Veteran Cricket Journalist And Film Historian Raju Bharatan Dies At 86

Bharatan had a long stint with the Illustrated Weekly of India which spanned over 4 decades. He retired as Assistant Editor, after having worked with eminent writers like Khushwant Singh, MV Kamat, Pritish Nandy and Anil Dharker.

Raju Bharatan (Image Credit: Twitter)

New Delhi: Well known film historian and noted cricket journalist Raju Bharatan passed away on Friday at the age of 86 following a prolonged illness. He is survived by his daughter, Shilpa; son-in-law, Sriganesh Iyer; and grandchildren Sucharita and Sachinshankar. Bharatan had a long stint with the Illustrated Weekly of India which spanned over  4 decades. He retired as Assistant Editor, after having  the privilege of working with eminent writers like Khushwant Singh, MV Kamat, Pritish Nandy and Anil Dharker.

During his long tenure with the Weekly, he came out with two cricket specials which hit all-time high circulations of 4.05 lakh and 3.8 lakh. He was also a columnist for Sportstar and Indian cricket for many years.  Besides his highly acclaimed writing skills, Bharatan also directed "The Victory Story" (1974) the first full-length cricket documentary for Films Division. The film chronicled the first-ever victory of the Indian cricket team over England during the tour of 1972 and  ran to packed houses across the country on its release.

Known for his voluminous knowledge of the history of cricket, Bharatan also possessed in-depth knowledge of cinema,  a passion he shared in common with his late film journalist wife, Girija Rajendran. Son of A.S. Bharatan, the first General Manager of PTI, Bharatan authored six books, first of which was "Rivals in the Sun"(1952), followed by "Indian Cricket - The Vital Phase" (1977). A writer of high acclaim, his film books include the highly controversial “Lata Mangeshkar - A Biography” (1995), “A Journey Down Melody Lane” (2009), “Naushadnama: The Life and Music of Naushad” (2013) and “Asha Bhosle- A Musical Biography” (2016).