Nari Hira aka Mr Stardust

January 2023 marked two milestones in the colourful, glittering life of Nari Hira—bossman of Magna Publishing Co. Ltd. His birthday on the 26th. And grand celebrations on the 28th, to mark 50 years of his iconic film magazine—Stardust. He remains my first and only boss—five decades after we launched Stardust, with a bang, and changed film journalism in India forever.

- SHOBHAA DE

It was pretty thrilling to be onstage with ‘Mr Hira’ (I still call him that), as a parade of Bollywood stars came up to receive their awards. Some of the oldie goldies boldly shared how some scoop had upset them. Others, like Anil Kapoor, expressed gratitude for the support extended to them during their struggling years. The younger lot coyly confessed that their mothers forbade them from devouring Stardust when they were schoolkids. All this was music to my ears! I chuckled at the memory and then reminded myself that 50 years of existence was truly a big deal! Hira had audaciously broken every known rule at the time and swiftly become the game-changer and market leader.