Vir Sanghvi: The suave charmer

One of the best-known faces of Indian journalism, Vir Sanghvi has held many a coveted and high profile media position in his illustrious career. Currently the Editorial Director of Hindustan Times, he was till recently the Editor of the newspaper, the latest in a long line of editorships that started very early in his life.

Educated at Mayo College, Ajmer and Oxford University, Sanghvi was just 22 when he became founder-editor of Bombay magazine, possibly one of the youngest editors ever.

He was credited with the revamp of Imprint, one of India's oldest magazines, which he joined in 1983. He shot to national fame when he became the Editor of Sunday, then India's largest selling magazine, aged just 30.

After a long and widely appreciated stint at the helm of Sunday, Sanghvi was appointed Consulting Editor for Ananda Bazaar Patrika group in 1997.  Two years later he joined his current appointment, Editor of Hindustan Times. His weekly column, Counterpoint, has been one of the high points of the newspaper since it began.

Meanwhile he had embarked on a parallel career on a different medium - television. He started hosting his first show on Doordarshan in 1994. Round Table, telecast on Doordarshan and CNN, began in 1996 and took him to newer and wider audiences. But it was his shows on the Star network  - A Question of Answers and the ongoing Star Talk that his popularity reached unprecedented levels.

Even after more than a hundred episodes of the show, Star Talk is currently amongst the most eagerly anticipated television programmes. From Amitabh Bachchan to George Fernandes and Rupert Murdoch, the show has seen almost all the major celebrities make an appearance at some time. 
 
Currently Sanghvi divides his time between print and television even as he sets precedents for the rest of his fellow journalists to follow. Sanghvi has been honoured by several organisations and institutes, but perhaps the accolades he regularly receives from his audiences in print and television are the best testament to the high quality of his work.