Rajiv Mehrotra

Rajiv Mehrotra is an Indian writer, television producer-director, documentary film maker, and a personal student of the Dalai Lama, for whom he manages as Trustee/Secretary the Foundation for Universal Responsibility, established with the Nobel Peace Prize. He is best known as the former acclaimed host of one of India's longest running talk shows on public television, "In Conversation", that went through several incarnations over more than 20 years, and aired on India's national broadcaster, Doordarshan.

As a documentary filmmaker, producer, and commissioning editor, his 650 films have won 50 National Awards from the President of India and more than 285 national and international awards. They have had more than 1,500 film festival screenings around the world from Berlin, Chicago, and Rotterdam to Mumbai, Qatar, and Yamagata. Three of his documentary films have been archived by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

He has authored nine books that have been published in 50 editions and languages. They are primarily on spirituality, most notably Conversations with The Dalai Lama, Thakur, a biography of Sri Ramakrishna, and Mind of the Guru. He was a student of the late Swami Ranganathananda, president of the Ramakrishna Mission and of the iconic yoga teacher BKS Iyengar. He serves as the founder and managing trustee of Public Service Broadcasting Trust and till recently chairman of The Media Foundation (www.thehoot.org)

Rajiv Mehrotra has twice addressed plenary sessions of the World Economic Forum who elected him a Global Leader for Tomorrow. He was a judge of the Templeton Prize, typically presented by Prince Philip in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. The monetary value of the prize is adjusted so that it exceeds that of the Nobel Prizes, as Templeton felt "spirituality was ignored" in the Nobel Prizes. He was educated at La Martiniere, Calcutta; St Stephen's College, Delhi and the Universities of Oxford & Columbia.