Senior journalist Vinod Mehta, editorial chairman of Outlook magazine passed away. Born in Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan) in 1942, Mehta was known for his bold journalism. All through his long innings as editor at Outlook and at various publications, writer and a television talking head, Mehta carried characteristic wit, bluntness, and non-partisanship to the table, endearing him to readers and viewers, and to friends and foes, across the country and across the globe. Editor from the day, he stepped into journalism from the advertising world in 1974, Mehta’s first job was as Editor of the monthly men’s magazine, ‘Debonair’. Debonair Magazine founded in 1971 is an Indian men’s magazine, originally modeled after the American editor of Playboy. The magazine, best known for its topless female centerfolds, was launched by Ashok Row Kavi and Anthony Van Braband. The magazine had several court cases and criminal complaints – the famous section being 292 of the Indian Penal Code pending against it and the government and police persecuted it vigorously for its topless images and bold centre spreads.
The office was sealed several times during the 1980 and 1990, but the magazine nevertheless managed to make it to the stands operating from secret locations in places like Daman and Diu. Even the printers were raided and printing presses sealed, but the publishers of the magazine used to pay hard cash and at times double the amount, so there were always new printers willing to take on the risky job. The printing press was always at the top secret location and even the staff at Debonair were not aware about where the magazine was printed. Only a couple of people were privy to the information. Much has changed today and there are no nudes or topless women anymore.
Several top editors and journalists in India have at one point worked with the ‘Outlook’ magazine including Vinod Mehta. Mehta was the one who founded India’s first weekly newspaper, ‘The Sunday Observer’, from where he went on to edit ‘The Indian Post’ and ‘The Independent’ in what was then Bombay. Mehta moved to Delhi in the early 1990s, when he became Editor-in-Chief of ‘The Pioneer’, but his 17-year bonding of ‘Outlook’ magazine was his longest tenure. Later on, he served as president of the Editors Guild of India and was briefly, the writer and presenter of “Letter from India” on the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4. Mehta, who disliked exaggeration and big words, always followed his motto in journalism that was to make the important interesting. Mehta was the blend of old school writing and modern journalism. He successfully launched a number of publications.
His ‘Sunday Observer’ of the 80s was one of the best packaged and readable papers of its kind. Both in terms of content and format, the paper was a trendsetter in its time. It had articles penned by an array of the finest journalists- Kushwant Singh, M V Kamath, KR Sundar Rajan, Nayantara Sahgal, Pritish Nandy, Vir Sanghvi, Shobhaa De- to name a few. It offered enough to keep one busy all through the weekends. Vinod was a wonderful journalist with in depth knowledge of our country, culture and its demography. That’s why, his writing used to be very rich and full of information.
Mehta was three years old when he migrated to India along with his family after partition. The family settled down in Lucknow, where he did his schooling and got BA degree. Leaving home with a BA third class degree, he experimented with a string of jobs, including that of a factory hand in suburban Britain, before accepting an offer to edit Debonair. Years later, he shifted to Delhi where he launched the Delhi-edition of The Pioneer newspaper.
He was married to Sumita Paul, a journalist who worked for the Pioneer and the Sunday Times of India. The couple does not have any children. According to his own account in his book Lucknow Boy, Mehta has a daughter from an old affair. He said nobody, other than his wife, knew about his daughter until he wrote about it in his memoir. He said, he spoke to his wife and she encouraged him to write about it. Mehta has also authored biography of Meena Kumari and Sanjay Gandhi and published a collection of his articles under the title Mr. Editor, How Close Are You to the PM? He recently published another book Editor Unplugged but could not attend its launch in December last year because of his illness. Mehta was a dog lover and had adopted a street dog whom he had named Editor. The dog often figured in his columns in Outlook magazine.
Mehta, was bedridden for several months and was hospitalised at AIIMS. He was suffering from severe lung infection and was on life support. He died of multiple-organ failure. Vinod Mehta’s passing is indeed a great loss to Indian journalism. He was one of the few editors who could stand up with great courage for press freedom and his long innings was studded with great achievements which he never gloated about. He could be cynical at times, but as a nationalist he always believed that the country’s interests come first.
Indian journalism has lost a frank, direct and undaunted commentator. He was known for his in depth knowledge of the political situation and was forthright in calling a spade a spade. The world of journalism has become poor by his demise. My heartfelt condolences to the great journalist of this era. History will certainly mark him as one of the greatest son of India, may his soul rest in peace.
