Abhinandan Sekhri

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abhinandan Sekhri
Abhinandan Sekhri
Born1974 (age 49–50)
NationalityIndian
Alma materWelham Boys' School
The Doon School
University of Delhi
Occupation(s)Journalist
Producer, director, actor
Known forCo-founder of Newslaundry
Producer, Highway on My Plate

Abhinandan Sekhri (born 4 August 1974) is the co-founder and CEO of Newslaundry, a media critique, news and current affairs website.[1][2]

Education[edit]

Sekhri was educated at the Welham Boys' School and then The Doon School in Dehradun, India. He obtained a bachelor's degree in economics from Hansraj College, University of Delhi.[3][4]

Career[edit]

Before founding Newslaundry, he worked as a producer, director and writer in television and film projects, including Highway on my Plate,[5] which he co-produced and directed; and news-satire show Gustaakhi Maaf.[6] He was also a co-founder and trustee in Delhi-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) PCRF.[7] He was the executive producer for Chase, a documentary series by ScoopWhoop. He regularly delivers lectures and hosts panel discussions on journalism, RTI, and the importance and independence of media.

Newstrack and AajTak (1996–1999)[edit]

In April 1996, he started working as a correspondent for TV Today Network.[8] He reported for Newstrack, a weekly current affairs programme, and for the evening bulletin of Aaj Tak, along with morning show Good Morning Today.

Production, direction and writing career & Small Screen (2000–2014)[edit]

He worked as a camera assistant[9] on Mira Nair’s award-winning feature film Monsoon Wedding which was a Mirabai production. Monsoon Wedding went on to win the 2002 British Independent Film Award for Best Foreign Independent Film – Foreign Language.[10] He then worked as Assistant Director[11] on Filhaal (2000), an Indian feature film produced by Jhamu Sugandh and directed by Meghna Gulzar.

He produced, scripted and co-directed documentary film Chadar along with Prashant Sareen on a winter trade route in the Zanskar valley of Ladakh. Chadar went on to win the Best Travel Documentary Award at the EVEO Spring Fest, 2000 at San Francisco[12] and received a Special Jury Prize at Okinawa, Japan in 2001.[12] He went on to produce and direct several other documentary films including Goonj, a six part series on innovations in agriculture and Daring to Dream, a documentary film about three children in rural Rajasthan. He co-directed and co-scripted documentary films Shared Spaces[13] (a film on religious diversity) and Temples of Water[14] (a documentary film on the water harvesting movement in Rajasthan). Temples of Water was screened at the UNESCO - PSBT Documentary film festival in Delhi in August 2003.[15]

In 2000, Sekhri co-founded Small Screen,[16] a[17] Delhi-based agency that provides audio video production services for television, digital and film-based platforms. Sekhri was the Chief script writer for Double Take and Gustakhi Maaf,[6] a political satire show that aired on NDTV. The show won awards at the Indian Television Academy Awards (2004) and the Indian Telly Awards (2004).[18]

He was the producer, director and scriptwriter for Highway on my Plate[5] which was a travel and food show that ran from 2007 to 2011 on NDTV Good Times. The show won the 'Best Travel Show' at the Indian Telly Awards, 2008.[19] In 2013, Sekhri co-produced Jai Hind with Rocky and Mayur,[20] a show about life in the Armed Forces. He was also the director of the 2014 six-part series, Vital Stats of India[21] on the History Channel, that presented information about India and Indians.

Newslaundry (2012–present)[edit]

In 2012, Sekhri, along with Madhu Trehan, Roopak Kapoor and Prashant Sareen, founded Newslaundry, a media critique, news and current affairs website. The news organisation does not carry advertisements and runs on a subscription-based model.[22] Newslaundry's Manisha Pande, along with Sandeep Pai won the 2015 Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award for investigative reporting. Abhinandan is currently the full-time CEO of Newslaundry.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Bamzai, Kaveree (22 December 2018). "The journey of BJP's Sambit Patra from a trained surgeon to a nasty TV star".
  2. ^ Bansal, Shuchi (27 October 2016). "The big digital paywall question". Livemint.
  3. ^ "Speakers | Tackling Insurgent Ideologies 2.0". ORF.
  4. ^ Sekhri, Abhinandan. "The Boys Boarding Bogey". Newslaundry.
  5. ^ a b Kumar, Anuj (3 September 2011). "Singh on the street!". The Hindu. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Sunetra Choudhury: All the inside juice from Anna's reality show | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. 27 August 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  7. ^ "Public Cause Research Foundation | About | People's empowerment through transparent, accountable governance". www.pcrf.in. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  8. ^ "Pragyan 16 - Abhinandan Sekhri". www.pragyan.org. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  9. ^ Shah, Naseeruddin; Dubey, Lillete; Shetty, Shefali; Raaz, Vijay (26 April 2002), Monsoon Wedding, retrieved 31 March 2017
  10. ^ BIFA (24 October 2002). "Best Foreign Independent - Foreign language - Nominations - Awards 2002 - BIFA - The British Independent Film Awards". www.bifa.film. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  11. ^ Tabu, Meghna; Sen, Sushmita; Suri, Sanjay; Sen, Palash (1 February 2002), Filhaal..., retrieved 31 March 2017
  12. ^ a b "Vatavaran 2003: Festival Entries". www.cmsvatavaran.org. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  13. ^ PSBT India (21 December 2016), "Shared Spaces", YouTube, retrieved 31 March 2017
  14. ^ PSBT India (21 December 2016), "Temples of Water", YouTube, retrieved 31 March 2017
  15. ^ "UNESCO - PSBT Documentary film festival". Archived from the original on 3 November 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  16. ^ Small Screen
  17. ^ "Awards | Small Screen". small-screen.com. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  18. ^ "The Indian Telly Awards 2004 : The Statuette". tellyawards.indiantelevision.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  19. ^ "NDTV Good Times, a winner all the way! – NDTV". goodtimes.ndtv.com. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  20. ^ Jai Hind with Rocky and Mayur
  21. ^ "Vital Stats of India". Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  22. ^ "About Newslaundry". Newslaundry. Archived from the original on 6 January 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2017.