Contents
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 9″
Weight (approx.): 65kg
Hair Colour: Salt & pepper
Eye Colour: Dark Brown
Family
Vinod Mehta belonged to a family who became refugees during the India-Pakistan partition in 1945.
Parents & Siblings
Vinod had two brothers and a sister. There is not much information about his parents.
Wife & Children
Vinod Mehta got married to Sumita Paul, who was a journalist and worked for The Pioneer and the Sunday edition of The Times of India.
Vinod Mehta’s wife Sumita Paul
He had a daughter from his past relationship, which he acknowledged in his autobiography after being encouraged by his wife.
Relationships/Affairs
Vinod Mehta had a relationship with a Swiss lady, who got pregnant and refused to abort the baby. However, in his continuous efforts to trace his only child, Mehta failed to meet his daughter.
Religion
He followed Hinduism.
Career
Journalism
Vinod Mehta began his career as an editor of a men’s magazine, Debonair in 1974, after he had experimented with a lot of other jobs including that of a factory worker in Britain. Mehta rose to prominence as an editor in India after founding several popular journals, including the Sunday Observer in 1981, The Indian Post in 1987, The Independent in 1989, The Pioneer in 1990, and Outlook in 1995. He served as the Outlook Group’s editorial chairman from 1995 till February 2012.
Vinod Mehta while working in his office
Later, Mehta wrote biographies of Meena Kumari and Sanjay Gandhi. In 2001, he published a bundle of articles on the topic ‘Mr. Editor, How Close Are You to the Prime Minister?’ In 2011, Mehta wrote his autobiography and named it ‘Lucknow Boy.’ Vinod was a television panelist who appeared on shows like Newshour on Times Now and India at 9 on CNN-IBN.
Vinod Mehta during a conference
As a veteran journalist, he was called upon by news anchors for his analysis of key issues and scenarios. He then was regarded as the president of the Editors Guild of India and, for a short time, the writer and speaker of “Letter from India” on BBC World Service and BBC Radio.
Publications
- Bombay: A Private View in 1971
- Meena Kumari in 1972 (Re-launched in 2013)
- Mr. Editor, how close are you to the PM? in 1999
- Lucknow Boy: A Memoir in 2010
Vinod Mehta’s book Lucknow Boy A Memoir
- Editor Unplugged in 2014
Vinod Mehta’s book Editor Unplugged
Controversy
The Indian Express journalists sued Vinod Mehta for Rs 100 crore in damages.
In 2012, the Editor-in-chief of the Indian Express group, Shekhar Gupta filed a lawsuit against Vinod Mehta, editorial director of the Outlook group of publications, and the editor and correspondent of Open magazine, seeking Rs 100 crore in damages for an interview Mehta gave to Open’s correspondent Hartosh Singh Bal that, according to Gupta’s attorneys, contained “defamatory and defamatory imputations.”
Awards
On 9 February 2015, Vinod Mehta was awarded the ‘Yash Bharti Award’ by the Government of Uttar Pradesh to applaud his work in journalism.
Death
On 8 March 2015, Vinod Mehta, at the age of 73, died of multi-organ failure at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.
Favorites
Facts/Trivia
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn