Karan Thapar (Journalist)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Karan Thapar

• Does Karan Thapar smoke?: Not Known

• Does Karan Thapar drink alcohol?: Not Known

• His father was the Chief of Army Staff in the Indian Army.
• The noted historian, Romila Thapar, is his cousin.

  

• While at the Doon School, he was the Editor-in-Chief of ‘The Doon School Weekly.’

  

• He began his career in the field of journalism with ‘The Times’ in Lagos, Nigeria. Thapar later went on to become their lead writer on the Indian subcontinent before stepping down in 1981.

  

• Thapar then joined ‘London Weekend Television’ in 1982 and worked with the channel for the next 11 years.

• In 1993, he moved to India and started working with ‘The Hindustan Television Group,’ Home TV, and United Television.

• Thapar was bestowed with the ‘Onida Pinnacle Award for Best Current Affairs Presenter Award’ in 1995 for the programme ‘The Chat Show.’

• He set up his production house named ‘Infotainment Television’ in 2001, which produces programmes for BBC, Channel Asia News, Doordarshan, and CNBC.

• Thapar is known for his aggressive interviews with the leading politicians and celebrities. Some of his most viewed shows are; Eyewitness, Tonight at 10, Line of Fire and War of Words, The Last Word, and India Tonight.

• In one of his columns in Hindustan Times titled ‘A warm, understanding and caring person,’ Thapar has described the caring and deeply human character of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto along with the sense of timing that she carried.

  

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi once walked out of Thapar’s interview way back in 2007.

• His show, ‘Devil’s Advocate’ had won the ‘Best News/Current Affairs Show’ in 2008, and he was presented the ‘News Interviewer of the Year’ at Indian News Broadcasting Awards. The same awards were presented to both, the show, and Thapar in 2011.

• He was conferred upon with the ‘International Press Institute-India Award’ in December 2013 for his excellence in the field of journalism.

• Thapar quit CNN-IBN in 2014 and went on to join India Today where he hosted the new show of channel titled ‘To the Point,’ and ‘Nothing But the Truth.’

• He parted ways with the India Today Television after his three-year contract ended in March 2017.

• Thapar has written a couple of books, namely ‘Face to Face India – Conversations With Karan Thapar,’ ‘Sunday Sentiments, Wisdom Tree,’ and ‘More Salt Than Pepper – Dropping Anchor With Karan Thapar.’