CleanupBot II at 10:41, 14 August 2023

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{{tone|date=July 2017}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Amita Malik
| image = Amita Malik BITS 1983.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
Amita Malik Chief Guest at OASIS (CUSAT), 1983
| birth_name = 
| birth_date = 1921
| birth_place = [[Guwahati]], [[Assam]], India
| death_date = {{Death date|df=yes|2009|02|20}}  (age 87)
| death_place = [[New Delhi]], India
| nationality = Indian
| other_names =
| occupation = Film and television critic
| known_for =
| awards = {{Plainlist|
* [[Kamal Kumari National Award]]
* B.D. Goenka Journalism Award 1992
}}
}}

'''Amita Malik''' ({{lang-bn|অমিতা মালিক}}; {{lang-hi|अमिता मलिक}}; 1921 – 20 February 2009) was an [[India]]n media critic. She was described by [[Time magazine|''Time'']] magazine as India's "most prominent film and television critic",<ref>{{cite news|title=Worldwide Wave – Why is the Entire Planet Baywatching? Why Not? It's Sexy, Wholesome Fun. Yes, Really|url=http://www.time.com/time/international/1995/950925/television.html|accessdate=31 July 2017|work=Time|date=25 September 1995|archivedate=17 August 2000|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20000817095119/http://www.time.com/time/international/1995/950925/television.html}}</ref> dubbed the "first lady of Indian media" and "India's best known cinema commentator".<ref>''New Straits Times'', Singapore, 16 May 1991</ref> She began her career at [[All India Radio]], [[Lucknow]] in 1944 and later wrote for many print publications including ''[[The Statesman (India)|The Statesman]]'', ''[[The Times of India]]'', the ''[[Indian Express]]'' and ''[[The Pioneer (Indian newspaper)|Pioneer]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?654427 |title=Amita Malik, RIP |publisher=news.outlookindia.com |accessdate=26 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006155846/http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?654427 |archivedate=6 October 2011 |df=dmy }}</ref> She died of leukaemia at the age of 87 in Kailash Hospital near South Delhi on 20 February 2009.<ref>[http://dearcinema.com/goodbye-mrs-malik-film-critic-1921-2009/ ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227074443/http://dearcinema.com/goodbye-mrs-malik-film-critic-1921-2009/ |date=27 February 2009 }}</ref>

==Childhood==
Malik was born into a Bengali family in [[Guwahati]], [[Assam]], British India. When Amita was 21 days old, the car she was travelling in collided with another car in which [[Mahatma Gandhi]] was sitting. Gandhiji was greatly concerned that the little one was unhurt.<ref>pg.3/4 "Amita No Holds Barred" {{ISBN|81-7223-351-5}}</ref> The very first film she saw in her life was ''[[The Gold Rush]]'' by [[Charlie Chaplin]] screened by the nuns of [[Loreto Convent Shillong]].<ref>pg. 13 "Amita No Holds Barred" {{ISBN|81-7223-351-5}}</ref>

==Career==
She joined [[All India Radio]] at Lucknow at a salary of a hundred rupees a month to "present the weekly programme of lunch hour European music on Saturdays".<ref>pg. 63 "Amita No Holds Barred" {{ISBN|81-7223-351-5}}</ref> In 1944 she formally applied for the advertised post of programme assistant and was posted to All India Radio's Delhi station.<ref>pg. 77 "Amita No Holds Barred" {{ISBN|81-7223-351-5}}</ref> She could boast of being the only Indian film critic to interview many important film celebrities and directors such as [[Ingmar Bergman]] and [[Marlon Brando]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1234539 |title=Lonely death for a trailblazer – Analysis – DNA |publisher=Dnaindia.com |date=26 February 2009 |accessdate=26 October 2012}}</ref>

Amita Malik was the first reporter to interview [[Indira Gandhi]] when she unexpectedly first became Prime Minister of India<ref>"Amita no holds barred" – pages 180/181</ref> after [[Lal Bahadur Shastri]]'s death in Tashkent.

