Gita Mehta

Gita Mehta (née Patnaik; born 1943) is an Indian-American[1] writer and documentary filmmaker.

Gita Mehta
BornGita Patnaik
1943 (age 79–80)
Delhi, British India
OccupationAuthor, documentary filmmaker, journalist, director
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Notable worksKarma Cola (1979)
A River Sutra (1993)
Eternal Ganesha (2006)
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1965; died 2019)​
ParentsBiju Patnaik (father)
RelativesNaveen Patnaik (brother)

Biography

Born in Delhi into a well-known Odia family, she is the daughter of Biju Patnaik, an Indian independence activist and a Chief Minister in post-independence Odisha, then known as Orissa. Her younger brother, Naveen Patnaik, has served as the Chief Minister of Odisha since 2000. She completed her education in India and at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.[2] She was adjudged for India's fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri in 2019, which she declined for political reasons.[3][4]

She has produced and/or directed 14 television documentaries for UK, European and US networks. During the years 1970–1971 she was a television war correspondent for the US television network NBC. Her film compilation of the Bangladesh revolution, Dateline Bangladesh, was shown in cinemas both in India and abroad.

She is the widow of Sonny Mehta, former head of the Alfred A. Knopf publishing house, whom she married in 1965.[5] She has one son, Aditya Singh Mehta. Her books have been translated into 21 languages and been on the bestseller lists in Europe, the US and India. Her fiction and non-fiction focuses exclusively on India - its culture and history - and on the Western perception of it. Her works reflect the insight gained through her journalistic and political background.

Mehta divides her time between New York City, London and New Delhi.

Works
  • Karma Cola. Simon & Schuster, 1979.[6]
  • Raj, 1989
  • A River Sutra (short stories), 1993
  • Snakes and Ladders: Glimpses of Modern India, London: Secker & Warburg, 1997. ISBN 0-436-20417-7[7]
  • Eternal Ganesha: From Birth to Rebirth, Thames & Hudson, 2006[8]

References
  1. "Padma Awards 2019 announced". pib.gov.in. Press Information Bureau. 25 January 2019.
  2. "Upfront daughter of the revolution: Gita Mehta". Vogue. April 1997. pp. 114, 120, 124.
  3. The Hindu Net Desk (26 January 2019). "Writer Gita Mehta, sister of Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, declines Padma Award". The Hindu.
  4. "Padma Awards" (PDF). Padma Awards, Government of India. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  5. McFadden, Robert D. (31 December 2019), "Sonny Mehta, Venerable Knopf Publisher, Is Dead at 77", The New York Times.
  6. Mehta, Gita (1979). Karma Kola, Marketing the Mystic East. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 201. ISBN 0-671-25083-3.
  7. Smith, Wendy, "Gita Mehta: Making India Accessible". Publishers Weekly, 12 May 1997, pp.53–54.
  8. Mehta, Gita (2006). Eternal Ganesha: From Birth to Rebirth. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500513316. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  • Sharma, Bhasha Shukla. "Mapping culture through 'A river Sutra': Tribal myths, dialogism, and meta-narratives in postcolonial fiction", Universal Journal of Education and General Studies 1 (2), 17–27, 2012
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