2409:4073:209F:5150:0:0:1551:F8B1 at 18:34, 23 September 2021

2021-09-23T18:34:37Z

New page

{{Short description|Indian Journalist}}{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox person/Wikidata
|fetchwikidata=ALL
|relatives = [[B. K. Karanjia]] (brother)
}}
'''Rustom Khurshedji Karanjia''' (1912 – 1 February 2008) was an [[India]]n journalist and editor. He typically signed his reports as "R. K. Karanjia". He founded the ''[[Blitz (newspaper)|Blitz]]'', a weekly tabloid with focus on investigative journalism in 1941, and ran it for the next four decades. He also founded The Daily, a daily tabloid which was run by his daughter.<ref>{{cite news|title=R.K. Karanjia: Living through the Blitz|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/R.K.-Karanjia-Living-through-the-Blitz/article15159361.ece|access-date=4 July 2017|newspaper=The Hindu|date=6 February 2008}}</ref>

==Early life and background==
Karanjia was born to a [[Parsi]] family in [[Quetta]], now in [[Balochistan]] in the Northern part of [[Pakistan]].<ref name = "Kulkarni">{{cite web | url = http://www.indianexpress.com/news/he-launched-blitz-on-feb-1-died-on-feb-1it/268196/ | title = He launched Blitz on Feb 1, died on Feb 1-it's no coincidence | access-date = 2011-07-24 | last = Kulkarni | first = Sudheendra | date = 2008-02-02 | work = indianexpress.com | publisher = The Indian Express Limited}}</ref>

==Career==
Karanjia began writing while still in college,<ref name="NewsPost">{{citation|title=Veteran Journalist R.K. Karanjia Dead|url=http://newspostindia.com/report-34684|periodical=News Post India|date=1 February 2008|access-date=2008-02-29|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130129191935/http://newspostindia.com/report-34684|archive-date=29 January 2013}}.</ref> and during the 1930s Karanjia was employed an assistant editor at ''[[The Times of India]]''.<ref name="ria">{{citation|title=Veteran journalist Russi Karanjia passes away|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/feb/01karanjia.htm|periodical=Rediff India Abroad|date=1 February 2008|access-date=2008-02-29}}.</ref><ref name="hindu">{{citation|title=R. K. Karanjia passes away|url=http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/02/stories/2008020255971200.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080206135656/http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/02/stories/2008020255971200.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 February 2008 |date=1 February 2008|work=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=2008-02-29}}.</ref> He left ''The Times of India'' in 1941 to launch ''[[Blitz (newspaper)]]'', a weekly [[Tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid]] with a focus on investigative journalism. It was one of the few Indian newspapers to have carried out interviews with the high and mighty, including the likes of [[Fidel Castro]] and [[Zhou Enlai]]. '''The Daily''' and '''The Blitz''' were also incubators for the likes of [[R.K. Laxman]], [[P. Sainath]] and [[Teesta Setalvad]], all of whom started their journalistic careers there. <ref name="ria" /><ref name="hindu" /> Karanjia served as a war correspondent during the Japanese Burma offensive in [[World War II]], reporting on the action in [[Myanmar|Burma]] and [[Assam]].<ref name="NewsPost" /> ''Blitz'' folded during the mid-1990s and Karanjia retired from public life.<ref name="hindu" />

Karanjia died at his home, a seafront flat along [[Marine Drive, Mumbai|Marine Drive]], in [[Mumbai]] at the age of 95 on 1 February 2008.<ref name = "Kulkarni"/><ref name="ria" /> In a "departure from [[Parsi people|Parsi]] tradition, as per his wishes,"<ref name="NewsPost" /> his funeral was held in Chandanvadi crematorium, in south Mumbai.<ref name="ria" /> Karanjia was survived by one daughter, Rita Mehta,<ref name="ria" /> the founder and first Editor-in-chief of [[Cine Blitz]] magazine. His brother, [[B. K. Karanjia|Burjor]], was also a journalist, albeit in the film industry, editor of ''[[Filmfare]]''.<ref name="ria" />

==Owner editor of Blitz==
Karanjia was founder and owner editor of ''Blitz'', a tabloid weekly published from Mumbai. [[Sudheendra Kulkarni|Kulkarni]] narrates that the decision to launch ''Blitz'' was taken over a cup of tea, by three patriotic journalists- B. V. Nadkarni, [[B. G. Horniman|Benjamin Horniman]] and Karanjia- at Wayside Inn, a restaurant near [[Kala Ghoda]], in Mumbai. The first issue of ''Blitz'' was published on 1 February 1941 (the same day that Karanjia died in 2008). [[Sudheendra Kulkarni|Kulkarni]] calls his journalism "irreverent, investigative, courageous and a little titillating". [[Khwaja Ahmad Abbas]], writer and film maker, and [[P. Sainath]], Magsaysay award winning journalist, were associated with Blitz. Blitz was radical and idealist, left leaning and pro-Soviet. Karanjia attacked the [[Indian National Congress|Congress party]], and yet was friendly with Congress leaders [[Nehru]], [[Indira Gandhi]] and [[Rajiv Gandhi]]. Karanjia became disillusioned with communism and its [[anti-Hinduism|anti-Hindu]] [[secularism in India|secularism]]. He became a strong sympathiser of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the [[Ayodhya dispute|Ayodhya movement]]. Kulkarni claims that thus P. Sainath as deputy editor was replaced with him by Karanjia.<ref name = "Kulkarni"/>

==Devotee of Satya Saibaba==
Initially a fierce critic of the Indian guru [[Sathya Sai Baba]] Karanjia became his devotee in 1976.<ref name = "Kulkarni"/>

==Books==
* 1952: ''China stands up and wolves of the Wild West''
* 1956: ''SEATO: Security or Menace?''
* 1958: ''Arab Dawn''
* 1960: ''The Mind of Mr. Nehru''
* 1961: ''Castro: Storm Over Latin America''
* 1966: ''The Philosophy Of Mr. Nehru''
* 1970: ''Round Germany with Hitler''
* 1977: ''Kundalini Yoga''
* 1977: ''Mind of a Monarch: Biography of the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah of Iran]]'' {{ISBN|978-0-04-923069-9}}
* 1997: ''God Lives In India'' {{ISBN|978-81-86822-27-2}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{commonscat|Rustom Khurshedji Karanjia}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karanjia, Russi}}
[[Category:1912 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian newspaper editors]]
[[Category:Indian male journalists]]
[[Category:Writers from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Parsi people from Mumbai]]
[[Category:Followers of Sathya Sai Baba]]
[[Category:People from Quetta]]
[[Category:Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha]]
[[Category:Indian investigative journalists]]
[[Category:Journalists from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]

Russi Karanjia - Revision history

2409:4073:209F:5150:0:0:1551:F8B1 at 18:34, 23 September 2021