Farrukh DHONDY

Scriptwriter based in London.

Farrukh Dhondy was born in 1944 in Pune, India. His father is from Bombay and his mother from Pune. His father was in the army, so as a child, Farrukh travelled around most of India.

He studied in Bishop’s School in Pune and to Wadia College, taking a degree in Science. He was accpeted with a scholarship to Cambridge University in England, where he studied Physics. After two years he gave this up for English. He went on to Leicester University where he did a thesis on Rudyard Kipling.

Farrukh did many odd jobs, before gaining employment as a teacher, it is then that he started writing. His first novel was titled East End at Your Feet, which is a collection of short stories about Indian students in the United States. Farrukh was approached by the BBC, who wanted to adapt his stories into plays. He wrote scripts for both television and stage.

He then got a job at Channel 4 as the International Commissioning Editor. Planning to only stay for a year or two, he ended up there for fourteen years. Feeling he wasn’t writing enough, Farrukh left to concentrate on his writing. He now writes films, books and for television.