Vir Sanghvi Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Bio/Wiki
Nickname	Tikoo [1]Rediff
Profession(s)	Journalist, TV Anchor, Author, Food and Wine Critic, Co-founder of EazyDiner
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 170 cm in meters- 1.70 m in feet & inches- 5’ 7”
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Career
Career Highlights [2]Vir Sanghvi - official website	• January 2016- Present- Resident Commentator on CNN News 18, the revamped CNN IBN news channel, host of the weekly political show Virtuosity. • 2012- Judge of the India-Pakistan food competition Foodistan on NDTV. • 2007-Present- Advisory role with HT Media. • 2003- Stepped down as Editor of the Hindustan Times but continued as Editorial Director of HT Media Limited. • 1999- Editor of the Hindustan Times. • 1997- Switched to the Star Network and anchored shows across various channels. He was also the Consulting Editor for The Telegraph in English and Ananda Bazar Patrika in Bengali. • 1986- Editor of Sunday, a newsmagazine published by the ABP group. He also anchored a show for Doordarshan and DD-CNN. • 1983- Presided over the re-launch of the monthly features magazine Imprint. • 1982: Editorial Director of Business Press, India's largest publisher of trade magazines. • 1978- Editor of Bombay Magazine, the youngest editor in the history of Indian journalism.
Publications	• 2021: A Rude Life • 2016: Mandate: Will of the People • 2009: 26/11:The Attack on Mumbai, and Madhavrao Scindia: A life. • 2007: Men of Steel – India's business leaders in candid conversation with Vir Sanghvi • 2006: India Then and Now: Now/Vir Sanghvi • 2004: Rude Food: The Collected Food Writings of Vir Sanghvi
Awards, Honours, Achievements [3]Jainsamaj	• 2010: AIMA Media Person Of The Year Award. • 2009: Lokmanya Tilak National Journalist Award From The Kesari Newspaper, Pune. • 2008: The friend of Thailand Award from The Thai Prime Minister. • 2008: The Rajiv Gandhi award for Journalism. • 2004: Best Food Critic award from the Indian Culinary Foundation. • 2004: The Asian Television Awards in Singapore. • 2004: The Cointreau Award for Best Food Literature Book in the world. • 1998: Commended as the best current affairs presenter at the Asian TV Awards. • 1995: Declared the Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum at Davos. Note: Vir Sanghvi has many more awards and accolades to his name.
Personal Life
Date of Birth	5 July 1956 (Thursday)
Age (as of 2023)	67 Years
Birthplace	London, United Kingdom
Zodiac sign	Cancer
Signature
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Mumbai
School	Mill Hill School, London
College/University	• Mayo College, Ajmer, India • Oxford University, UK
Educational Qualification	He studied politics, philosophy and economics at Brasenose College, Oxford, UK. [4]FAMpeople
Religion/Religious Views	Vir was born in a Jain family; however, his parents were agnostic and never endorsed religious texts or idols, but under the influence of his pious relatives, Vir started taking more interest in Jainism. In one of his columns, Sanghvi has confessed that he has always been fascinated by both Jainism and Hinduism and their history. He has extensively read up on the subject. So, Vir started embracing his Hindu and Jain identities while growing up. He practices the Shvetambara sect of Jainism. For him, Jainism and Hinduism have much in common, and both have emerged from the Indian sub-continent. [5]Hindustan Times
Food Habit	Non-Vegetarian [6]Hindustan Times
Controversies	• INX Media Scam (2010): Sanghvi was interrogated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in INX Media money laundering case for allegations that he facilitated the meeting between Karti Chidambaram and INX media owner Indrani and Peter Mukerjea. He refuted the allegations, saying that while he was working with INX Media’s sister company INX News till January 2008, he had filed a complaint with the I&B Ministry regarding the financial irregularities. [7]OpIndia • Radia Tapes (2008-09): Vir Sanghvi was alleged to be associated with Radia Tapes, one of the biggest scandal of that time. The audio tape of his telephonic conversations with the former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia was leaked and carried by various prominent publications. He was accused of manipulating the article titled 'Time for some transparency' in his column Counterpoint after taking "suggestions" from Radia. [8]Open Magazine [9]Hindustan Times After heightened controversy, Sanghvi released a detailed statement in the Hindustan Times on 27 November 2010, focusing that the Radia tapes might be tampered with. In January 2012, the Union government approached the Supreme Court and told that the Radia Tapes were edited, and that the government agencies had no hand in its leakage. The bench gave the verdict in the favour of the government. [10]The Economic Times
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Marriage Date	He celebrates his wedding anniversary (with his second wife) every year on November 23.
Family
Wife/Spouse	• First Wife: Malavika Sangghvi (Columnist, Author, Poet, and Journalist) [11]HuffPost • Second Wife: Seema Goswami (Journalist, Columnist, and Author) [12]Pune Mirror
Children	Son- Raaj Sanghvi (CEO, Culinary Culture. Co-founder, Sanguine & Caviar Noir, Contributor to @BSIndia & @VogueIndia) [13]Twitter Daughter- Mallika Sanghvi [14]Twitter
Parents	Father- Ramesh Sanghvi (lawyer) Mother- Vimoo Sanghvi
Siblings	Note: He is the only child of his parents.

Some Lesser Known Facts About Vir Sanghvi

• Does Vir Sanghvi drink alcohol?: Yes
  

  Vir Sanghvi with a glass of wine

• Vir Sanghvi is an Indian journalist, TV anchor, author, and food and wine critic. He is known for his travelogues and food and wine columns.

• Sanghvi’s unconventional profile also includes “Counterpoint,” once an extensively read column in the Hindustan Times, and a hugely popular column “Rude Food” in Brunch, Sunday magazine, Hindustan Times. ^[15]Hindustan Times He also writes Pursuits- a weekend column for the financial daily Mint.

