Karan Johar's role in BV based on Russi Karanjia

Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 24, 2013)

Karan Johar is playing an influential media mogul in Anurag Kashyap's upcoming film Bombay Velvet and the character is apparently on the lines of Rustom Khurshedji Karanjia, popularly known as Russi Karanjia, the founder-editor of Blitz, India's first weekly tabloid.

According to sources, Karan plays Kaizad Khambatta- a quick-witted, impeccably dressed flamboyant journalist with a devil-may-care attitude. There is an uncanny resemblance to colourful and controversial newspaper baron who ruffled quite a few feathers with his fearless exposs and had the wit and gumption to feature an actress nude on the cover of the very first edition of his entertainment magazine, Cine Blitz.

Historian Gyan Prakash in his book paints him as: "He brashly promoted himself and his paper. During his long editorship of Blitz, he took many controversial and unpredictable positions. He railed against the powerful but was not averse to cozying up to those at the top."

While Karan remained unavailable for comment, Kashyap confirmed that Karan's role is "that of a media tycoon who goes on to resurrect his empire". However, he was quick to add that his Kaizad is largely a fictional character with shades of grey.
Karan shot for most of his role in Sri Lanka and was all praise for Kashyap's directorial abilities.

Bombay Velvet starring Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma in lead roles is inspired by Gyan Prakash's novel Mumbai Fables, which interestingly enough has a chapter chronicling the rise and rise of Karanjia and the phenomenal influence Blitz had on early post-Independent India.

Mere coincidence?