| Arnab Ray | |
| Pseudonym: | Greatbong |
| Nationality: | Indian |
| Birth Place: | Kolkata, India |
| Language: | English |
| Years Active: | 2004–present |
| Genre: | Satire Horror Crime-thriller Drama |
| Notableworks: | The Greatbong Blog May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss The Mine |
| Education: | BE, Jadavpur University PhD, Stony Brook University |
Arnab Ray is an Indian novelist, blogger, podcaster who currently lives in the United States. While finishing his PhD at Stony Brook University,[1] he started his blog with the name Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind, in August 2004,[2] using Greatbong (bong is an Indian slang for Bengali) as his pen name. The blog focuses on satirical social and political commentary.
Ray embarked on his writing career with May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss, a non-fiction book that came out in 2010, and contained much of the commentary that Ray was known for by then through his blog. This was followed by The Mine, a psychological horror novel that came out in 2012, followed by books in the drama[3] and crime-thriller[4] genres. His last novel The Mahabharata Murders was adapted as a web series Mahabharat Murders on the Bengali OTT platform Hoichoi.[5] [6]
In 2019, Ray renamed his blog as The Greatbong Blog and started a podcast called Attention Pliss!.[7] [8] [9]
Ray was born and brought up in Kolkata. His father Alok Ray is an ex-professor of IIM Calcutta. He graduated from Jadavpur University as a Bachelor in Computer Science and Engineering and went on to finish his PhD in Computer Science from State University of New York at Stony Brook.[10]
He is known for his sarcastic takes on the Indian film industry, Indian politics and society in general. His blog, then called Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind, was awarded the "Indiblog of the Year" at Indibloggies in 2006[11] and 2008.[12] He has written for several media outlets such as The Washington Post',[13] Outlook magazine[14] and Live Mint.[15]
He is an agnostic with moderate political beliefs as he has written about in his many blog posts.[16] [17] His first book May I Hebb Your Attention Pliss, published by HarperCollins, was on India Todays Bestsellers list.[18] His second book, The Mine, has also been well received. His third book, Yatrik was published in September 2014.
His fourth book Sultan of Delhi: Ascension, first of a two-part crime-drama, was released in October 2016. It is being adapted as a web series Sultan of Delhi on the OTT platform Disney+ Hotstar, directed by Milan Luthria, starring Tahir Raj Bhasin, Mouni Roy, Vinay Pathak, and others.[19]
The print version of fifth book The Mahabharata Murders, published by Juggernaut Books was released in August 2017, even as the e-version of the book was released through the publisher's app in India. It was adapted as a web series Mahabharat Murders on the Bengali OTT platform Hoichoi.