Farrukh Dhondy

Farrukh Dhondy
Born1944 (age 81–82)
Poona, India
EducationThe Bishop's School
Alma materUniversity of Poona
Pembroke College, Cambridge
University of Leicester
OccupationsWriter, playwright, screenwriter, activist
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1968; div. 1976)​
ChildrenTir Dhondy[1]

Farrukh Dhondy (born 1944) is an Indian-born British Parsi writer, playwright, screenwriter and left-wing activist, who resides in the United Kingdom, where he first came in the 1960s.[2] He was the Commissioning Editor for Multicultural Programmes at Channel 4 television from 1984 until 1997, during which time he commissioned such programmes as Bandung File and Devil's Advocate.[3][4]

Early life and education

Dhondy was born in 1944 in Poona, India, son of Lieutenant Colonel Jamshed Dhondy, of the Indian Army, and Anita Shireen. He has two sisters.[5][6] He attended The Bishop's School, and obtained a BSc degree from Nowrosjee Wadia College,[7] affiliated with the University of Poona (1964).[8] He won a scholarship to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he read Natural Sciences before switching to English, earning a BA degree in 1967.[9] After graduating from Cambridge, he studied for a master's degree at Leicester University and was later a lecturer at Leicester College of Further Education and Archbishop Temples School, Lambeth, London.[10]

Early activism

In Leicester, Dhondy became involved with the Indian Workers' Association and later, in London, with the British Black Panthers, joining the publication Race Today in 1970, along with his close friend Darcus Howe, and former partner Mala Sen (with whom he had eloped to the UK in 1965),[2] and discovering his calling as a writer.[11] As a media executive, Dhondy was Commissioning Editor at Channel 4 television from 1984 to 1997,[3] taking over from the inaugural holder of the position, Sue Woodford.[12][13] Programmes that Dhondy commissioned included Bandung File, Devil's Advocate and Desmond's.[4][3]

Writing

Dhondy's literary output is extensive, including books for children, textbooks and biographies, as well as plays for theatre and scripts for film and television.[14] He is also a columnist,[15][16][17] and a biographer (of C. L. R. James; 2001).[18] During Dhondy's time with Channel 4, he wrote the comedy series Tandoori Nights[19] (1985–87) for the channel, which concerned the rivalry of two curry-house owners.

His children's stories include KBW (Keep Britain White), a study of a young white boy's response to anti-Bengali racism. In 2011, Dhondy published his translation of selections from the Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi, Rumi: a New Translation. Dhondy also wrote the screenplay for the 2005 Bollywood historical blockbuster Mangal Pandey: The Rising, starring Aamir Khan and Toby Stephens. In 2012, Dhondy scripted a short film called The K File. This film dealt with a fictional take on the judgement of Ajmal Kasab and was directed by Oorvazi Irani. In 2013, Dhondy's play Devdas was premiered in London and was subsequently replayed globally. 2013 also saw the publication of his novel Prophet of Love (HarperCollins). His collection of Rumi translations was published in 2014.

Dhondy was featured by journalist Subi Shah in the political magazine New Internationalist,[4] in its "final page", which led to the resurgence of his lifelong campaign to recruit more BAME talent in the television industry. Shah's article was subsequently reprinted in the New Statesman[20] (covered in The Voice newspaper).[21]

Dhondy's latest book, Hawk and Hyena, follows the story of Charles Sobhraj. Dhondy appeared on the podcast The Literary City[22] with Ramjee Chandran to talk about his escapades with Sobhraj as well as about his autobiography, Fragments Against My Ruin: A Life.[23] Dhondy was at the 2022 Jaipur Literature Festival, London edition, to talk about his books.

His daughter, Tir Dhondy, is a documentary presenter for the BBC, Channel 4, and other stations.[24][25]

Honours and awards

  • Children's Rights Workshop Other award: 1977, for East End at Your Feet, and 1979, for Come to Mecca, and Other Stories;[9]
  • Collins/Fontana Award for Come to Mecca, and Other Stories;[9]
  • Works represented in Children's Fiction in Britain, 1900–1990 exhibition, British Council's Literature Department, 1990;[9]
  • Whitbread Award for first novel, 1990, for Bombay Duck.[9]

Books

  • East End at Your Feet (short stories), London: Macmillan Publishers, 1976.
  • Come to Mecca, and Other Stories, London: Collins, 1978.
  • The Siege of Babylon (novel), London: Macmillan, 1978.
  • Poona Company (short stories), London: Gollancz, 1980.
  • Trip Trap (short stories), Faber and Faber (London, England), 1985.
  • Vigilantes, Hobo Press, 1988
  • Bombay Duck (adult novel), London: Jonathan Cape (London, England), 1990.
  • Black Swan, Gollancz (London, England), 1992, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1993.
  • Janacky and the Giant, and Other Stories, London: HarperCollins, 1993.
  • C. L. R. James: Cricket, The Caribbean and World Revolution, 205pp, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001.
  • The Bikini Murders, based on the life of Charles Shobhraj (also known as "the Bikini Killer"), 2008. Currently in production as a feature film.
  • Rumi: A New Translation (trans. & ed.), Harper Perennial, 2011
  • Prophet Of Love, HarperCollins, 2013
  • Fragments Against My Ruin: A Life (autobiography), 2021

