Shammi Narang
Encyclopedia
Shammi Narang is a voice-over artist
and emcee
based in Delhi, best known for raising the standards of news-casting in India. Graduating with an engineering degree, Narang first got into the voice-over profession by working in the Hindi
division of Voice of America
. Later he was selected from among 100,000 candidates into Doordarshan
, which was then the only channel in India, and became the 'face of Doordarshan news reading' and Indian Television in general during the 1970s - 80s. His rendering of Sarab Sanjhi Gurbani has become the voice of Sikhs globally.
After the advent of Satellite television which brought down the TRP ratings of Doordarshan, Narang switched to anchoring events, composing music and film making. The Delhi Metro IVR system's voice with a baritone is his. Narang now runs a digital studio, Pindrop, in Delhi, and is into making corporate films besides issue based documentaries and infotainment packages for kids.
of Pakistan
i origin. His father served the Indian Army
. Narang graduated with an engineering degree and was motivated by his father to indulge in hobbies such as stunt riding. He worked as a stunt rider for Escorts. He did his post graduation in Metallurgical engineering with the intention to take up a 'sarkari' (government) job. Narang is also a 'semi-trained' singer.
and gives Ghazal
performances. The couple have a son and live in a posh locality of South Delhi
.
industry with Voice of America
. Flanager, a technical director
of The United States Information Service
(Delhi), spotted Narang in the then newly built IIT, Delhi
campus auditorium and asked Narang to assist him in his sound testing. Flanager smelt the potential in Narang's voice, and promptly referred Narang to Shastri, a Hindi scholar, who groomed Narang to take over the Hindi division of Voice of America
. After his post graduation, he joined Larsen & Toubro
as a marketing
professional and was working there for a while. Later, his love for adventure made him join Escorts as a stunt rider, inspired by Rishi Kapoor
, a character from the film Bobby
. While at it, he met with a terrible accident in the late 1980s which is the reason behind his misshapen nose.
Doordarshan lost its acclaimed spot after Cable and Satellite television entered India as it just couldn't stand the competition, with its refusal to adapt to the age of live telecasts. The crew in the competing channels was also comparatively younger, as against the predominantly middle aged Doordarshan crowd. Initially regarded as an expensive novelty, Cable television gradually picked up, eventually pushing Doordarshan to become a 'dull-as-ditchwater propaganda machine' of the Government, despite initiatives taken by its professional Directors General. With the trend then demanding the old newsreaders to switch to the roles of news anchors
, not many were able to adapt and instead changed their pursuits. Referring to this, Narang said that he would have been a misfit in the current era. On the current scene, Narang observed that it has become 'trivialised' and added that 'the young reporters, fresh out of college, in vogue now would be good in interviewing filmstars but wouldn't be an appropriate choice before Dr Karan Singh or Manmohan Singh'.
since its inception in 1997. In 1998, Narang founded Studio Pindrop, Delhi's first digital recording studio, which is popular among voice over artists and musicians. He is also a visiting faculty at MADarts, Jaspal Bhatti
's film school, and has done voice-overs for its award winning two minute animation film, Nanhi Chidiya. He has lent his voice to the audio guides on heritage monuments in Jaipur
, Jodhpur
, Bikaner and Mysore. He also compered the Guinness record breaking tea party in Indore
. Narang was in one of the four two-member teams that undertook a journey from Delhi
to Haridwar
as part of the TV show, Be Positive, that was on air on Pragya TV, a spiritual lifestyle channel. The Jai Ha! campaign of BJP during the 2009 elections used Kaka Hathrasi's
satirical jingles sung by Narang. On the potential of the voice-over industry, Narang spoke in an interview that 'voice is the biggest asset of communication' and it can get one a very decent pay even at the starting level. He noted the importance of a good and clear voice. He believes that everyone is capable of voice modulation, though one realises it only in front of a camera or microphone. He recommends a 3 minute recitation session of 'Om' everyday, steaming the throat without gargling, yoga, meditation and avoiding abusive language for a deep and young voice. He is the male voice with a deep baritone that guides the passengers on the do's and don'ts and the Hindi version of the courteous 'Please mind the gap!'
announcements inside the Delhi Metro
trains everyday and night. He has composed music for a number of ad films, like Tata Tea's
Na jaane kya rishta. He was also seen in a couple of films.
