Growing up in
Darjeeling and
Shillong, Bhattacharya's father was an employee at the
State Bank of India. She was initially wanted to be an air-hostess or an astronaut. After finishing her
communication studies, her mother suggested her to be a film director or a radio producer but her father wanted her to work in advertising. Nonetheless, she decided to start a career in journalism. Bhattacharya then joined
The Illustrated Weekly of India, after had a six-week internship following her meeting with the magazine's then-editor
Pritish Nandy. Her part is writing for the "Idiot Box" column. She later worked
The Times of India newspaper for three months and, after her internship ended, she joined
Filmfare. Bhattacharya made her authorial debut with the unauthorized biographical book
Bad Man, chronicling the life and career of the actor and producer
Gulshan Grover. Published on 20 July 2019 by
Random House, the book received mixed feedback from critics; Prathyush Parasuraman of
Film Companion said, "The book is overpopulated with names of people and films, most of which have no relevance to the narrative. In that sense, it is like living in Mumbai—overpopulated, with more stories than narratives, more characters than characterizations." Her second book, titled
Matinee Men: A Journey Through Bollywood, was released on 10 December next year. Writing for
The New Indian Express, Kabir Singh Bhandari described it as "an informative and exciting read" and
The Free Press Journal Alpana Chowdhury noted that "in an easy-flowing style, she sketches the career graphs of her baker's dozen, with fascinating glimpses into lives she has been privy to". == Bibliography ==