Karan Thapar

Karaṇ Thāpar (Hindi: करन थापर), born on 5th November, 1955 in Srinagar, India, is one of India's noted television commentators and interviewers. He is the youngest child of General P.N. Thapar and Mrs. Bimla Thapar.

Education

An alumnus of The Doon School and Stowe School, he graduated with a degree in the Economics and Political Philosophy from Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1977. In the same year, he was President of the Cambridge Union. He subsequently attained a doctorate in International Relations from St. Anthony's College, Oxford.

Career

He began his career in journalism with "The Times" in Lagos, Nigeria and later worked as their Leader Writer on the Indian subcontinent till 1981. In 1982 he joined "London Weekend Television" where he worked for the next 11 years. He then moved to India where he 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 and Channel News Asia. Currently the President of Infotainment Television, Thapar is noted for his aggressive interviews with leading politicians and celebrities- his interviews with cricketer Kapil Dev (where Dev broke down into tears) [http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_29345,0023.htm] , George Fernandes, Jayalalithaa, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, General Pervez Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and The Dalai Lama are particularly well remembered.

In December 2003, he became the first person to win both awards in the current affairs category of the Asian Television Awards. His interview with Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Khurshid Kasuri, on "Court Martial" won 'The Best Current Affairs Programme'. He received his second award for 'The Best Current Affairs Presenter' for his popular long-running BBC series "Face to Face". In 2005 he won the 'Best Current Affairs Presenter' for the third time since 1999 for his interview with former Indian Law Minister and BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley on "Hardtalk India". He won the 'Best Current Affairs Presenter' award yet again in 2007, this time for his much talked about interview with Ram Jethmalani on "Devil's Advocate". Recently he has been conferred 'Best News/Current Affairs Show' for "Devil's Advocate" by News Television Awards (2008) & 'News Interviewer of the Year' by Indian News Broadcasting Awards (2008). Some of his other popular shows have been "Eyewitness" (Doordarshan), "Tonight at 10" (CNBC), "In Focus with Karan" and "Line of Fire". The shows with which he has been making headlines lately are, "Devil's Advocate" on CNN IBN and "India Tonight" & "War Of Words" on CNBC TV 18.

Thapar is also a prolific newspaper columnist. His weekly column "Sunday Sentiments" in "The Hindustan Times" (the second largest English daily in India) is widely read and very well received. A collection of his columns has been published by the same name "Sunday Sentiments", as have been some of his interviews in "Face To Face India".

Controversies

Thapar evoked protests on the Internet by suggesting the "sudden removal" of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in an article in the Hindustan Times on 29th December 2007 titled "'Modification' of politics", which many interpreted as an unethical encouragement of unconventional and unsavoury action. [ [http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=8368a158-42d4-466c-ba71-685eb2bbc204&&Headline=%e2%80%98Modification%e2%80%99+of+politics&strParent=strParentID HTTimes] ] R.Prasanan criticised Thapar's interview with Gohar Ayub Khan for its hidden motives. [ [http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?BV_ID=@@@&contentType=EDITORIAL&sectionName=Current%20Events&programId=1073754900&contentId=2414531 TheWeek] ]

Notes

External links

* [http://touroperators.godubai.com/telelife/archives/article.asp?section=Interview&adate=5/1/2002 Karan Thapar interviewed by TeleLIFE magazine]
* [http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fname=yash&fodname=20031020&sid=2 Karan Thapar interviews former Indian Minister of External Affairs on Peace with Pakistan]
* [http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1562621,00050004.htm Karan Thapar wins 'Best Current Affairs Presenter' in 2005]
* [http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/2003/12/08/stories/2003120805051201.htm Karan Thapar wins Two Asian Television Awards] in "The Hindu"
* [http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fname=Afterthoughts&fodname=20021216&sid=1 Karan Thapar talks to Outlook India]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/tamil/highlights/story/2004/09/printable/040930_jayainterview.shtml Jayalalitha's Interview to BBC World's HARDtalk India]
* [http://www.ibnlive.com/news/devils-advocate-special-karan-grills-karan/55297-19.html Karan Thapar Interviewed by Karan Johar]