Guftagoo with Surender Mohan Pathak

Renowned crime fiction writer in Hindi, Surendra Mohan Pathak is busy writing books for past 60 years. He has written approximately 300 novels and immensely popular among hindi writers.

Among the Indian mystery writers, Surender Mohan Pathak has definitely been the numero uno during the past half a century. He is the author who has rendered a prestige and dignity to the pulp-fiction novels of crime-detection or mystery genre written in Hindi. He wrote a lot in the heyday of pulp-fiction books in India which had a huge sale but seen derogatorily by the decorous readers. However it’s Mr. Pathak who created a unique identity for himself in the crowd of pulp-fiction writers and gradually became so popular that he gained celebrity status.

Born to Mr and Mrs Pannalal Pathak, in Lahore (now in Pakistan) on 19.02.1940, Mr. Pathak moved to India at the time Partition along with his family. Mr Pathak completed his degree in science from DAV college and Masters from MMh college Gaziabad. Despite having studied Science subjects, Mr Pathak had very keen interest in languages with sound knowledge of English, Urdu and his mother tongue – Punjabi. He writes in Hindi but his knowledge of English, Urdu and Punjabi reflects on his Hindi writing as well, making the language of his novels spicy and influential.

In 1964, he got a job in Indian Telephone Industries which he continued to do till his retirement on 28.02.1998. However, he carried on with his literary interest with the job. He read a lot of quality novels from the English literature and due to his keen interest in crime fiction he started writing himself

A simple man with a jolly nature and a positive attitude towards life, this seasoned author is active even in his seventies. He wants to write till his last day on this Earth and asserts - "I want the people to say that in the field of mystery writing, Mr. Pathak died with his shoes on.

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Anchor: Irfan