious character, he had also written poems, short stories, plays and screenplays. His first published work was named Jaubansmriti, which was a collection of poems. He wrote them when he was a student.
His short stories covers a wide range of colors. He had written ghost stories, stories about reaction among families or family members based on different scenarios, stories about and for kids, stories on supernatural events and even on fantasy. He always managed to keep the suspense till the end. Not to mention the touch of laughter and romance were always appropriate. Through some of his stories he even left a message to his readers. His complete collection has been published in 12 volumes named Sharadindu Omnibus.
Since most of his stories were meant for adults he composed different stories for the younger generation. These stories were simple in nature but beautifully crafted.
Today probably we all know him because of his famous creation named Byomkesh Bakshi. Apart from all his writings, stories on Byomkesh became very popular. These stories were crime based which Byomkesh solves. Even though Byomkesh was a detective (a private investigator) he prefers to think of himself as, an investigator of truth (সত্যান্বেষ'|). A self declared designation. Looking at it, in another light, I would say, it could be one of Mr. Banerjee’s way of saying that there are few crimes which were done for the good of society. Some of his stories reflect the same thought. These cases fall under the category of solved cases, for Byomkesh, purely because the truth has been discovered even though the criminal eludes the law.
These stories were witnessed by the eyes and later presented to readers through the writing of Ajit, a writer and Byomkesh’s friend and companion. This would remind you of the Mr. Doyle’s Sherlock – Watson pair. Even though the pattern of presentation is same as Mr. Doyle the stories were all genuine creation of Mr. Bondhopadyay.
Later on, some of his stories were used as a base, for movies, by some famous directors like Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha, Tarun Majumdar, Anjan Dutta etc.
He was awarded with Rabindra Puraskar for the novel Tungabhadrar Tirey and honoured with the Sarat Smriti Purashkar, by The Calcutta University in 1967.
Happy reading!