Rajeev Masand is an Indian film critic and journalist. He has worked for

Noida Noida, short for New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, is a planned city located in Gautam Buddha Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Noida is a satellite city of Delhi and is a part of the National Capital Region (NCR) o ...

based English language news channel CNN-Indian Broadcasting Network (CNN-IBN). He usually reviews

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...

films and major

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

films released in India in his weekend show ''Now Showing''. He studied at

H.R. College of Commerce and Economics Hassaram Rijhumal College of Commerce and Economics, commonly known as HR College, is an autonomous (since 2007 ) educational institute located in Churchgate, Mumbai. It is run by the Hyderabad (Sindh) National Collegiate Board and is affiliate ...

and graduated from

Mumbai University The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed h ...

, Masand started reporting at the age of 16 at ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest s ...

'' newspaper. He later became assistant editor at ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

''. In January 2003, he joined

STAR News ABP News is an Indian Hindi-language free-to-air television news channel owned by ABP Group. The news channel was launched in 1998 originally as STAR News before being acquired by ABP Group. It won the Best Hindi News Channel award in the 21 ...

as a special correspondent and as the host of ''Masand Ki Pasand''. In 2005, Masand moved to

CNN-IBN CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides internat ...

where he is currently the film critic and runs an ongoing video reviews series on the CNN-IBN website, ''Masand's Verdict''. He also became the host of CNN-IBN's entertainment series, ''To Catch a Star''. He also has a popular YouTube channel, where he posts weekly his film reviews (filmed as

CNN-News18 CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides internation ...

's 'Now Showing' segments, which are also posted concurrently to their channel) and regular interviews with key figures in the entertainment industry (both Indian and occasionally International), mostly actors and directors. Additionally, he writes as an entertainment-industry columnist for several publications, such as Open Magazine,

Firstpost ''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language ne ...

News18 Network18 Media & Investments Limited, (formerly SGA Finance and Management Service and Network18 Fincap Limited) commonly referred to as the Network18 Group and sometimes as the Network18–Eenadu Group, is an Indian media conglomerate owned b ...

, The Quint and for his own website, ''Rajeevmasand.com''. Among other recognitions, Masand was thrice awarded ‘Best Entertainment Critic’ by the National Television (NT) Awards, in 2008, 2010 and 2011.

Criticism

Masand was called for questioning by

Mumbai Police The Mumbai Police ( Marathi: मुंबई पोलीस, IAST: ''Mumbaī Pulīs'', formerly ''Bombay Police'') is the police department of the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of Maharashtra Police and has the primary responsibilit ...

in connection with Sushant Singh Rajput's death. Masand has been accused by actress

Kangana Ranaut Kangna Amardeep Ranaut (; born 23 March 1987) is an Indian actress and filmmaker who works in Hindi films. Known for her work in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including four National Film Awards and five Filmfar ...

of writing blind items (in which details are reported without identifying the people involved or revealing sources) to discredit Rajput. Actor Manoj Bajpayee and filmmaker Apurva Asrani also called out Masand over his blind items on Rajput.

References

External links

*
Blog at IBNLive
* Indian film critics Indian male television journalists Living people 1979 births Journalists from Uttar Pradesh {{India-journalist-stub