Nilotpal Mrinal is an Indian writer, poet, socio-political activist and social media influencer, best known for his Hindi novels Dark Horse: Ek Ankahi Dastan (2015), Aughad (2019) and Yaar Jadugar ( 2021).
Wiki/Biography
Nilotpal Mrinal was born on Tuesday, 25 December 1984 in Dumka, Jharkhand (age 37 years 2021). His zodiac sign is Capricorn.
Nilotpal Mannar childhood photos
He studied at Rani Sonawati Kumari Government +2 Higher Secondary School in Noonihat, Jharkhand. In 2005, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Xavier’s College, Ranchi. While in college, he actively participated in various student movements. In 2008, he moved to Mukherjee Nagar in Delhi to prepare for the civil services examination. Over the next eight years, he took the exam several times but failed. He revealed in an interview that he could have found a high-paying job in the company at that time, but he wanted to serve the society more. So when he failed the UPSC exam, he decided to address social issues through writing.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′10″
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
family
Nilotpal Mrinal is a native of Bihar and his family hails from Sangrampur, Munger, Bihar. Not much information is available about his parents and siblings.
Profession
novel
Nilotpal Mrinal started venturing into writing after struggling to appear for the UPSC exams. He is popular for his debut novel, Dark Horse: Ek Ankahi Dastan (2015), which follows a candidate like Nilotpal Manal as he prepares for the country’s highest honors exam, the Civil Service Examination life. Set in Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi, the novel showcases the struggle of aspiring people leaving their villages and entering city life in order to get their dream jobs.
Dark Horse: Ek Ankash Dastan (2015)
In 2019, he wrote the novel Ogde, which focuses on the complexities of rural life in India and its socio-political structure. In the novel, topics such as religious hypocrisy, caste, untouchability, the situation of rural women, politics, crime, middle-class consciousness, etc. are addressed through wearing glasses as a symbol of students, motorcycles are more important than toilets, and the only son of a poor family receives special treatment.
Oghard
His novel Dark Horse was number one on the Dainik Jagland bestseller list, and Oghard was number four. His tendency to fight on political and social issues is clearly visible in his writings. In 2019, he created and dubbed the audiobook “Jakh Baba” for the Storytel app. The novel takes readers through the leisurely life of rural India and tells the story of the villagers’ small wishes.
Jacques Baba
He created and narrated the audiobook Darling Democracy (2020) for the Audible app. This audiobook revolves around the Panchayat elections held in a village called Bilaiya, a seat reserved for Adivasis. As the story unfolds, the former Sarpanch of the village, Rang Bahadur Singh, along with some other aspiring candidates, tried to marry an indigenous girl to contest the elections.
In 2021, he wrote the novel “Yaar Jadugar”, which talks about the inevitability of death while focusing on the meaning of life. Later, his novel was adapted into an audiobook, narrated by himself, and appeared on various apps.
poetry folk songs
In 2001, he released his first folk song tape after Jharkhand became an independent state on November 15, 2000. One of the songs he released is titled “Jharkhand Dhasal Daldal Mein”. Besides writing novels, Nilotpal was equally interested in ballads and poetry. Among his many poems are “Duniya Esi Hua Karti Thi”, “Ab To Lagta Hai Desh Veerana” and “Hum Hi To Kal Itihaas Likhenge”. In 2017, after launching a campaign to remove a derogatory image targeting Bihari people from the website, he lent his voice to the song “Haan Main Bihari Hun” and released it on YouTube channel Global Gumti, which went viral. This song is greatly appreciated by the people of Bihar as it encourages them to be proud of their race. He has also lent his voice to the songs Chal Sadho Koi Desh (2019) and Jagmag Kare Ee Sansaar (2020).
jagmag kare y sansal
He runs a YouTube channel of the same name, where he uploads his songs and poetry. His channel has more than 92,600 followers.
dispute
Launch a campaign to remove derogatory images
In 2017, a website called ‘Lallantop’ uploaded a photo making fun of Bihar and Bihar. The photo hurt the sentiments of the people of Bihar and drew strong criticism from Biharites across India, including Nilotpal Mrinal. Mrinal therefore launched a campaign against the site, demanding that the image be removed from the site. He also took the case to court and successfully had the photos deleted.