• Brought up in Mumbai and London, Vir received his formal education at Mayo College in Ajmer and Mill Hill School in London. He then went on to study politics, philosophy and economics at Brasenose College, Oxford, UK after being awarded the prestigious Open Inlaks Scholarship. ^[16]FAMpeople

• According to Sanghvi,  his mother defied her conservative parents and escaped to Paris to marry Sanghvi’s father in 1951. ^[17]Twitter

• Vir idolizes and admires his father greatly, who passed away when Vir was just 15. Despite having comparatively less interaction with his father, Vir still remembers his father’s struggle and teachings. ^[18]GQ India

• Sanghvi’s family had good ties with the late Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar. In an interview, he recalled an episode when the star asked for help from his lawyer father pertaining to the cuts in his movie Ganga Jamuna.

• Sanghvi considers himself an ‘accidental journalist’ who landed into the profession when he was waiting to get himself enrolled into Oxford University. Reportedly, when he taught English at Mayo College, one of his two alma maters for a short period, he was approached to write for India Today publication that gave him his first break in journalism. In an interview, while talking about this, Sanghvi said, ^[19]Business Standard
  

  It was the Emergency and nobody knew these guys so I was drafted in and I had great fun because I did anything I wanted — a story on prohibition, one on Raj Kapoor, an interview with George Harrison.”

• At the age of 22, after being appointed as the editor of Bombay magazine, Sanghvi became the youngest editor in the history of Indian journalism, and at the age of 30, he achieved the feat of an excellent editorship, as he made “Sunday” India’s largest-selling English-language newsmagazine. ^[20]Vir Sanghvi- official website

• He has many more achievements to his name. While Vir continued being the editor, the Hindustan Times became the largest-selling newspaper in Mumbai. It went on to launch several new editions in Bhopal, Chandigarh, Ranchi, and Calcutta (now Kolkata).

• Apart from print journalism, Sanghvi has also excelled in broadcast media, where he has simultaneously anchored several shows. He has interviewed many Indian celebrities and politicians. Some of his popular shows include Question Time for Doordarshan, Round Table for DD-CNN, A Question of Answers, Star Talk, Veer Ke Teer, and Cover Story. He also worked with the NDTV network, and anchored shows like Face The Music, One On One on NDTV 24×7, and Custom Made for Vir Sanghvi on NDTV Good Times. Other shows include A Matter of Taste and Vir Sanghvi’s Asian Diary on Discovery Travel and Living and Tycoons and On The Record on CNBC. Vir’s TV show “Achiever’s Club” was aired on Star World in 2011-12.

• Sanghvi also hosted a famous show “Virtuosity” on CNN-News18, where he interviewed some of the well-known Indian personalities, including Bollywood stars, politicians, and even the great spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. ^[21]News18

• The journalist became an author when the collection of his columns for the “Rude Food” in Sunday magazine was published by Penguin in 2004 as a book by the same name- Rude Food.

• In the following year, his “Rude Food” book won the Cointreau Award for Best Food Literature Book in the world. This award is the international food world’s equivalent of the Oscar.

• Among his other published books “Men of Steel,” a collection of profiles of India’s leading businessmen, was a record-breaking best-seller, which has been translated into 10 languages. He also wrote a biography “Madhavrao Scindia: A Life” that was released by Sonia Gandhi in 2009.

• Sanghvi remained the favourite controversial journalist from 2008-2010 in which two major controversies gripped his career. The Radia Tapes controversy came as a big blow to him. Sanghvi then took to his own website and revealed in detail how the tapes were faked. ^[22]Vir Sanghvi- official website He said,
  

  The problem was that while I did indeed speak to Radia, the tape that was published differed significantly from my recollection of the conversation. Obviously, it had been edited, doctored and manipulated. I immediately wrote out a response on my website stating this. I repeated this in the Hindustan Times and I told everybody who would listen (interviewers, the Public Accounts committee, the Press Council, etc.) that the tapes were not authentic.”

• In 2015, Vir Sanghvi, the lead food critic, went a step ahead and co-founded EazyDiner, which is India’s first and the biggest online restaurant reservation platform.

• In the same year, Sanghvi embraced the digital revolution and started his YouTube channel “Going Viral with Vir Sanghvi;” the channel has more than 1K subscribers (as of July 2021). He uses the platform to talk about trending topics including politics, current events, and food.

• In July 2021, he released a memoir titled “A Rude Life,” published by Penguin. The memoir tells the tale of Sanghvi’s life, right from his childhood, to college, and to reporting news-worthy stories. In the book, Vir carefully leads the observers into his experiences without giving in to his privacy. When asked about it in an interview, ^[23]Khaleej Times Vir said,
  

  I had never thought I would write it, but I just got so bored sitting at home during the lockdown, I thought I should do something. This was easy enough: I just had to sit down, think back and put it down on paper. Also, I am conscious that I’m 65 now, a time will come when I may start forgetting.”

  

  Vir Sanghvi memoir

• Being a prominent Indian personality, Sanghvi also remained a member of the National Integration Council and many other professional, academic, and government bodies. He has also served as a member of the Broadcast Content Complaint Council (BCCC), a body that regulates content on entertainment TV channels.

• In an interview, when he was asked whether he liked himself to be referred to as a lifestyle journalist or a ‘serious’ political one, Vir replied, ^[24]Khaleej Times

  Just do what you enjoy doing has been my policy. I do not belong to a school of thought that says only political journalism is important and everything else is worthless, I think it’s all journalism, it’s all worthwhile. If people want to call me a food journalist, a lifestyle journalist, it’s fine with me, I don’t give a monkey’s. I’ve always lived my life doing things I enjoyed. I enjoy writing about food, I enjoy doing my political columns as well.”