One of the most colourful editors Pritish Nandy passed away this afternoon. He was 73. According to a source close to him, Pritish had a shower around 1.30 pm in his SoBo apartment and sat down on a chair. He then suffered a massive cardiac arrest and died before medical aid could be rushed. The funeral was held in the evening in the presence of close friends. Apparently the family wanted to keep it a private affairs.
A born poet who made it big in Kolkata, Pritish bagged the Padmashri at a young age. His took part in poetry reading sessions held at the residence of noted, if controversial, writer Kamala Das at the Reserve Bank's Quarters Bank House, Churchgate. Among his admirers was the pretty dansuse Mallika Sarabahai.
Pritish then was appointed editor of The Illustrated Weekly of India which was earlier edited by the likes of Kushwant Singh.
Pritish viagarised the publication with his bold interviews of celebs in India and abroad. The who's who of politics, India Inc and Bollywood vied with each other in being interviewed by him. His interviews were so impactful that it shook governments. One such interview was that of the Haryanvi big boss Devi Lal which created a major crisis in the VP Singh government.
Pritish 's cabin on the fourth floor of The Times of India became a power centre with VIPs walking in almost daily. Pretty actresses were a regular. He encouraged painters like Souza , Manjit Bawa among others. He rightly boasted of a rich collections of paintings. One day he asked me to introduce him to Bal Thackeray and the next thing I knew was that he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
But I will never forgive Pritish for one thing. I had stopped the news about Neena Gupta having a child by Viv Richard's. Pritish front paged the story with his byline. He had to be in the limelight always. But on the day he left the TOI building not a soul accompanied him to his car.