===Fellowship to study in Canada===
She was awarded the first fellowship of the Canadian Women's Press Club which arranged accommodation for her with their members for 10 months in 1960.<ref>The Montreal Gazette, 1 October 1960, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=s4wtAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HJ0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=6904,170269&dq=amita-malik&hl=en</ref> She broke the story of [[Apartheid]] in the United Nations in her interview with Canadian Prime Minister [[Diefenbaker]] in 1960.<ref>The Montreal Gazette, pg 1, 12 October 1960</ref>

===Campaign against foreigners in saris===
In 1960 Columnist Amita Malik launched a cutting campaign against foreigners in saris.
:"If there is anything uglier than an Indian matron in bulging jeans," she snapped, "it is a white woman, tall, angular and with straw-colored hair, wearing a Dacca sari. Foreign wives fondly imagine that they look beautiful in saris, when they would look miles better in gingham."<ref>Time Magazine. 5, Sept 1960. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090702121058/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,826556,00.html]</ref>

===Removal of restrictions on foreign press during Emergency===
Amita Malik was responsible for getting the censorship curbs on foreign media during the [[Indian Emergency]] lifted.
:"During emergency, Malik met Gandhi at her office in South Block. '`What do you think of the present state of the media in India," the Prime Minister asked.
:
:'Do you want me to be frank or do you want me to be polite? "Of course, I want you to be frank," the Prime Minister told Malik.'`I do not know what came over me but I immediately launched into a graphic description of the state of terror which was then prevailing in the media..."
:
:'I don't want to sound like a kingmaker, but it is a fact that the very next day the curbs on the foreign press were lifted,"Malik claims."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.expressindia.com/news/ie/daily/19990531/ile31036.html |title=Indira and Malik – A no holds barred encounter |publisher=Expressindia.com |date=31 May 1999 |accessdate=26 October 2012}}</ref>

===Campaigns against misuse of media===
In 1989 she launched an outspoken campaign against the misuse of India's state owned media which had been converted into the private organ of the [[Indian National Congress]] party to promote [[Rajiv Gandhi]].<ref>The New York Times. 23, June 1989. https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/23/world/gandhi-s-domination-of-broadcasting-brings-outcry-in-india.html</ref>
<ref>The Age, 6 July 1989 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7bMQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZZEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4622,4963981</ref>

===Feud with Khushwant Singh===
Amita enjoyed a healthy feud with [[Khushwant Singh]]. In an interview, Singh said that Malik had once written he was the worst dressed man she had ever known. He confessed it was the only time he genuinely agreed with her.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Nice Man to Know|url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/Storyold/45718/|publisher=The Indian Express|accessdate=8 February 2018|date=7 August 1998}}</ref>

===Syndicated column (Sight and Sound)===
Fed up with kow-towing to India's notoriously parsimonious press barons, Amita resolved never to keep her eggs in one basket. Her syndicated column "'''Sight and Sound'''" has been published in virtually every leading Indian newspaper at various times. Her column was religiously read by generations of Television news reader for Amita's biting sartorial observations on them. At the same time she strongly defended AIR and Doordarshan's underpaid staff who worked under political and bureaucratic pressure.

==Books==
* [https://www.amazon.com/Amita-Malik/e/B001ICGKBW/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1 Amita, no holds barred]: An autobiography Hardcover – January 1, 1999

==Awards==
* Kamal Kumari National Award
* B.D.Goenka Award in Journalism 1992
* Hony. Fellowship of International Police Association

==Trivia==
*Like Amita, another film critic [[Chidananda Dasgupta]] was also born in 1921 to [[Brahmo]] parents in [[Shillong]], Assam, India.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==

*[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090228/saturday/main3.htm The inimitable, dear Mrs M]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20111006155846/http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?654427 Amita Malik, RIP]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malik, Amita}}
[[Category:1921 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian film critics]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Television critics]]
[[Category:Indian women television journalists]]
[[Category:Indian television journalists]]
[[Category:Deaths from leukemia]]
[[Category:All India Radio people]]
[[Category:Date of birth missing]]
[[Category:Women film critics]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:All India Radio women]]
[[Category:Indian women radio presenters]]
[[Category:Indian radio presenters]]
[[Category:Indian women critics]]
[[Category:Bengali writers]]

Amita Malik - Revision history

CleanupBot II at 10:41, 14 August 2023