Karan Thapar (born 5 November 1955) is an Indian journalist,

news presenter A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

and interviewer working with

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2 ...

. Thapar was associated with

CNN-IBN CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides internat ...

and hosted ''The Devil's Advocate'' and ''The Last Word''. He was also associated with

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new on ...

, hosted the shows ''To the Point'' and ''Nothing But The Truth'' and is doing an exclusive series of Interviews with ''

'' on his show ''Access Journalism''.

Early life and education

Karan Thapar is the youngest child of former Chief of the Army Staff General Pran Nath Thapar and Bimla Thapar. The journalist

Romesh Thapar Romesh Thapar (1922–1987) was an Indian journalist and political commentator. Affiliated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Thapar was the founder-editor of the monthly journal ''Seminar,'' published from New Delhi, India. Early life ...

and the historian Romila Thapar are his cousins. Thapar is also related distantly to the family of Prime Minister

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India du ...

. Nehru's niece, the writer Nayantara Sahgal, was married to Gautam Sahgal, brother of Bimla Thapar, his mother. He is an alumnus of

The Doon School The Doon School (informally Doon School or Doon) is a selective all-boys boarding school in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India, which was established in 1935. It was envisioned by Satish Ranjan Das, a lawyer from Calcutta, who prevised a school mod ...

Dehradun Dehradun () is the capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, district and is governed by the Dehr ...

and the

Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmast ...

in England. While at Doon, Thapar was the editor-in-chief of the school magazine '' The Doon School Weekly''.

Career

He began his career in journalism with ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 fo ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and later worked as their Lead Writer on the Indian subcontinent till 1981. In 1982 he joined ''

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

'' in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

where he worked for the next 11 years.In London he was one of the co-presenters of Eatern Eye magazine program for South asian minorities in UK. He moved to India in 1991 and worked with ''The Hindustan Times Television Group'', ''Home TV'' and ''United Television'' before setting up his own production house in August 2001, Infotainment Television, which makes programmes for amongst others BBC,

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest b ...

and

Channel News Asia CNA (stylised as cna), which is an acronym derived from its previous name, Channel NewsAsia, is a Singaporean multinational news channel owned by the country's national public broadcaster Mediacorp. It broadcasts free-to-air domestically in Si ...

. Thapar is noted for his aggressive interviews with leading politicians and celebrities. A few of his shows which have been much watched are ''Eyewitness'', ''Tonight at 10'', ''In Focus with Karan'', ''Line of Fire'', ''War of Words'' ''Devil's Advocate'' and ''The Last Word''. In 2007, Thapar famously interviewed current Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

(then the Chief Minister of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

). After struggling to answer a few tough questions, Modi abruptly stopped the interview just three minutes in while saying "''dosti bani rahe''" ( Hindustani for "Let the friendship be intact") which is a popular

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

. He later said that interviewing

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

was the toughest in his career due to Rahman's shy nature. In 2020–21, Thapar wrote a column ''As I see it'' in the daily newspaper ''

The Asian Age ''The Asian Age'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper with editions published in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. It also prints an "international edition" in London. It was launched in February 1994. The same publishing company also prod ...

''. In August 2021, the management of ''The Asian Age'' objected to Thapar's regular column after he wrote about the '1947 Violence Against Jammu Muslims'. The violence against the Muslim residents of Jammu during the partition led to their mass displacement from the Jammu region. Thapar stopped writing for the column and said "The 1947 violence against Jammu's Muslims that unfolded over a period of three-four months in 1947 is well-documented and has been historically accounted for. It is something that no one can contest. So I gather that the owners are under enormous pressure, presumably from Mr. Modi and Mr.

Shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

." As of 2021, he is doing the regular show ''The Interview with Karan Thapar'' after joining ''The Wire''.

Awards and accolades

* In 1995 Thapar won the Onida Pinnacle Award for Best Current Affairs Presenter for the programme, The Chat Show. * In December 2003, Thapar became the first person to win both awards in the current affairs category of the

Asian Television Awards The Asian Television Awards (launched in 1996), is an appreciation to recognize and reward programming and production excellence in the Asian television industry. Held every December, the Awards comprises 56 categories across news, documentarie ...

. * ''The Best Current Affairs Program'' for an interview with Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Khurshid Kasuri tilted ''Court Martial'' * Second award for 'The Best Current Affairs Presenter' for his popular long-running BBC series ''Face to Face''. * 'Best Current Affairs Presenter' award for his interview with

Ram Jethmalani Ram Boolchand Jethmalani (14 September 1923 – 8 September 2019) was an Indian lawyer and politician. He served as India's Union minister of law and justice, as chairman of the Indian Bar Council, and as the president of the Supreme Court B ...

on ''Devil's Advocate'' * In 2008 his show ''Devil's Advocate'' was conferred 'Best News/Current Affairs Show' by News Television Awards & Karan Thapar was presented the award for 'News Interviewer of the Year' at Indian News Broadcasting Awards. * In April 2009, Thapar was conferred with the

Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award The Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards (RNG Awards) are one of the awards in India in the field of journalism. Named after Ramnath Goenka, the awards have been held annually since 2006, with the 12th edition being held in 2017. The awa ...

and was chosen the 'Journalist of the Year(Broadcast)'. * In August 2009 he was adjudged the "News Show Host of the Year" by Indian News Broadcasting Awards. * In March 2010 Devil's Advocate was accorded an award for being the "Best News Talk Show" by News Television Awards. * In December 2010 he was adjudged the 'Best Current Affairs Presenter' by

. * In March 2011 ''Devil's Advocate'' was adjudged the "Best Current Affairs Programme" and Karan Thapar was declared the "TV News Anchor of the Year-English" by National Television Awards. In October 2013, Karan Thapar won journalism award. * In December 2013, Karan Thapar received the International Press Institute-India Award for excellence in the field of journalism.

Books

* ''Face To Face India - Conversations With Karan Thapar'', Penguin, * ''Sunday Sentiments'', Wisdom Tree, * ''More Salt Than Pepper - Dropping Anchor With Karan Thapar'', HarperCollins, * ''Devil's Advocate: The Untold Story'', HarperCollins, *''As I Like It'', Wisdom Tree, *''Hardtalk India''

References

External links

Karan Thapar on ''The Wire''

Karan Thapar's Profile on Infotainment Television
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thapar, Karan 1955 births Living people The Doon School alumni People educated at Stowe School Presidents of the Cambridge Union People from Srinagar Punjabi people Indian opinion journalists Indian male television journalists Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford 20th-century Indian journalists Journalists from Jammu and Kashmir Hindustan Times journalists