Arvind Das

Who is Arvind Das?

Arvind Narayan Das was a social scientist, journalist, activist and a documentary filmmaker from Bihar.

Arvind N. Das was influenced by Naxalbari, the peasant rebellion, while he was a student at St. Stephen's College, Delhi in late 1960s. According to Journalist Harsh Sethi - "Rarely before, or since, at least in post-Independence India, had otherwise comfortably placed students taken the cause of the underdog to heart. Among those who were permanently marked by the experience of the ‘spring thunder’ was Arvind N. Das." His experiences in the period he spent underground as part of the Naxalites movement, shaped most of his life thereafter. He joined The Times of India as the research editor and pioneered the books that The Times of India group produced on its sesquicentennial celebrations. In 1994 he moved out of The Times of India and helped co-found Asia Pacific Communication Associates Pvt. Ltd., along with Dileep Padgaonkar, Anikendra Nath Sen and Darryl D'Monte. In 1995 he embarked on a journey which took him around India for an 18 part documentary called India Invented. This serial was inspired by D.D. Kosambi's vision of Indian history. This documentary which took more than 2 years to make was probably a defining moment of Arvind Das's career. He was also the founder editor of Biblio, a review of books.