Senior journalist and movie producer Nari Hira passed away on Friday at the age of 86.
“It is with deep sorrow that we share the news of his passing, a pioneer in print media a family man and father beyond compare, he leaves us behind heartbroken in his absence,” Nari Hira's family said in a statement.
A well-known figure in the publishing industry, Nari Hira was the owner of Magna Publishing Co. Ltd which is known for a diverse range of magazines, including Stardust, Society, Savvy, Health & Nutrition, Citadel, and Society Interiors.
He was involved in film production through Hiba Films, which produced around 15 video films in the 1980s, and later through Magna Films, which he established in 2007.
Nari Hira was born in Karachi in 1938. His family came to Mumbai after partition.
He started his career in journalism before moving on to publishing.
"Nari Hira’s has been a charmed life, starting out as an advertising guy in sharp Savile Row suits (he hired me as a junior copy writer at a princely salary of Rs 350), and subsequently going on to establish a media empire with a bouquet of glossies—some successful, some not. He pioneered video films, mainly for adult consumption, decades before Sunny Leone came on the scene. In a way—he has seen it all and done it all, as a gutsy publisher who broke several moulds. We have remained friends throughout, and that is a huge thing for me—as I hope it is for him, too!, noted columnist Shobhaa De wrote, in a column titled Nari Hira aka Mr Stardust in THE WEEK in 2023.