Biography

Manohar Shyam Joshi (9 August 1933 – 30 March 2006) was a Hindi writer, journalist and scriptwriter, most well known as the writer of Indian television's first soap opera, Hum Log (1984) and his early hits Buniyaad (1987), Kakaji Kahin, a political satire and many experimental novels including Kasap and Kyap, which won him the Sahitya Akademi Award. Manohar Shyam Joshi was born on 9 August 1933 at Ajmer in Rajasthan, the son of a noted educationist and musicologist belonging to a Kumaoni Brahmin family from Almora, Uttar Pradesh now in the state of Uttarakhand. He is the father of leading cyber security expert Professor Anupam Joshi.

He died on 30 March 2006, at the age of 73, in New Delhi, India. He is survived by his wife, Dr. Bhagwati Joshi, and sons, Anupam Joshi, Anurag Joshi and Ashish Joshi. Upon his death, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called him "one of the most influential writers and commentators in Hindi in recent times".According to Khushwant Singh, the eminent author, editor and critic,"By the time he died in 2006, he was recognised as the first and the most innovative writer of Hindi."