Abhinandan Sekhri | |
|---|---|
 Abhinandan Sekhri | |
| Born | 1974 (age 49–50) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater | Welham Boys' School The Doon School University of Delhi |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist Producer, director, actor |
| Known for | Co-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]
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]
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.
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.
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.
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.