Anil Dharker (1946-2021): He was a true bon vivant

Anil Dharker and Shobhaa De’s friendship goes back 40 years

My mind is flooded with memories, even as my heart strives to deal with the shock of Anil's sudden passing. I was in touch with him over hurried, frantic WhatsApp messages less than 24 hours before his heart surgery. He had stated that he was "nervous and anxious", which was slightly ominous-sounding, especially coming from him.

Ours was a friendship going back 40 or more years. While I cannot recall our first meeting, I can easily remember our last few, pre-pandemic encounters. And the many promises to meet "as soon as things improve".

I am very close to his wonderful partner Amy Fernandes, who has been his rock and emotional anchor for decades. Anil addressed her as his ‘baiko' with enormous love and pride. My husband Dilip and Anil shared a common passion - for rare single malts and whiskies. Anil was a true bon vivant, with a refined taste in all things beautiful and wonderful - food, books, cinema, and art. I tried (unsuccessfully!) to get him to write a novel - a love story. He had it all inside his head; unfortunately, that didn't happen.

‘He wore many hats'

Anil had a deliciously wicked sense of humour, and when we cracked jokes in Marathi that few understood, it gave us both a special kick! I enjoyed his childlike curiosity. He had enormous empathy and was a good listener with a keen sense of observation - plus a monumental ego! It was his strong self-belief that drove his ambition. Like he said about himself, "I may sound pompous, but I wear many hats." Which indeed he did! It was his energy that drove prestigious projects like the Mumbai International Literature Festival and Literature Live! He curated both meticulously, without tiring or taking the easy way out. Since I was on his Advisory Board, we would brainstorm frequently about the themes, authors and content for the next literary event.

De was on the advisory board of his literary festivals, and they would brainstorm frequently for the next event

As a liberal and free thinker, Anil did not hesitate to speak out against shifting political trends. He did so as a concerned citizen worried about various freedoms in what he saw as an increasingly intolerant environment. This was evident in the choice of bold topics he picked for the concluding debate of the festival he had started and nurtured since 2010. These fiery and controversial debates often led to ugly protests and comments, but Anil was not one to back down. This is what I see as his greatest attribute and contribution. I am sure it wasn't easy, and there must have been immense pressure on him to drop a few authors or change the subjects of some of his more sensitive sessions, which he resolutely refused to do. I have seen him taking on a very hostile and motivated crowd at one such debate at which I was a speaker. He did so with dignity, firmness and authority befitting his stature as the director of the festival. Later, the same evening, all of us relaxed - he with a tumbler of his favourite malt. His sense of humour was intact as we reviewed the unpleasantness of the times we live in. The literary landscape looks a bit too arid without Anil rushing around in his trademark kurta-pajamas, his silvery mane of hair groomed to perfection, his skin glowing. Yes, Anil was impossibly vain - I found that such an endearing trait!

‘A good sport all the way'

Many moons ago, when I was the editor of Society and later Celebrity, and Anil was the editor of Debonair ( the ‘Playboy' of India ). I persuaded him to pose for a cover story, with him recreating the iconic James Bond poster - Anil as 007 with a fake gun and two gorgeous models on either side. Surprisingly, he agreed! Anil at the time was trying to "intellectualise" what was essentially a "girlie" magazine, which sold on its centre-spreads and pin-ups - not long essays on Truffaut's oeuvre or Ritwick Ghatak's masterpieces. Anil tried valiantly to balance the two. That was Anil - a good sport all the way. And a first rate writer of highly readable prose. An aesthete and connoisseur, I can see him raising a glass of Aberlour 18 years, wherever he is.