Eminent Bengali author Ramapada Chowdhury passes away

Kolkata : Sahitya Academy awardee Bengali writer Ramapada Chowdhury, who authored famous novels like Kharij, Bari Badle Jay and Abhimanyu, passed away at a city hospital on Sunday, his family said.

Chowdhury, 95, is survived by his wife and two daughters.

He was admitted to the hospital on July 21 with old age ailments including lung problem. He died of cardiac arrest at 6:30 p.m., a spokesman of the hospital said.

Chowdhury's novel Abhimanyu was based on the life and work of Dr Subhas Mukhopadhyay who created India's first and the world's second test-tube baby in 1978. Director Tapan Sinha turned the story into an award winning Hindi film 'Ek doctor ki maut' in 1990.

Mrinal Sen's Hindi film 'Ek din achanak' (1989) was also based on Chowdhury's story 'Beej'.

Chowdhury had penned several famous literary works such as 'Pratham Prahar' (1954), 'Banpalashir padabali' (1960), 'Ekhoni' (1969) and many more.

Born on December 28, 1922 at Kharagpur, Chowdhury's most active years were between 1950s and '80s.

His last book, 'Harano Khata', was published in 2015.