Harivansh Rai Bachchan

Biography

Harivansh Rai Bachchan (27 November 1907 – 18 January 2003) was an Indian poet and writer of the Nayi Kavita literary movement (romantic upsurge) of early 20th-century Hindi literature. 

He was also a poet of the Hindi Kavi Sammelan. He is best known for his early work Madhushala. He was also the husband of social activist, Teji Bachchan, father of Amitabh Bachchan and Ajitabh Bachchan, and grandfather of Abhishek Bachchan.

 In 1976, he received the Padma Bhushan for his service to Hindi literature.

Bachchan was born at Babupatti, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh in British India on 27 November 1907 into an Awadhi Hindu Kayastha family.  His family name was Srivastav. He began using the pen name "Bachchan" (meaning child) instead of Srivastava when he wrote Hindi poetry.

 From 1941 to 1957, he taught in the English Department at Allahabad University and after that, he spent the next two years at St Catharine's College, Cambridge, completing a PhD on W.B. Yeats.

Bachchan married Shyama Bachchan in 1926. The latter died of tuberculosis in 1936. In 1941, he married Teji Suri.

Bachchan was fluent in several Hindi languages (Hindustani and Awadhi). He incorporated a broadly Hindustani vocabulary, written in Devanagari script. While he could not read Persian script, he was influenced by Persian and Urdu poetry, particularly Omar Khayyam.

Bachchan's work has been used in movies and music. For example, couplets of his work "Agneepath" are used throughout the 1990 film Agneepath, featuring his son Amitabh Bachchan, and also later in the 2012 remake Agneepath, starring Hrithik Roshan.

 and recently in the TV Serial Ishqbaaz. Bachchan's work has been used in movies and music. For example, couplets of his work "Agneepath" are used throughout the 1990 film Agneepath, featuring his son Amitabh Bachchan, and also later in the 2012 remake Agneepath, starring Hrithik Roshan. and recently in the TV Serial Ishqbaaz.