MUMBAI: “We were children of South Bombay and so stars meant nothing to us,” wrote Nari Hira in the 50th anniversary issue of Stardust, once India’s premier film magazine. This irreverence led to a series of nicknames for stars that entered common parlance: “Garam Dharam,” “Idli Malini” and “Shotgun Sinha,” to name a few.
But Stardust was just one of Hira’s successful creations. The dapper magazine publisher, who died in Mumbai on Friday aged 86, changed the world of magazine publishing in India. He hired the best talent – and gave Shobhaa De, who had previously worked as a copywriter at his advertising agency Creative Unit, her big break in journalism – and gave them free rein. The brief was to be irreverent, sharp and stylish. “He was very adept at spotting people who would take his brand forward. He had a keen sense of talent, whether they were film stars or people from other fields,” says De, who created the whole new colloquial language Hinglish with the gossip column Neeta’s Natter in Stardust.
Big headlines, sensational revelations about the private lives of film stars and glamorous photoshoots soon left scandal-hungry India hungry for more. “He was the epitome of sophistication, a far cry from the then stereotype of the profit-hungry media mogul,” says De. He combined sharp wit with an uncanny eye for the sensational, but always with a certain panache, she adds.
“The magazine revolution started when he launched Stardust. He broke all the conventions of film reporting and then created a magazine empire based on these principles: be sharp, be direct, but write well and make it look good,” tweeted Vir Sanghvi, who edited Bombay magazine at the same time.
The publisher, who shortened his name from the distinctive Hiranandani to Hira, had an uncanny ability to stay ahead of the media curve. Alongside the film magazines Stardust and Showtime, he launched Society, one of the first magazines to cover the rich and elite. This was long before celebrity coverage on page 3 became a standard feature in newspapers. Artists, politicians, businessmen, the dazzling stars of India’s emerging fashion industry – all were featured in the pages of Society. Hira was the first to present the idea of an emerging India.
Perhaps one of his most radical publications, however, was Savvy magazine, with its main theme of “Savvy Woman of the Month.” At a time when divorce was still a secret in the upper echelons of Indian society, Savvy featured a number of women who spoke openly about leaving abusive relationships. In the late 1980s, it featured one of India’s first transgender models on its cover, as well as the pioneer behind India’s first test-tube baby, Dr. Indira Hinduja. Savvy broke the mold that most people had of women’s magazines.
“His copywriting brilliance was unmatched – every headline had to meet his high standards. If something didn’t meet expectations, he would change it in a second. That encouraged us to be the same. Our mandate was clear: we weren’t there to win popularity contests, we were there to be bold. Irreverence was the mantra,” says De, for whom Hira always remained her only boss.
“His energy was electrifying – after just a few minutes with him, you were full of optimism and enthusiasm,” recalls Suma Varghese, the long-time editor of Society magazine.
Hira, who never married but adopted a son, Vikram, lived alternately in Mumbai – where one of his protégés created literary works in his penthouse apartment – London and New York. With his restless mind and keen sense of news, he was always on the lookout for the next big thing in the media. In the 1990s, when the introduction of the VHS format threatened the film industry, Hira founded Hiba Films, which produced several shows inspired by Hollywood hits such as Dallas and Dynasty. These, while lacking much of a plot, invariably contained a few risqué scenes that brought a certain lasciviousness to supposedly puritanical Indian families.
When the magazine boom waned, Hira retreated into complete privacy, leaving the house only occasionally to attend a soiree or two, where he would regularly bump into one of his old colleagues such as De or film producers Ashwin Varde and Sarita Tanwar. “What stood out about Mr. Hira was the way he treated his staff – with generosity and genuine concern for their well-being,” says Tanwar, who worked with him on Stardust. “He treated everyone with respect and kindness, regardless of their position. That was classy.”
