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{{Short description|Indian writer and journalist}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Anita Pratap
| image =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1958|12|23}}
| birth_place = [[Kottayam]], Kerala, India
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Journalist, writer
| nationality = Indian
| yearsactive=
| othername =
| spouse = Pratap Chandran {{small|(divorced)}}<br/>[[Arne Roy Walther]] {{small|(1999–present)}}
| children = Zubin (son)
| website = {{URL|http://www.anitapratap.com/}}
}}
'''Anita Pratap''' is an [[expatriate]] Indian writer and journalist.<ref name="TheHindu-20130306">{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/together-we-rise/article4481664.ece|title=Together we rise |last=Balakrishnan|first=Suneetha|date=6 March 2013|work=The Hindu|accessdate=21 April 2013}}</ref><ref name="Chapman2012">{{cite book|author=Graham P. Chapman|title=The Geopolitics of South Asia (Epub) from Early Empires to the Nuclear Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DgbHSGqO2-4C&pg=PA296|year=2012|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-4094-8807-1|page=296}}</ref><ref name="Postcolonial Insecurities: India, Sri Lanka and the Question of Nationhood">{{cite book|title=Postcolonial Insecurities: India, Sri Lanka and the Question of Nationhood|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Xq4GnaraYUC&pg=PA277|year=1999|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-3329-6|page=277}}</ref> In 1983, she was the first journalist who interviewed [[LTTE]] chief [[V. Prabhakaran]]. She won the [[George Polk award]] for TV reporting for her television journalism related to the takeover of [[Kabul]] by the [[Taliban]].<ref name="TheHindu-20130306" /> She was India bureau chief for [[CNN]].<ref name="IndiaToday-19991119">{{cite news|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/former-cnn-bureau-chief-in-new-delhi-anita-pratap-weds-norwegian-envoy-arne-walther/1/254811.html|title= Just married: Former CNN bureau chief in New Delhi Anita Pratap weds Norwegian envoy Arne Walther|last=Menon|first=Bindu|date=22 November 1999|work=India Today|accessdate=21 April 2013}}</ref><ref name="Sreenivasan2008">{{cite book|author=T. P. Sreenivasan|title=Words, Words, Words: Adventures in Diplomacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WLZXyADJWkUC&pg=PA202|year=2008|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=978-81-317-0405-9|page=202}}</ref> She has written the book ''Island of Blood'' based on [[Sri Lanka]].<ref name="TheHindu-20130306" /> In 2013 she was presented with the Shriratna award by the Kerala Kala Kendram an organisation associated to the [[Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi]].<ref name="IBN-20130228">{{cite news|url=http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/shreeratna-global-award-for-anita-pratap/1202735.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130629123428/http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/shreeratna-global-award-for-anita-pratap/1202735.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 June 2013|title=Shreeratna global award for Anita Pratap|date=28 February 2013|work=IBN Live|accessdate=21 April 2013 |place=[[Thiruvananthapuram]]}}</ref> She was nominated as the [[Aam Aadmi Party]] candidate from Ernakulam, Kerala, for the [[2014 Indian general election|2014 Lok Sabha elections]].

==Early life==
Anita was born in [[Kottayam]], Kerala, in a [[Syriac Catholic Church|Syrian Catholic]] family. Her father was employed with a [[Tata Group]] enterprise, he was posted at different locations in India taking his family with him. As a child Anita changed seven schools in eleven years. She passed [[Senior Cambridge]] from a [[Loreto Schools, Kolkata|Loreto School]] Kolkata and did her BA – English from [[Miranda House]], New Delhi, in 1978<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.mirandahouse.ac.in/MirandaHouse/UserSpace/UserName/admin/DynamicFolder/2009-2010/alumnae/AlumniBioProfile_Anita_pratap.html | title=Alumni Profile: Anita Pratap | publisher=[[Miranda House]] | accessdate=24 April 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140419012555/http://www.mirandahouse.ac.in/MirandaHouse/UserSpace/UserName/admin/DynamicFolder/2009-2010/alumnae/AlumniBioProfile_Anita_pratap.html | archive-date=19 April 2014 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and diploma in journalism from [[Bangalore University]].

==Career==
After completing her diploma in journalism, Anita was recruited by [[Arun Shourie]], the then editor of ''[[The Indian Express]]'' in Delhi. She then transferred to Bangalore to live with her parents. Shortly after, she joined ''Sunday Magazine''. Her interest in journalism was in international politics and that led her to the ethnic conflicts in [[Sri Lanka]]. She visited many sites to gather first-hand information. In 1983, she interviewed [[Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam]]'s (LTTE) chief [[Velupillai Prabhakaran]].<ref name="TheHindu-20130306"/> This became the first ever interview Prabhakaran gave to the world in which he talked about his philosophies of establishing LTTE, of taking matters in his own hands rather than relying on government and of his plans ahead. Anita was immediately recognised on an international level. She continued her work in Sri Lanka and later in 2003 published her first book ''Island of Blood'' about her experiences of living in a terror-stricken areas.<ref name="TheHindu-20130306"/>

Anita also worked for ''[[India Today]]'' and then was a correspondent for ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine for eight years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anitapratap.com/ |title=Anita Pratap: Curriculum Vitae |accessdate=24 April 2013 |publisher=Anita Pratap |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821090046/http://www.eelamweb.com/leader/interview/in_1984/ |archivedate=21 August 2007}}</ref> Post [[1993 Bombay bombings|1993-bombings in Bombay]] (now [[Mumbai]]), she also interviewed [[Bal Thackeray]] for ''Time''; he was the then the chief of [[Shiv Sena]] which was the leading opposition party in [[Maharashtra]]. In 1996, she joined [[CNN]], her first experience as a television journalist. She worked from the Atlanta and the Bangkok bureaus for a short while to get experience. She then covered news on the Taliban's takeover of Kabul for which she was presented with the [[George Polk Award]].<ref>{{cite magazine | url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?203278 | title=Anita Pratap: CNN's Delhi bureau chief is the first Indian to win the George Polk Award |magazine=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]] | date=26 March 1997 | accessdate=24 April 2013 | author=Jahagirdar, Archana}}</ref>

