Krishan Chopra, who held senior publishing roles, passes away
Aman Arora, associate director of marketing at HarperCollins, who worked with Chopra, remembered his pursuit of excellence fondly. “He was a brilliant, brilliant man,” Arora said. “I learned so much from him, from multiple edits of a press release alone…”
Chopra described editing as ‘finding bugs’ — “keedey nikalna”, Sharma recalled. Returning a proof heavy with corrections, he would remark, “Kaafi keedey nikley hain isme.” If he wasn’t happy with the editing, he would print it out, edit it by hand, and send pictures of the marked pages to his junior editors, sometimes in the middle of the night.
Krishan Chopra, the publishing executive who brought presidents, central bank governors, and some of the most influential voices of contemporary India into print, passed away in New Delhi on Tuesday after a brief illness. He was in his early 70s.
In the course of a career spanning more than 50 years, Chopra became one of the most respected and well-connected figures in Indian publishing. He held senior roles at Penguin Books India and served as Executive Publisher at HarperCollins India, where he launched and established the Harper Business imprint. His list of authors included former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, L&T chairman A M Naik, and a host of public intellectuals.
Aman Arora, associate director of marketing at HarperCollins, who worked with Chopra, remembered his pursuit of excellence fondly. “He was a brilliant, brilliant man,” Arora said. “I learned so much from him, from multiple edits of a press release alone…”
In a detailed tribute on LinkedIn, publisher Sachin Sharma, who worked with Chopra to build Harper Business, wrote: “He would spend hours fine-tuning a cover blurb or re-editing a manuscript if he wasn’t satisfied.” Chopra, Sharma said, was an “exceptionally well-read man”, and it showed in the editorial interventions that he made.
Chopra described editing as ‘finding bugs’ — “keedey nikalna”, Sharma recalled. Returning a proof heavy with corrections, he would remark, “Kaafi keedey nikley hain isme.” If he wasn’t happy with the editing, he would print it out, edit it by hand, and send pictures of the marked pages to his junior editors, sometimes in the middle of the night.
Tall, impeccably dressed, and low-profile, Chopra was a man of few words who took time to trust people, but once he did, he became a fiercely loyal friend and mentor, said those who knew him well.
Rohit Saran, a senior editor and data journalist who has done books with Chopra, recalled that Chopra was messaging him two weeks before he died about their future publishing plans.
“He was following up, sending me reviews, sending me clippings,” Saran said. “He must have been on his bed. That was his excitement level.” At the time, Saran had no idea Chopra was undergoing cancer treatment. Arora too recalled Chopra messaging him media clippings for an ongoing title barely 10-15 days before his passing.
Krishan Chopra is survived by his wife and daughter.
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