Journalist and writer Anil Dharker passes away at 74

The founder and director of the Mumbai International Literary Festival as well as Tata Literature Live, Dharker had been battling cardiac issues

Indian journalist and writer Anil Dharker died of a cardiac ailment at a Mumbai hospital on Friday morning. He was 74 years old.

Anil Dharker. (HT archive)

Dharker had been admitted for a scheduled bypass surgery. The founder and director of the Mumbai International Literary Festival and of Tata Literature Live!, Dharker had been battling cardiac issues for a few years.

“Dharker was one of the pillars of the cultural legacy of Mumbai,” said cricket writer and commentator Ayaz Memon, a friend and former colleague who worked with Dharker at the city tabloid Mid-Day and later at The Independent, Mumbai. “He was a man of fine style and fine words and had a delectable style of writing.”

Dharker was also a member of the National Centre for the Performing Arts theatre committee and a columnist for the NCPA’s monthly magazine, On Stage. “He was a delightful companion who always had so many stories to tell,” NCPA chairman Khushroo Santook said on Friday. “His greatest contribution is his profound writing on politics, philosophy and current affairs, which were liked by old and young alike.”

A statement released by the Tata Lit Live! festival described Dharker as “the quintessential Renaissance Man, myriad-minded and deeply knowledgeable across genres; an engineer by training who shone in the Arts”.

“I first worked with Anil in the 1990s, when he was editor of The Independent in Mumbai. He was the politest editor I’ve ever worked with – before and since,” said Shashi Baliga, executive director of Tata Lit Live! “He gave us all, old-timers and young entrants, absolute freedom to air our views, however far removed they were from his. And that is why Tata Literature Live! has reached the heights it has in ten wonderful years.”

Online, writers took to Twitter to express their grief. Columnist Shobhaa De wrote: “Goodbye dearest Anil. An elegant mind, a stylish writer, and a loyal friend. You will be missed by all those whose lives you touched. RIP.”

Journalist Meenal Baghel tweeted: “Terrible new about @anildharker. He has been a big influence in Mumbai journalism and was an unfailingly kind man.”

Dharker had studied engineering in the UK but had always wanted to write. After returning to India, he first worked as a senior consultant at Pheroze Kandianavala & Associates, a leading architectural practice where he devised fire safety innovations for the city’s growing number of multi-storey buildings.

His writing on cinema led to a role heading the Film Finance Corporation, before it became the National Film Development Corporation.

Dharker is survived by his ex-wife, poet Imtiaz Dharker, their daughter Ayesha Dharker, and his partner, the editor and writer Amy Fernandes.