Gulshan Kumar Sudeep (GK Sudeep), well known professionally by his penname ‘Sudeep’, was an Indian storywriter, a novelist, a journalist, a satirist, a scriptwriter, a screenplay author, a playwright and a poet.

Three novels, four short story collections/anthologies, one satire novel, four biographies and numerous translated works are in Sudeep’s published repertoire. More than 60 of Sudeep’s short stories have been published in magazine publications across five decades of his literary journey. Many of his writings have been translated into various other languages. An author of close to 2000 published articles, Sudeep was known for his distinctive writing style. He played a significant role in the ‘Samaantar’ contemporary writers movement in India.

Born on 1 April 1942, in the Gojramandi district of Punjab in British India (Undivided India) to parents Bishamber Das and Gyandevi Narang. He was merely five years old in 1947, when the partition of the country caused his family to get displaced temporarily to Kurukshetra in modern day India. His childhood was spent in Panipat and Delhi followed by latter years in Mumbai.

He began writing poetry and songs in his early teens and was already getting recognized and published in inter-school, collegiate publications and national poet literary networks. He set a record by being the first Bachelor degree student from Arts discipline to achieve a gold medal by topping Agra University in 1963. He graduated from University of Delhi in 1965 with Master of Arts with major in English Literature. A strong advocate of language authenticity - both English and Hindi, he was also deeply knowledgeable of global literature.

His journalist career initiated as ‘journalist-in-training’ at the Times of India publication (Times Group). In subsequent two decades, in his editor and journalistic career with the magazines including Dharmayug, Sarika, Ravivar, Nutan Savera, Current, Sunday-Mail, Chic, Shree Varsha, Amar Ujjala, Screen and Hamara Mahanagar, he authored and published over two thousand articles.  

In April 2000, The Mumbai Press Club honored Sudeep with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his extensive contributions to journalism.

In the film industry, he authored screenplays, dialogue and scripts for movies. ‘Ankur, Maina aur Kabutar’ which won the Best Children Film Award in India in 1990 and ‘Kathni Karni Ek Si’ which won the Best Historical Recreation National Award in India in the same year. He also authored scripts and short stories for multiple TV series.

After prolonged illness and lung cancer, he passed away on June 25, 2020, surrounded by his family. He will forever be remembered, and his legacy will stand as pillar of the common man’s word – written and spoken.