Mallika Sagar Height, Age, Boyfriend, Husband, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Mallika Sagar

• She was born into a business family.

• She studied in Mumbai till Class 10 and then moved to Connecticut, US, for Classes 11 and 12.

• As a teenager, Mallika developed an interest in auctioneering after reading a book in which the main character was a female auctioneer.

• At the end of her degree in the history of art, she submitted a thesis on modern Indian artists.

• For two summers, she was an intern at Christie’s, an art and luxury business, first in Mumbai and then in New York.

• Coincidentally, at that time, Christie’s then-India representative was moving away. This gave Mallika an opportunity to enrol in Christie’s graduate training program, which prepared her to replace the former representative.

• After her graduation, she secured a job at Christie’s.

• She officiated her first auction in New York in December 2000, selling baseball souvenirs.

• In 2001, she came into the limelight for becoming Christie’s first woman auctioneer of Indian origin. At an auction of 20th-century Indian paintings in New York, Sagar sold paintings by three Indian masters, Raza, Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, and Ram Kumar.

• She left Christie’s in 2004 and spent a year with her unwell mother.

• Later, she started her own practice as an art consultant.

• In April 2011, she conducted her first art auction at Mumbai’s prestigious Pundole Art Gallery. Later, she conducted numerous modern and contemporary art auctions.
  

  Mallika Sagar, as auctioneer with Pundole Art Gallery, during their decorative arts sale of silverware from entrepreneur and philanthropist Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy’s collection

• She became a director of Manisha Trading And Investments Private Ltd. in 2011.

• She became a designated partner at Fulmala Enterprises LLP on 22 August 2016.

• Besides that, she also holds a directorship in the companies Fudavis Trading Private Limited and Garware Technical Fibres Limited.

• She divorced Vir Advani in 2017. Thereafter, Advani started dating architect Noshir Talati’s daughter, Ria Talati.

• She entered sports auctioneering in 2021 and made history by becoming the first woman auctioneer to conduct the Pro Kabaddi League auction.

• In an interview, she said that Hugh Edmeades introduced her to sports auctioneering by asking her to be his backup for the IPL 2021 auction.

• In February 2023, she conducted the auction for the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
  

  Mallika Sagar conducting the Women’s IPL 2023 auction

• On 19 December 2023, she became the first female auctioneer to conduct an Indian Premier League auction. She conducted the IPL 2024 auction in Dubai in which 333 cricketers competed for 77 available slots.
  

  Mallika Sagar during the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 2024 auction

• She secured the opportunity to become the auctioneer for the 2024 IPL due to previous auctioneer Hugh Edmeades’ health issues. He collapsed during an auction because of “postural hypotension.”

• During the 2024 IPL auction, there was a mix-up when Punjab Kings accidentally purchased uncapped Indian player Shashank Singh at a base price of Rs 20 lakh. PBKS wanted to cancel the bid for Shashank Singh but auctioneer Mallika Sagar denied the request saying the hammer had already gone down. She insisted that the auction rules had to be respected.

• In the same auction, she accidentally referred to Gujarat Titans as Gujarat Giants. Gujarat Giants is a kabaddi team that participates in the Pro Kabaddi League.