Purnendu Patri was born on 2 February 1931, in Nakol, Howrah District, British India. He was an Indian poet, writer, editor, artist, illustrator, and film director. He was best known for his poems.
He was admitted to Indian Art College in 1949. He started contributing his painting and writing to the film magazine “Chitrita”, and the cultural magazine “Deepali”, which were edited and co-edited respectively by his uncle Nikunjabihari Pattrea.
He was the first art director of the Ananda Bazar Patrika group of publications, from 1971 to 1984/85. He was the director and screenwriter for the 1972 film Strir Patra. This was awarded the Rajat Kamal (Silver Lotus) for Best Feature Film in Bengali, at the 20th National Film Awards.
He started a research project on Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, ‘Bankim Jug’ (The Era of Bankim); unfortunately only the first of five planned volumes was published before his death.