Plays

  • Mama Dragon, produced in London, England, 1980.
  • Trojans (adaptation of a play by Euripides), produced in London, England, 1982.
  • Kipling Sahib, produced in London, England, 1982.
  • Vigilantes (produced in 1985), Hobo Press, 1988.
  • King of the Ghetto (television series), British Broadcasting Company (BBC1), 1986.
  • Split Wide Open (screenplay; based on the story by Dev Benegal), Adlabs/BMG Crescendo, 1999.
  • Devdas, premiered in London, 2013.

See also

  • Bandit Queen, 1994 film based on late wife Mala Sen's book India's Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi (1993)
  • Red Mercury (2005)
  • The Interview (2021 film)
  • Dennis, Ferdinand; Khan, Naseem, eds. (2000). Voices of the Crossing. London: Serpent's Tail. pp. 163–174. ISBN 9781852425838.

References

  1. ^ https://www.asianage.com/opinion/columnists/farrukh-dhondy-of-sexploiters-and-how-to-help-the-sale-of-books-on-the-internet-1943632
  2. ^ a b Kotak, Ash (13 June 2011). "Mala Sen obituary". The Guardian.
  3. ^ a b c Dhondy, Farrukh (11 March 2020). "What Channel 4 had to do". Seond Sight. Retrieved 4 February 2026.
  4. ^ a b c Shah, Subi (15 July 2025). "'Don't believe everything on TikTok': An Interview with Farrukh Dhondy". New Internationalist. Retrieved 4 February 2026.
  5. ^ Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Diasporic Indian English Writing, ed. Manju Jaidka et al, Springer, 2025 URL= https://link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/978-981-96-0045-8_84
  6. ^ The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.3.1.03: Indian Writing and Culture: Post-colonial, 1947-present, ed. John Thieme URL= https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1250
  7. ^ Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Diasporic Indian English Writing, ed. Manju Jaidka et al, Springer, 2025 URL= https://link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/978-981-96-0045-8_84
  8. ^ "Farrukh Dhondy". British Council | Literature. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Dhondy, Farrukh 1944-". encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 4 February 2026.
  10. ^ Triggs, Pat (September 1980). "Authorgraph No.4 - Farrukh Dhondy". Books for Keeps. Archived from the original on 31 March 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  11. ^ Donnell, Alison (2002). Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture. Taylor & Francis. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-415-16989-9. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  12. ^ "Television notes | Blacks on the box". New Community. XIII (2). Autumn 1986. Retrieved 4 February 2026.
  13. ^ Singh, Rani (5 July 2016). "Farrukh Dhondy, Writer Extraordinaire and anti Privatisation of C4". Asian Voice. Retrieved 5 February 2026.
  14. ^ "Farrukh Dhondy". IMDb.
  15. ^ Dhondy, Farrukh (27 November 2010). "The Bards of Britain". The Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2 December 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  16. ^ Dhondy, Farrukh (23 December 2015). "Our Islamic Fifth Column". City Journal. Archived from the original on 28 December 2005. Retrieved 24 December 2005.
  17. ^ Dhondy, Farrukh (16 June 2018). "Persians & the Islamic state of Iran". The Asian Age. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  18. ^ "Kenan Malik's review of CLR James by Farrukh Dhondy". New Statesman. 30 July 2001. Archived from the original on 3 November 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  19. ^ Whyte, Seb. "Dhondy, Farrukh (1944-)". Screenonline. BFI. Retrieved 4 February 2026.
  20. ^ Dhondy, Farrukh (18 March 2014). "Is the BBC still 'hideously white'?". New Statesman.
  21. ^ Shah, Subi (22 March 2014). "'Multiculturalism On TV Has Been Hijacked'". The Voice.
  22. ^ "Untold Intrigues Of Charles Sobhraj And Fragments of Farrukh Dhondy", The Literary City, July 2022.
  23. ^ Dhondy, Farrukh, Fragments Against My Ruin: A Life, Goodreads.
  24. ^ https://www.asianage.com/opinion/columnists/farrukh-dhondy-of-sexploiters-and-how-to-help-the-sale-of-books-on-the-internet-1943632
  25. ^ https://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/columnists/farrukh-dhondy-of-rolex-watches-and-other-thefts-is-london-in-grip-of-a-crime-wave-883168
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