Taarak Mehta is an Indian columnist, humorist, writer and playwright who is best known for the column Duniya Na Undha Chasma in the Gujarati language. He has translated and adapted several comedies into Gujarati, and has been well-known figure in the Gujarati theatre.

The humorous weekly column first appeared in Chitralekha in March 1971 and ever since has been looking at contemporary issues from a different perspective. He has published 80 books, over the years, three books are based on the columns he wrote in Gujarati newspaper, Divya Bhaskar while rest were compiled from the stories in Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah.He was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of India, in 2015.