Until recently, he was the man who used to eat foods for India. He used to visit different parts of India to taste a food and explain the taste, recipe, the process and the surrounding to his audience. You must have guessed whom we are talking about. Yes, the man is Vinod Dua and the show we are talking about is ‘Jayka India ka’.
Mr Vinod Dua had recently fallen out with his old time friend Prannoy Roy, and joined IBN 7. Now he is back to doing what he is best at: making elections predictions. Mr Dua, known among journalist’ circle as “Indian Television’s Original Election Man” now hosts Vinod Dua Ka Prashnkaal on IBN 7.
He is the man who has not only made a successful transition from the era when black and white television space was dominated by a single player, i.e Doordshan, to the present day multi-channel transnational satellite, but has done different things for different channels at different times. Mr Vinod Dua, who was born on 11 March, 1954, had joined Indian television at the age of 21. During his illustrious career, which started in 1974 and is not over yet, he has achieved several feats.
The anchor, political commentator, election analyst, producer and director Vinod Dua had started his journey in television with Yuva Manch in 1974. During the period of 1974-80, he had hosted various shows at Doordarshan, including Yuv Jan (1975), Jawan Tarang (1975). From 1981-84, he anchored Sunday morning family programme ‘Aap ke liye.
The real moment in his career came in 1984. Elections analysis programmes on Doordarshan had made him and Prannoy Roy as household names. Since then there is a no stopping for the man. In 1987, he joined TV TODAY, a venture of the India Today Group, as its chief producer.
In 1988, he had set up his own production house ‘The Communication Group’. His company produced various shows on current affairs and budget analyses. In 1992 he anchored Chakravyuha for Zee TV. From 1992 to 1996 he produced Parakh, a weekly current affairs magazine telecast on Doordarshan.
Many people don’t know that this famous Hindu journalist had actually graduated with a degree in English Literature from Hans Raj College.
During his college days he was involved with various extracurricular activities. He was a singer and debater at Hansh Raj College. He has written two plays for children, performed by the Sutradhar Puppet Theater of Sri Ram Center for Art and Culture. He was also a member of Theatre Union, a street theatre group which created and performed plays against social problems like dowry. He originally hails from Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan.
Awards:
- 2008: Padma Shri Award
- 1996: The First Electronic Media Journalist award by BD Goenka Award
