MUMBAI, 3 February 2008 — Veteran journalist, war correspondent and former editor of the ‘Blitz’ weekly Russi K. Karanjia died here on Friday.
Karanjia, who was one of the most dynamic editors of the tabloid weekly, was a firebrand journalist who never hesitated in calling a spade a spade. He was 95. At the height of the English weekly’s popularity, he launched editions in Hindi, Urdu and other Indian languages. His last rites were performed at Chandanwadi crematorium in South Mumbai yesterday, in a departure from Parsi tradition according to his wishes. His daughter Rita Mehta, former editor of ‘Cine Blitz’, survives him. Born on Sept. 15, 1912, Karanjia, brother of noted film journalist B.K. Karanjia, had worked as an assistant editor of The Times of India. He left the daily in 1940 to launch the now-defunct Blitz. He also launched the ‘Daily’, Mumbai’s first English tabloid newspaper toward the end of the 1970s.
He started writing while he was still in college and after leaving The Times of India, he launched his own newspaper. His aggressive style of writing earned him the admiration of thousands of readers in India and abroad.
During World War II, he worked for some time as a war correspondent, reporting from the front lines in Burma (now Myanmar) and Assam. In 1945, he shot into the limelight by publishing exclusive photographs of late Indian revolutionary leader Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army.
Later he launched a campaign and successfully raised a sum of 125,000 Indian rupees for the treatment, relief and rehabilitation of Indian soldiers at the British General Hospital, Pune.
During the historic Quit India Movement, Karanjia launched a Blitz campaign to release former Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru from jail. For this, he was fined 3,000 rupees by the British rulers.
Karanjia interviewed former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and former French President Charles de Gaulle. He also interviewed Nehru, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Nikita Khrushchev, Fidel Castro, Chou En Lai and Yasser Arafat.
Along with Feroze Gandhi, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s husband, Karanjia had exposed a financial scam involving noted industrialist Haridas Mundhra.
In June 1965, Nasser decorated Karanjia with Egypt’s top civilian honor, Republican Order of Merit Grade I.
In a condolence message, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said: “Karanjia was a respected and veteran journalist who received acclaim and recognition within and outside India for his rich contribution to the world of journalism. His outstanding achievements as a media personality set many new landmarks in the field of journalism.”
