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{{short description|Indian writer and documentary filmmaker (born 1943)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox writer 
| image =
| imagesize =
| name = Gita Mehta
| caption =
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1943}}
| birth_place = [[Delhi]], [[British Raj|British India]]
| occupation = [[Author]], [[documentary filmmaker]], [[journalist]], [[Film director|director]]
| nationality = [[Demographics of India|Indian]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Cambridge]], [[United Kingdom]]
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks =''[[Karma Cola]]'' (1979)<br />''[[A River Sutra]]'' (1993)<br />''[[Eternal Ganesha (book)|Eternal Ganesha]]'' (2006)
| influences =
| spouse =[[Sonny Mehta]] (1965–2019)
| website =
}}
'''Gita Mehta''' (née '''Patnaik'''; born 1943) is an [[India]]n writer and documentary filmmaker.

==Biography==
Born in [[Delhi]] into a well-known [[Odia people|Odia]] family, she is the daughter of [[Biju Patnaik]], an [[Indian Independence Movement|Indian independence]] activist and a Chief Minister in post-independence [[Odisha]], then known as Orissa. Her younger brother, [[Naveen Patnaik]], has served as the [[List of Chief Ministers of Odisha |Chief Minister of Odisha]] since 2000. She completed her education in India and at the [[University of Cambridge]], United Kingdom.<ref>{{cite web |title=Upfront daughter of the revolution: Gita Mehta|url=http://people.virginia.edu/~pm9k/59/tales/sl.html |date= April 1997|magazine=Vogue|pages=114, 120, 124 }}</ref> She was adjudged for India's fourth highest civilian award the [[Padma Shri]] in 2019, which she declined for political reasons.<ref>{{cite web |last1=The Hindu Net Desk |title=Writer Gita Mehta, sister of Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, declines Padma Award |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/writer-gita-mehta-sister-of-odisha-cm-naveen-patnaik-declines-padma-award/article26097436.ece |website=The Hindu |language=en-IN |date=26 January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://padmaawards.gov.in/PDFS/2019AwardeesList.pdf | title=Padma Awards | publisher=Padma Awards, Government of India | accessdate=25 January 2019}}</ref>

She has produced and/or directed 14 television documentaries for UK, European and US networks. During the years 1970–1971 she was a television war correspondent for the US television network [[NBC]]. Her film compilation of the Bangladesh revolution, ''Dateline Bangladesh'', was shown in cinemas both in India and abroad.

She is the widow of [[Sonny Mehta]], former head of the [[Alfred A. Knopf]] publishing house, whom she married in 1965.<ref>McFadden, Robert D. (31 December 2019), [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/31/books/sonny-mehta-dead.html "Sonny Mehta, Venerable Knopf Publisher, Is Dead at 77"], ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref> She has one son, Aditya Singh Mehta. Her books have been translated into 21 languages and been on the bestseller lists in Europe, the US and India. Her fiction and non-fiction focuses exclusively on India - its culture and history - and on the Western perception of it. Her works reflect the insight gained through her journalistic and political background.

Mehta divides her time between [[New York City]], [[London]] and [[New Delhi]].

== Works==
* ''[[Karma Cola]]''. [[Simon & Schuster]], 1979.<ref>{{cite book
| last = Mehta
| first = Gita
| title = Karma Kola, Marketing the Mystic East
| publisher = Simon & Schuster
| year = 1979
| location = New York
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/karmacolamarketi00meht/page/201 201]
| isbn = 0-671-25083-3
| url-access = registration
| url = https://archive.org/details/karmacolamarketi00meht/page/201
}}</ref>
* ''Raj'', 1989
* ''[[A River Sutra]]'' (short stories), 1993
* ''Snakes and Ladders: Glimpses of Modern India'', London: [[Secker & Warburg]], 1997. {{ISBN|0-436-20417-7}}<ref>Smith, Wendy, [http://people.virginia.edu/~pm9k/59/tales/gitapub.html "Gita Mehta: Making India Accessible"]. ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'', 12 May 1997, pp.53–54.</ref>
* ''Eternal Ganesha: From Birth to Rebirth'', [[Thames & Hudson]], 2006<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mehta|first1=Gita|title=Eternal Ganesha: From Birth to Rebirth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PKUgAQAACAAJ|publisher=Thames & Hudson|accessdate=30 January 2018|language=en|date=2006}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
* Sharma, Bhasha Shukla. "Mapping culture through 'A river Sutra': Tribal myths, dialogism, and meta-narratives in postcolonial fiction", ''Universal Journal of Education and General Studies'' 1 (2), 17–27, 2012

==External links==
*[https://penguin.co.in/book_author/gita-mehta/ Gita Mehta] at [[Penguin India]]
*{{OL author|310959A}}
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027095854/http://geocities.com/chinthacn/authors/mehta-gita.htm |date=27 October 2009 |title=Research on Gita Mehta }} Bio-bibliographical Information
*{{cite web |title=Interview: Gita Mehta |url=http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/0697/mehta/interview.html |date= |publisher=[[Random House]] }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehta, Gita}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian women television journalists]]
[[Category:Indian television journalists]]
[[Category:Writers from Delhi]]
[[Category:English-language writers from India]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge]]
[[Category:Indian documentary filmmakers]]
[[Category:Indian women documentary filmmakers]]
[[Category:Women artists from Delhi]]
[[Category:Screenwriters from Delhi]]
[[Category:Journalists from Delhi]]
[[Category:Women writers from Delhi]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]

Gita Mehta - Revision history

>Scorpions13256 at 04:23, 10 July 2021