Vir Sanghvi

Vir Sanghvi (Hindi: वीर सांघवी) (born 5 July 1956)^[2] is an Indian print and television journalist, columnist, and talk show host. Currently, he is an Advisor, at HT Media.^[3]

Early life and education

Vir Sanghvi is an Indian editor and also a television personality. Currently, he is Editorial Director of the Hindustan Times. Sanghvi was brought up in Bombay (now Mumbai) and London and educated at Mayo College, Ajmer, and Mill Hill School, London. He went on to read politics, philosophy and economics at Brasenose College,^[4] Oxford.^[5]

His journalistic career began in his gap year before Oxford when he started contributing to India Today. He continued writing for the magazine during his vacations and in 1978, the publishers of India Today asked him to start Bombay, India's first city magazine. At that stage, Sanghvi was 22, making him the youngest editor in the history of Indian journalism. The first issue of Bombay appeared in 1979 and though the magazine was an instant success, heralding the start of India's magazine boom, Sanghvi left it in 1981 to live in London for a year. Awarded a traveling fellowship by the Inlaks Foundation, he visited newspapers in the US and the UK for a project on how the western media looked at India. In 1982, he returned to India as editorial director of Business Press, India's largest publisher of trade magazines. While at Business Press, he revamped and reformatted Imprint, one of India's oldest magazines and turned it into a leading features magazine of the 1980s. In 1986, he was appointed editor of Sunday, a news magazine brought out by the ABP group. By 1989, Sunday had become India's largest-selling weekly news magazine. In 1994, Sanghvi became consulting editor of the ABP group, whose portfolio included—other than magazines like Sunday and Business world—the two largest papers in eastern India, The Telegraph in English and Ananda Bazar Patrika in Bengali. In 1999, he became editor of the Hindustan Times, the largest-selling English newspaper in Delhi and, over the next two years, launched new editions in Chandigarh, Calcutta, Ranchi, Bhopal and other north Indian cities. At the end of 2003, Sanghvi was appointed editorial director of HT Media Limited, the holding company of Hindustan Times, and it was in this capacity that he launched the paper's stunningly successful Bombay edition in July 2005. His column, Counterpoint, which he began in Sunday, now appears in the Sunday Hindustan Times, and is possibly the most influential political column in the country. He also writes Pursuits—a column that appears in the weekend section of Mint, the business paper brought out by HT Media.

These apart, Sanghvi is a foodie, writing the inimitable—and hugely popular—Rude Food column in Brunch, Hindustan Times' Sunday magazine. A collection of these columns was published by Penguin in 2004 (Rude Food). The book won the international food world's equivalent of the Oscar—the Cointreau Award for Best Food Literature Book in the world the following year. Alongside, Sanghvi also won the Best Food Critic award from the Indian Culinary Foundation. He did a television version of Rude Food for the Discovery Travel Living channel called A Matter of Taste which was a huge ratings success in India and South East Asia. His show Custom Made for Vir Sanghvi on NDTV Goodtimes, where he travels across India, in search of the most luxurious and bespoke ‘Indian’ experiences also received high ratings and is rumored to renew for a second season.^[6]

Sanghvi's TV career began in 1994 on Doordarshan, the state-owned broadcaster. Starting 1996, he hosted a number of programmes for the STAR Network. Among his successes are shows like A Question of Answers, Cover Story and Star Talk. In 2006-07, he anchored two shows for NDTV, India's leading English news channel—Face the Music and One on One. He was briefly the CEO of NewsX Media but resigned in 2008. He has won innumerable TV awards for his presenting skills at many national and international forums including the Asian Television Awards in Singapore. In 1993, Sanghvi was named a Global Leader of Tomorrow at the World Economic Forum in Davos and he is a member of several important advisory bodies attached to the Indian government, including the prestigious National Integration Council. In 2008, he also received the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Journalism Award, at a nationally televised ceremony. His published books include Rude Food, India – Then and Now and Men of Steel (a collection of profiles of India's leading businessmen) which has been translated into 10 other languages and is a huge best-seller.^[7] He has also authored a biography of the late Madhavrao Scindia, which was released by Sonia Gandhi in 2009, in Delhi.^[8]

Sanghvi has been also involved in the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit - He has chaired the most important sessions at the Summit which include - Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, George Bush, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Julian Assange. He also chairs the popular Bollywood session known as 'In Conversation with Vir Sanghvi' and his guests have included - Ranbir Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, and Farhan Akhtar.^[9]

Currently Sanghvi has two shows on the air with "Foodistan" ^[10] appearing on NDTV Good Times and "Achievers' Club" ^[11] on Star World.

Nira Radia tapes

In 2010, Sanghvi was connected to the Nira Radia tapes. In the audio tape Sanghvi was heard asking "What kind of story do you want?"^[12] It is alleged that he made some points suggested by Radia in his article titled 'Time for some transparency'^[13] under Sanghvi's column "Counterpoint".^[12][13][14] Sanghvi denied all allegations and uploaded the article onto his website for readers to make their own judgement.^[15][16] On 27 November 2010, Sanghvi released a detailed statement in the Hindustan Times, clarifying his role, and also raising the possibility of the tapes being edited.^[17] Due to the heightened interest in him Sanghvi temporarily suspended his weekly article "Counterpoint".^[17]

In January 2012, The Union Government told the Supreme Court that the Radia tapes broadcast by media organisations were tampered with and the government agencies were not responsible for its leakage.^[18][19][20]

Books By Vir Sanghvi

• Men of Steel - India's business leaders in candid conversation with Vir Sanghvi, Roli Books Pvt Ltd, India (Jan 2007) ISBN 81-7436-474-9
• Rude Food: The Collected Food Writings of Vir Sanghvi, Penguin Putnam (2004) ISBN 0-14-303139-2
• India Then and Now : Now/Vir Sanghvi. New Delhi, Roli, 2006, 274 p., $120. ISBN 81-7436-397-1.
• 26/11:The Attack on Mumbai, Penguin, 2009, ISBN 978-0-14-306705-4
• Madhavrao Scindia: A life, Penguin, 2009, ISBN 978-0-670-08254-4

Further reading

• Vir Sangvi columns Rediff.com
• Vir Sangvi columns Mint
• Vir Sangvi columns Hindustan Times
• Rude Food - The Collected Food Writings of Vir Sanghvi Hindustan Times
• Counterpoint Hindustan Times

References

External links

• Vir Sanghvi's Website