Rajiv Mehrotra is an Indian writer, television producer-director and documentary film maker,[1][2][3] is best known as the host the acclaimed host of one of India's longest running talk shows on public television, "In Conversation",[4] that has been through several incarnations over more than twenty years, aired on the India’s National broadcaster, Doordarshan News Channel, Saturdays at 9.30 pm.[5] As a documentary film maker his films have won 18 national and more than 80 international awards. He has authored half a dozen books on spirituality, most notably Conversations with The Dalai Lama, Thakur - a biography of Sri Ramakrishna and Mind of The Guru. He is a close personal student 'chela' of HH The Dalai Lama and has been a student of the late Swami Ranganathananda, President of The Ramakrishna Mission and of the iconic Yoga teacher BKS Iyengar. He is a Trustee/Secretary of The Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness The Dalai Lama established with the Nobel Peace prize (www.furhhdl.org), Managing Trustee of The Public Service Broadcasting Trust (www.psbt.org) He is currently working on the official, national film on Swami Vivekananda to commemerate his 150 birth centenerary in 2013. This was commissioned by a National Committee chaired by The Prime Minister of India
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Rajiv studied at La Martiniere Boys School, Calcutta, St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and St Edmund Hall, Oxford University and received his Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Film Direction from Columbia University in 1981.[6][7] While in school he twice won the Best Speakers Award at the National Public Schools Debating Competition, was editor of the School Magazine and a lead actor in school productions; at Stephen's he was Secretary of The Shakespeare Society, The English Literary Society and the Cine Club and Acting President of the Students Union; at Oxford University he directed several plays including Othello, Shrivings (Peter Shaffer), The Shrew (Marowitz) and Tughlaq (Girish Karnad) as a Director for the prestigious Oxford University Experimental Theatre Club at the professional Oxford Playhouse. At Columbia University he worked with the Oscar winning film director Milos Forman and won scholarships from the INLAKS Foundation & UNESCO.
He started his career in broadcasting on All India Radio on its youth programme at age 12, on television as the anchor of 'Youth Forum' at age 17 in 1970 and as a television journalist with India's National Broadcaster, Doordarshan in 1980s where he also worked as a news anchor. Soon he switched to making television short films and documentaries, and started his in-depth talk show, In Conversation, which got him acclaim. According to TAM (Television Audience Meter) data it has had the highest viewership across all television news channels in India in its genre. The Programme also had the highest viewership across news channels when it was on air on the Doordarshan News Channel on Saturdays at 9.30 pm. It featured people ranging from several Heads of State from George Bush & Vaclav Havel to numerous Nobel Laureates, Baba Amte, Pt. Ravi Shankar, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, and The Dalai Lama, BKS Iyengar to Richard Gere, Zubin Mehta and Mahashweta Devi. It had been through several incarnations over more than twenty years. The programme is currently taking a break.
Rajiv Mehrotra has extensive and pioneering experience in virtually all aspects of television and radio production, as director, cinematographer and editor. He has anchored a range of live and recorded programme genres in English from his early teens. He reported “live” as a news-anchor and served as a reporter for public television during the 1980s on assignments in India and abroad, in particular with Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
From 2000, he has been Managing Trustee, Executive Producer and Commissioning Editor of The Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT) [8] that has produced more than 400 documentary films winning some 100 awards from 250 international film festival screenings. His films have won numerous international and eighteen national awards from the President of India. He has directed films such as a ten part series for television on Sri Ramakrishna (The Great Swan), Angkor Vat (Axis Mundi), the places of Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India (The Footsteps of the Buddha), the ‘Krishnamurthi Schools’ (Awakening of Intelligence), The Tabo Kye monastery (Sacral Legacy), on the Dalai Lama for PBS in the US (Ocean of Wisdom) etc.
Mehrotra manages, as the Honorary Secretary/Trustee, The Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness The Dalai Lama,[9][10] Trustee of the Norbulingka Institute of Tibetan Culture, the Navdanya Trust. He is President of The Media Foundation that administers the Chameli Devi Awards for Journalism and a media watch dog website The Hoot (www.hoot.com) He has been a close personal student of His Holiness The Dalai for nearly thirty years.
Mehrotra has twice addressed plenary sessions at ‘The World Economic Forum’ at Davos and was nominated a ‘Global Leader for Tomorrow’ by them. He has served as a Judge for The Templeton Prize for Religion, on the Governing Council of the Sri Aurobindo Society, The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) [11] and as the Chairman of the Jury of the 50th anniversary Indian National Film Awards for Non-feature films.[12]
Rajiv Mehrotra has been on the Steering Committees of the Planning Commission of the Government of India to recommend policy & strategies for Information & Broadcasting, Information Technology etc, The committee on Bridging The Digital Divide, The Organising Committee of the Mumbai International Film Festival and is a nominated member of the Core Group of the Press Council of India etc. He served on the high powered committees set up by the Government of India on TRP's (Television Rating Points) and to advise the Government on restructuring the National Film Awards.
Mehrotra has published several books including The Mind of The Guru, Understanding The Dalai Lama, The Essential Dalai Lama, "Thakur" a biography of Sri Ramakrishna all by Penguin/ Viking,[13] The Open Frame Reader - on the Indian documentary was published by Rupa. Recently published is a new revised and expanded edition of The Mind of The Guru by Hay House and due early next year, is a book on creativity: The Spirit of The Muse, 2009 also saw the publication of "In My Own Words" by H.H. The Dalai Lama edited by Rajiv Mehrotra and "Conversations with The Dalai Lama on Life, Living & Happiness" both by Hay House, USA. He is working on a spiritual biography of His Holiness The Dalai Lama
Mehrotra lives in Delhi with his wife, Meenakshi Gopinath, who is the Principal of the prestigious Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi University.