Doordarshan fame Sarla Maheshwari dies at 71; netizens celebrate anchor's 29-year career, voice

Sarla Maheshwari, the calm, dignified voice behind a number of Doordarshan's news programmes, passed away on Thursday, aged 71.

The famed news anchor, who built a 29-year career at Doordarshan out of anchoring the news with dignity and a balanced tone, has received an outpouring of tributes from Indians in various parts of the world.

The Sarla Maheshwari story

Maheshwari began her broadcasting career in 1976 while pursuing her PhD at Delhi University, at which time she auditioned as an announcer and was selected, after which she gradually moved to anchoring the news. 

Her command over the language and clear pronunciation meant that she never had to look back. Yet, her heart never left the world of academia, as she was a lecturer at Delhi University's Hansraj College.

Maheshwari's reach as a broadcaster soon grew, and as she later recounted to Doordarshan, she began to get a lot of fan mail.

She had even received a number of film and advertisement offers at the time but turned them down, as broadcasting and academia were her focus areas, as per an Indian Express report. 

However, what is less known about her is that her time at Doordarshan first ended in 1984, at which point she moved to the UK to pursue a two-year stint as a BBC newsreader till 1986.

She then rejoined Doordarshan in 1988, when she moved back to India after the birth of her son. This second period at the Indian broadcasting company went on until 2005, during which time she also witnessed the transition from black and white to colour television.

After a fruitful career spanning nearly three decades, she left the spotlight, rarely coming forward to give an interview or two, before returning to her quiet life.

Reactions to her death

"She was the embodiment of grace and courtesy ... she had a remarkable command over language and was a reservoir of knowledge," wrote her former Doordarshan co-host Shammi Narang in an X post.

"From the 1980s to 2005, she served as a symbol of grace and credibility in news broadcasting," wrote DD News in a post condoling her death.

"Some voices don’t just deliver the news—they become part of a generation’s memory," an X user lamented.

From an era when news was delivered with poise, not panic ... when credibility mattered more than volume, and a calm voice carried the weight of truth ... Today, as that golden era slowly becomes memory, her legacy reminds us what real class in broadcasting looked like," another X user said on X.