Switching to television from print media, Anita also made various documentaries on social issues and arts. In ''Light Up the Sky'', she showcases the transformation of [[March 1966 Mizo National Front uprising|insurgent Mizoram]] into a democratic state. Her documentary, ''Orphans of an Ancient Civilization'', notes the plights of craftsmen and ''When The Soul Glows'' documents folk dance traditions. The ''Shabash Hallelujah'' was a documentary on the [[Naga Regiment]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.anitapratap.com/documentaries.html | title=Anita Pratap : Documentaries | accessdate=24 April 2013 |publisher=Anita Pratap}}</ref> Co-authoring with a Bangalore-based photographer Mahesh Bhatt, she published her second book ''Unsung'' in 2007 which told stories of nine ordinary Indian people who served the society.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.anitapratap.com/no/about-the-book.html | title=Unsung: About the Book | accessdate=24 April 2013 |publisher=Anita Pratap}}</ref>

==Awards and honours==
{{unreferenced section|date= September 2022}}
* 1997 – [[George Polk Award]]
* 1997 – Eminent Indian Award conferred by the Indo-American Society
* 1998 – [[Chameli Devi Jain Award for Outstanding Women Mediapersons|Chameli Devi Jain Award for "Outstanding Woman Media Person"]]
* 2010 – "Noble Laureate as Media Citizen" by Karmaveer Puraskaar
* 2013 – Shriratna Global Award

==Personal life==
Her first marriage was to Pratap Chandran, and she has a son Zubin from that relationship, born when she was 22 years old.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi-times/The-island-of-Anita-Pratap/articleshow/545294722.cms | title=The island of Anita Pratap | newspaper=[[Times of India]] | date=1 October 2001 | accessdate=24 April 2013 | author=Singh, Sanghita}}</ref> Pratap Chandran was a senior reporter at ''The Indian Express'' where the two met. She subsequently divorced Chandran and took custody of her son.<ref name="TheTribune-20011027">{{cite news|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20011027/windows/above.htm|title=Anita Pratap|author=Singh, Khushwant|author-link=Khushwant Singh|date=27 October 2011|work=The Tribune|accessdate=21 April 2013}}</ref> In 1999, she married [[Arne Roy Walther]], a Norwegian diplomat. This is also Walther's second marriage.<ref name="IndiaToday-19991119" />

==Popular culture==
The character of Jaya, played by [[Nargis Fakhri]] in the 2013 Bollywood thriller, ''[[Madras Cafe]]'' is modelled on Anita Pratap.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mid-day.com/articles/nargis-fakhris-role-inspired-by-anita-pratap/225495|title=Nargis Fakhri's role inspired by Anita Pratap?|date=2013-08-05|website=mid-day|language=en|access-date=2019-05-25}}</ref> In the film, Jaya interviews LTF leader Anna Bhaskaran, who is in turn, modelled on [[Velupillai Prabhakaran]].{{citation needed|date= September 2022}}

==Works==
;Books
* ''Island of Blood: Frontline Reports from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Other South Asian Flashpoints'' {{ISBN|0142003662}}
* ''Unsung'' {{ISBN|8190453505}}, co-authored with Mahesh Bhatt, a documentary and editorial photographer based in Bangalore. {{small|(Not to be confused with Hindi feature film director [[Mahesh Bhatt]].)}}

;Documentaries
* ''Orphans of an Ancient Civilization''
* ''Light Up the Sky''
* ''Shabash Hallelujah''
* ''When the Soul Glows''

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{cite web|url=http://www.eelamweb.com/leader/interview/in_1984/ |title=Velupillai Pirabakaran's interview; leader of the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam |accessdate=2013-04-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070821090046/http://www.eelamweb.com/leader/interview/in_1984/ |archivedate=21 August 2007}}
* [http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/book-review-of-anita-pratap-island-of-blood/1/231355.html Review of ''Island of Blood'']
* [http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/17881 Shattered dreams of Ms. Anita Pratap: An interview]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130906124709/http://www.littleindia.com/nri/1611-soft-spots-of-a-tough-girl.html Soft Spots of a Tough Girl: An interview]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pratap, Anita}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Journalists from Kerala]]
[[Category:Indian documentary filmmakers]]
[[Category:George Polk Award recipients]]
[[Category:Writers from Kottayam]]
[[Category:Delhi University alumni]]
[[Category:CNN people]]
[[Category:Time (magazine) people]]
[[Category:Aam Aadmi Party candidates in the 2014 Indian general election]]
[[Category:Women writers from Kerala]]
[[Category:Indian women journalists]]
[[Category:Aam Aadmi Party politicians]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kottayam]]
[[Category:Women in Kerala politics]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women politicians]]
[[Category:1958 births]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:Indian women documentary filmmakers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women artists]]
[[Category:Indian women political writers]]
[[Category:Indian political journalists]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Women artists from Kerala]]
[[Category:Film directors from Kerala]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian film directors]]
[[Category:Indian women film directors]]
[[Category:People of the Sri Lankan Civil War]]
[[Category:Indian Peace Keeping Force]]

Anita Pratap - Revision history

Bot at 03:02, 2 September 2022