Remembering Gitanjali Aiyar, Doordarshan’s famous voice, who represented an era of measured news

In the good old days, the news was just the news. There were no prime-time debates and screaming matches. The death of award-winning anchor Gitanjali Aiyar has brought back memories of simpler times.

Aiyar, a renowned journalist, was one of India’s first woman presenters to deliver the news in English. She died on Wednesday after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. She was 72.

Aiyar was ill for a while and she collapsed after returning home from a walk, according to sources close to her family. She died of a brain haemorrhage and is survived by her son and daughter, Shekhar and Pallavi, who have moved to the United States.

Soon after Aiyar’s death, tributes started pouring in with many remembering her days as news presenter. “We fondly remember the days when Gitanjali Aiyar ji graced our TV screens, leaving an indelible mark on our news-watching experiences,” wrote Netta D’Souza, acting president of the Mahila Congress.

We take a look back at her career and the era of DD News.

Gitanjali Aiyar and her life at DD

Gitanjali Aiyar was taken by the news from childhood, growing up listening to radio broadcasts and being fascinated by the enunciation and diction of greats like Surojit Sen and Pamela Singh, according to a report in The Indian Express.

“It had been my ambition since I was a six-year-old to read the news on the radio,” Aiyar told Scroll in an interview. And she worked towards it.

In school and college, Aiyar participated in debates and elocution. She went on to graduate from Kolkata’s Loreto College and also held a diploma from the prestigious National School of Drama (NSD). Soon after completing her education, she applied for All India Radio (AIR) and was selected as an announcer.

In 1976, she was asked if she would like to read the news for Doordarshan. She auditioned and got the job. Two years later, when AIR and DD split, she remained with the latter.

Aiyar was the prime-time news anchor and at 9 pm every day she would start the bulletin with a measured, “This is Doordarshan news. Good evening and welcome. The headlines…” Aiyar was always articulate, her voice and tone always in control.

The rise to fame

Life changed for Aiyar when colour television entered the Indian market. In 1982, Doordarshan went national with the Asian Games and because of colour, people started recognising her.

“Suddenly you were being recognised all over India, schoolboys would follow me in the streets of Jaipur, Indian Airlines would offer me special service and auto drivers would refuse to collect fare. My local butcher in Bhogal, south Delhi, would say, “Aiye, aaj ki kya taaza khabar hai madam,”’ Aiyar wrote in a first-person account in Outlook Magazine published in February 2022.

Aiyar became a fashion icon for many. Her short hair especially caught people’s attention and she received letters to find out the name of her hairdresser.

“Overnight, we who read the news were fashionistas. Our clothes and hairstyles were copied. We were asked in hushed tones where our saris were bought and who stitched our blouses,” she wrote, recalling her sudden rise to fame.

But apart from the glamour, people looked up to Aiyar and other anchors of the time. Many believed watching English news was a way to improve their command of the language. She would also receive fan mail commending her style of reading the news.

But the job wasn’t easy and the news studios weren’t well-equipped like today. There were no teleprompters; there was a person who would roll the script manually for readers. “It was very difficult to look at the camera and look down at what you were reading all at the same time,” she told Scroll.

While Aiyar gained celebrity status, it was her work and dedication that spoke for her. She was awarded the best anchor four times and won the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award for Outstanding Women in 1989.

Aiyar also appeared in print advertisements and enjoyed an acting stint. She featured in Sridhar Kshirsagar’s TV drama Khandaan. She was also associated with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

When Aiyar & Co went viral

Interestingly, Aiyar and her peers had a brush with what fame looks like in today’s time. In 2017, a photograph from 2003 with her and her former DD colleagues Minu Talwar, Neethi Ravindran and Salma Sultan, all known faces of the yesteryears, went viral.

“Before Arnab Goswamis and Rahul Shivshankars turned TV studios into wrestling rings with pre-decided results, there were a few women with amazing grace,” read a Facebook post back then.

Now that Aiyar has passed into the ages, many are revisiting the heydays of DD.

"Gitanjali Aiyar, India’s one of best tv newsreaders, warm and elegant person and woman of immense substance passed away today. Deepest condolences to her family,” senior journalist Sheela Bhatt tweeted on Wednesday.

“From An age where there were news readers who just read the news without any noise or fuss. No debate, no opinion…,” said news anchor Rajdeep Sardesai.

It seems like a long lost time. They don’t make anchors like that anymore.

With inputs from agencies

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