Opening Doorz

By Martin D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | August 28, 2024.

Simi Chandoke and I worked for many years together. And whenever we would go for a meal at one of the restaurants in Colaba, she would always look at the Esperanca Building and talk about Nari Hira. Whenever she spoke about him, her eyes would sparkle—there was this certain zest in her voice, like a child with fond memories of her parents.

I found this same zest and emotion in her voice when I reached out to her to ask if she was willing to speak about her first boss in journalism who passed away on August 23, 2024. “I’m pained and emotional at the moment,” she said. Nevertheless, she agreed to speak.

The Absence of Bollywood at the Funeral

On there not being a Bollywood presence at Nari Hira’s funeral, Simi is quick to defend the stars “I think, actually, more than anything, it was a sudden death. We just got the news in the morning… from Social Media that Mr. Hira has departed for his final journey at 86 years of age. And we all knew that he was getting slower and slower, which is part of aging. It happened very suddenly. The venue of the funeral also got changed twice and a lot of people could not make it. I’m sure if they have their prayer meeting, there will be more people. Recently, we lost a very dear friend, Bollywood photographer Pradeep Bhandekar, and the industry turned out in full strength for his funeral.”

Nari Hira Gave you Wings…

As the conversation progresses, Simi is substantially charged. As I point this aspect to her she blurts out: “Because Mr. Hira is like that energy drink kids drink today; We did not need it. He injected that energy into us… There was no Red Bull and Cloud 9 then… Mr. Hira gave you wings, he gave us a Red Bull injection 40 years ago… the moment I think of him, the energy comes back.”

Excerpts:

Tell us about your time working with Magna Publication.

I was a rookie, around 17-18 years old doing my diploma in journalism. It was the late eighties. I went to him and he hired me as an intern. Just like that. I was at that level where an Editor will not meet you, forget a Publisher. He didn’t do that to me. Every person he hired on his own. No matter what rank, Mr. Hira would personally meet you.

After the initial hiring, did he communicate with the staff?

He had such an eye for talent that we all grew and became journalists, and celebrity journalists in our way. Most of the glamour and Bollywood journalists, at some point or the other, had their origin from him. Most of them. I’m not saying all. He was always interacting with us. Always challenging us. His doors were always open.

Having Nari Hira as the Big Boss, getting access to stars would have been a cakewalk.

We got direct access to all the big stars—the superstars, only because of Nari Hira. Nobody would dare say no to Mr. Hira. And they would become our best friends. And, you know, he was so lavish at that time, Martin, that all the other magazines seemed like urchins in front of him. He would give us the leeway. We would say, “Today we are going to this star and, you know, Mr. Hira, I want him to feel special. I want to gift him flowers. He would say, ‘Go ahead’. We would buy expensive flowers from these very expensive shops. Or we would go to the Taj, behind our building, and buy expensive pastries for our favourite stars.

How would you describe the camaraderie at the workplace?

It was not a job. It was a fun way of life. At nine o’clock sharp M. Hira was in his office. He would leave around 3:30 pm. He always had his arms open for us, and took good care of his staff. Although we came with a lot of gossip from Bollywood, he was equally interested in our gossip. Who was seeing who, who broke up, and why? He wanted the information from us, first-hand.

Nari Hira was a handsome man, did the ladies make it difficult for him?

[Laughs] Forget the ladies. I had a crush on him. One day I told him “Mr. Hira you are so handsome and so dynamic. I have a crush on you. Why am I so young?” He just laughed it off.

Today we have Netflix, Amazon Prime and other OTT platforms. Forty years ago, Nari Hira started home videos. You can see that he was a visionary, way ahead of his time…

First of all, he did it at a time when there was no social media. He did it at a time when he could not promote those movies. He did it at a time when everybody could not even afford a video player. There were video libraries where you would go and you could rent out a video cassette for 20 rupees and watch the movie at home. And there was no way to reach people as such. And he managed to become successful at that and he created many legends.

So when you’re talking about him doing these OTT kind of movies, I mean, what a visionary to think about this 40 years ago.

Also, the magazines that he started under Magna Publications…

For him to have started those magazines, Society, Savvy, and Stardust, and to create a brand of journalism in the 70s. It was shocking and also scandalous. What have you to say about that? And not just this, he created a men’s magazine, he created a health magazine. He created the first city magazine for Pune. It was called Citadel. Imagine his vision and where he could take it. He already had started Stardust. He didn’t need to start Showtime, which was again a film magazine. Stardust carried all the scandals and Showtime was like the do-gooder, where he carried all the interviews. Not to forget that in those days people would use the centre spread of actors from these magazines as pin-ups in their homes!

Finally, what is your fondest memory of Nari Hira?

There was this producer whose name I fail to remember. He had some kind of problem with Kamal Haasan. I was still a rookie when I did that interview with him. Kamal Haasan had committed him something and had then backed out. In those days producers put their own money into projects and there was a lot at stake for him. Bharti Pradhan, who was my editor then, asked me to get a scoop.

I recorded the whole interview on my dictaphone and the story was published. The next day, I received the news that I and the company were sued. I was sued for Rs 2 crore then. Two crores was a big thing and I’m a rookie and I don’t know what defamation cases are. So, am I going to jail?

Mr Hira called me into his cabin and said, “Come on, sit here, you nitwit. Sit down.” So, I’m like, now what happens? So, even before he could say anything I said, “Mr. Hira, I have everything on record.” He said, “what are you talking about?” I said, “Mr. Hira, my editor just told me I’ve got the company sued and I am also sued.”

He said, “I’m very upset with you still.” So, I got even more scared. “How dare a star think that this girl, this nitwit, who is going to be one of my ace reporters and ace journalist one day is worth only 2 crores. You have got me insulted. He should have at least sued you for 10 crores.”

I was speechless. I said, “Mr. Hira, you’re not upset with me.” He said, “I’m very proud of you, Simi. You have the guts and the glory to go ahead and make Bollywood stars fear you and respect you at the same time.”

(Simi Chandoke is the Pioneer of Page 3, a leading Bollywood Expert, and TV personality.)

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Also Read: Mumbai Press Club Calls for Action: Harassment in Newsrooms