Nari Hira: The maverick media mogul, who turned entertainment journalism on its head

Born in 1938 in Karachi, Hira and his family were among the countless lives uprooted by the Partition of India. In its wake, he resettled in Mumbai. It was in the city of dream, with its unrelenting energy that Hira would carve out his destiny. He began his career as a journalist, a profession that honed his understanding of the zeitgeist and his ability to anticipate what the public wanted to read. However, Hira was not the one to keep following the traditional rules of journalism. He had a unique vision that would soon manifest in the form of Stardust — the magazine that would redefine entertainment journalism in India.

Stardust: A fresh beginning

Launched in 1971, when film journalism was by and large reverential towards film stars with publications like Filmfare, Star & Style, and Picture Post all following a set formula, Stardust stormed onto the scene with a bold, cheeky style that was as audacious as it was irresistible. Hira shattered the existing conventions of film coverage, bringing the tittle-tattle, the scandals, and the human flaws of Bollywood stars to the forefront. The magazine raged against the sanitised, airbrushed stories about the stars. For its inaugural issue, Hira (shortened version of Hiranandani) had a scoop: a juicy claim that superstar Rajesh Khanna was secretly married. He put him on the cover, and his private life under scanner, and let the gossip fly. The result? An issue that flew off the stands faster than you could say ‘star-struck.’ Hira's decision to price the magazine at twice the rate of its competitors (while other magazines were priced at Re 1, Stardust priced itself at Rs 2), was a gamble that paid off spectacularly. The first issue, with its sensational headline — ‘Is Rajesh Khanna Married?’ — sold 25,000 copies in just three days, a feat that was unheard of at the time.

What set Hira apart from his contemporaries was his uncanny ability to tap into the pulse of readers. He understood that the public’s appetite for celebrity culture was far more voracious than what the existing media landscape catered to. He created a new language of film journalism that was irreverent, witty, and often provocative. Under his stewardship, Stardust became synonymous with Indian popular culture, a publication that both stars and fans couldn’t ignore. He had an eye for talent, and when he hired Shobhaa De, then a disgruntled copywriter at his ad agency Creative Unit, it was as if he had discovered the journalistic equivalent of gold. De went on to pen ‘Neeta’s Natter,’ a column that coined the now-ubiquitous Hinglish vernacular and became a staple of spicy, insider gossip about Bollywood’s biggest stars, presented in a sardonic tone. It became the stuff of legend — loved and loathed by its subjects in equal measure.

A media mogul, a mentor

Hira was a mentor to countless journalists, editors, and writers, many of whom would go on to shape the Indian media landscape in their own right. His offices were a breeding ground for talent, a place where creativity was encouraged, where the status quo was always questioned, and where failure was seen as a stepping stone to success. Hira’s approach to leadership was as unconventional as his publishing philosophy — he gave his teams the freedom to experiment, to fail, and to learn from their mistakes. This environment of innovation and creativity allowed Stardust and its sister publications to remain at the forefront for decades.

Stardust didn’t shy away from publishing stories that made the industry uncomfortable, stories that were sometimes unfair or overly sensationalised. Hira himself acknowledged this in his later years, expressing a degree of regret for the times when the magazine’s detachment from the film industry led to harsher portrayals of stars. But that very detachment was also what gave Stardust its edge — an outsider’s perspective that wasn’t beholden to the stars it covered.

Hira’s brainchild, Magna Publishing Co. Ltd., became one of India’s largest magazine groups. Stardust was just the beginning. Hira expanded his empire, launching a series of magazines that catered to different segments of the market but shared the same DNA of pushing boundaries. From Society to Savvy to Showtime, each publication was a trailblazer in its own right, offering readers content that was unlike anything else available at the time. Thus, Hira built a magazine empire on the foundations of risk-taking, innovation, and a deep understanding of what his audience craved.

For those of us who grew up reading Stardust in the 1990s, the magazine was more than just a source of gossip — it was a window into a world that was at once glamorous, scandalous, and achingly human. Despite his towering success, however, Hira remained an enigma. As the magazine boom fizzled out, Hira retreated into the shadows, emerging only for the occasional parties where he would bump into old friends like Shobhaa De, and film producers like Ashwin Varde and Sarita Tanwar. The media mogul, who never married but adopted a son, started shunning the limelight. He was a man of contradictions — an intensely private individual who made his fortune by exposing the private lives of others. This complexity only added to his allure, making him a legend in an industry that thrives on larger-than-life personalities. His reticence to step into the spotlight, combined with his sharp business acumen, made him a figure of immense intrigue and respect.

In the 1990s, when times changed, and there was a greater thrust on the moving image (VHS tapes), he ventured into film production through Magna Films, a subsidiary of his publishing company. Just as he had done with magazines, Hira brought his innovative approach to the world of cinema. While his ventures in film production may not have achieved the same level of success as his publishing empire, they were nonetheless a testament to his pursuit of new challenges and his refusal to be pigeonholed into a single format. Nari Hira divided his time between Mumbai, London, and New York. His Mumbai penthouse often served as a centre for occasional soirées where his mentees would drop in. He was a man who dared to dream differently. He blazed his own trail, creating a media empire that will live on.