Allegations of copyright infringement against TVF
In 2021, Nilotpal Mrinal filed a lawsuit against streaming platform The Viral Fever (TVF), claiming that its coming-of-age web series Aspirants was based on his 2015 book Dark Horse. In a long post on Facebook, Mrinal shared a photo of TVF founder Arunabh Kumar with the caption:
I shared pictures of Anurab and details of my meeting with him to prove that he knew me as the writer of Dark Horse and that I was interested in making a film based on the book. “
In the post, Mrinal also said that he will initiate legal action against TVF because TVF plagiarized about 30% of the episode stories in his book without crediting him. In response to Mrinal’s accusations, TVF released an official statement, which read:
TVF is a creator-centered organization that has been committed to cultivating writers since its inception and takes their rights very seriously. A post on social media claimed that our show Aspirational was inspired by another literary work. The company has been notified of this matter and we will fully cooperate with the investigation of this matter. “
Accused of sexually assaulting women for ten years
In 2022, a woman posted on Facebook that Nilotpal Manal had subjected her to physical and mental abuse on the pretext of marriage. Following this, the Delhi Police registered an FIR against Mrinal in the Timalpur police station area. According to reports, the victim, a 32-year-old woman from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, was preparing for the UPSC examination in Mukherjee Nagar. In her complaint, she stated that she first met the author in 2013.
Activism
Gancha movement
In 2019, Mrinal was refused entry to a restaurant called Q’BA in Connaught Place because he was wearing a scarf on his shoulders. Apparently, the restaurant manager felt that the gamchha was not an appropriate attire for a fine dining restaurant. Speaking about the incident in an interview, Mrinal said,
I returned after participating in the Purvanchal Mahotsav program of the Delhi government. As soon as I entered Q’BA restaurant, the manager smiled and said I couldn’t bring it in (gamchha). This looks bad. The atmosphere here is nothing like that. “
After a long argument with the manager, Mrinal forced his way into the restaurant to view the menu. There was a Bhojpuri dish called “Lahariya Samosa” on the menu which later became a topic of debate between the manager and Mrinal. Talking about the same in an interview, he said,
I told the waiter that your manager wouldn’t let me in because of my gamchha and that you used the word Bhojpuri in the menu. Why don’t you find an English word to describe this? “
In response to the insult, he shared the incident via a Facebook post. The post hurt the sentiments of Biharis as they considered it an insult to their identity and traditional dress. After this, many people started posting photos with the gamchha on the internet. A day after the incident, Aam Aadmi Party leader Dilip Pandey also wore a gamchha to the same restaurant. Bigg Boss celebrity and singer Deepak Thakur also shared a picture wearing Gamcha to express his support to the people of Bihar. Eventually, the manager not only apologized for his mistake, but the restaurant also asked employees to wear “gamchha”.
CSAT Sports
In 2015, UPSC decided to include CSAT (Civil Service Aptitude Test) as the qualifying paper for the Civil Services Examination, which angered many students across India, especially those who chose to write in Hindi and other local languages as they believed English aspirants , mathematics students, and science background has an advantage over them. Following this, the CSAT movement was launched in Mukherjee Nagar to protest against the introduction of CSAT, led by Nilotpal Mrinal. During the movement, Nilotpal went on a hunger strike with his friends, which lasted for eight days. The police used brutal tactics against the protesting students to contain the movement and arrested 7 to 8 students along with Nilotpal Mrinal.
Nilotpal Mrinal roughed up by police during CSAT campaign (2015)
Facts/Trivia
- To Nilotpal Mrinal’s surprise, he was once asked a question about his book “Dark Horse: Ek Ankahi Dastan” (2015) while taking the civil service examination. Speaking in an interview about the irony of the incident, he said seeing his name on the exam paper he was desperately trying to pass was the greatest achievement for him.
- In 2016, he won the Sahitya Akademi Youth Award for his novel Dark Horse: Ek Ankahi Dastan (2015). Apart from this, he is also the recipient of Bihar Gaurav Samman.
Nilotpal Mrinal wins Sahitya Akademi Youth Award (2016)
- He has loved poetry since he was a student and often got up at 4 a.m. to write poetry. While preparing for the UPSC exams in Delhi, he often sang verses from Hindi poets such as qawwalis and Suryakant Tripathi (popularly known as Nirala) in his spare time. Later, “Dark Horse” became popular with readers, but it did not bring much financial success to him. It was then that he took to the stage and started presenting his poetry as economic conditions became better and paved the way for him to connect directly with people.
- He wrote his first novel in just nine days. Thereafter, he participated in the New Delhi World Book Fair (2014) where his book was rejected by around 28 publishers. He was later contacted through his Facebook post by an anonymous man who was a struggling publisher offering to publish his novel. After obtaining an ISBN, Mrinal’s novel was published by Hind Yugm Publication.
- In an interview, Mrinal revealed that he scored 30 marks in Hindi in the entrance exam, which was exactly what he needed to pass the exam. Surprisingly, Mrinal launched his career in the same language and won the Sahitya Akademi Youth Award (2016) for his Hindi novel Dark Horse.
- He often uses his catchphrase “Jai ho” in his social media posts.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education