Celebrated writer and documentary filmmaker Gita Mehta, who is the elder sister of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, passed away in Delhi on Saturday. She was 80.
She is credited with producing and directing 14 television documentaries for the UK, European and US networks.
Born in 1943 as Gita Patnaik, she completed her education in India and at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. She worked as the war correspondent for the US television network NBC before moving on to writing and directing. Some of her most popular works include the non-fiction work 'Karma Cola' and 'A River Sutra', which is a collection of short stories.
She married publisher late Ajai Singh 'Sonny' Mehta in 1965.
In 2019, Mehta was named for the Padma Shri in the 'Foreigners' category for her contributions to art and literature, but she declined it citing the timing of the announcement as it came before the national elections.