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
and emcee
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
based in Delhi, best known for raising the standards of news-casting in India. Graduating with an engineering degree, Narang first got into the voice-over profession by working in the Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
division of Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
. Later he was selected from among 100,000 candidates into Doordarshan
DoorDarshan
Doordarshan is an Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in India in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters. On September 15, 2009,...
, which was then the only channel in India, and became the 'face of Doordarshan news reading' and Indian Television in general during the 1970s - 80s. His rendering of Sarab Sanjhi Gurbani has become the voice of Sikhs globally.
After the advent of Satellite television which brought down the TRP ratings of Doordarshan, Narang switched to anchoring events, composing music and film making. The Delhi Metro IVR system's voice with a baritone is his. Narang now runs a digital studio, Pindrop, in Delhi, and is into making corporate films besides issue based documentaries and infotainment packages for kids.
Early life and education
Narang's grandfather was a SikhSikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i origin. His father served the Indian Army
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
. Narang graduated with an engineering degree and was motivated by his father to indulge in hobbies such as stunt riding. He worked as a stunt rider for Escorts. He did his post graduation in Metallurgical engineering with the intention to take up a 'sarkari' (government) job. Narang is also a 'semi-trained' singer.
Personal life
Narang is married to Dolly Narang, who hails from Chandigarh. Dolly is a disciple of music composer JaidevJaidev
Jaidev Hindi:जयदेव वर्मा , was a music composer in Bollywood films, most known for his work in films: Hum Dono , Reshma Aur Shera , Prem Parbat and Gharonda ....
and gives Ghazal
Ghazal
The ghazal is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century...
performances. The couple have a son and live in a posh locality of South Delhi
South Delhi
South Delhi is an administrative district of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India.It is bounded by the Yamuna River to the east, the districts of New Delhi to the north, Faridabad District of Haryana state to the southeast, Gurgaon District of Haryana to the southwest, and South West...
.
Pre Doordarshan days
Narang made his foray into the voice-overVoice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
industry with Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
. Flanager, a technical director
Technical director
The Technical Director or Technical Manager is usually a senior technical person within a software company, film studio, theatrical company or television studio...
of The United States Information Service
United States Information Agency
The United States Information Agency , which existed from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to "public diplomacy". In 1999, USIA's broadcasting functions were moved to the newly created Broadcasting Board of Governors, and its exchange and non-broadcasting information functions were...
(Delhi), spotted Narang in the then newly built IIT, Delhi
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
The Indian Institute Of Technology, Delhi , commonly known as IIT Delhi or IITD, is a college of engineering in Delhi, India...
campus auditorium and asked Narang to assist him in his sound testing. Flanager smelt the potential in Narang's voice, and promptly referred Narang to Shastri, a Hindi scholar, who groomed Narang to take over the Hindi division of Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
. After his post graduation, he joined Larsen & Toubro
Larsen & Toubro
Larsen & Toubro Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, India. The company has four main business sectors: technology, engineering, construction and manufacturing. L&T has an international presence, with a global spread of offices and factories, further...
as a marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
professional and was working there for a while. Later, his love for adventure made him join Escorts as a stunt rider, inspired by Rishi Kapoor
Rishi Kapoor
Rishi Kapoor is an Indian Bollywood actor, film producer and director.-Early life:Born in Chembur Mumbai, Kapoor is the second son of film director and star Raj Kapoor. He did his schooling with his brothers at Campion School,Mumbai. His brothers are well-known actors: Randhir Kapoor and Rajiv...
, a character from the film Bobby
Bobby (1973 film)
Bobby is a 1973 Bollywood film directed by Raj Kapoor. The film was widely popular, and widely imitated. It also represented the film début for Dimple Kapadia and the first leading role for Raj Kapoor's son, Rishi Kapoor....
. While at it, he met with a terrible accident in the late 1980s which is the reason behind his misshapen nose.
With Doordarshan
In 1982, Narang attended the auditions for selection into Doordarshan in a T shirt and tattered jeans, where he had to compete with around 10000 aspirants. Devki Nandan Pandey, a veteran news broadcaster, praised his performance. Then started his 20 year association with the channel. Narang developed an exclusive style for himself, with his baritone of a voice. With the newscasts of those days having significantly fewer visuals and more of impersonal, restrained vocal illustrations, Narang became 'the face of Doordarshan news reading' with his correctness in pronunciation and diction. People even regarded news readers to be powerful enough to influence the Government for them. Narang recalled once, in an interview, an incident after he had read out a new pension scheme for ex-servicemen, wherein an elderly havaldar had turned up at his door two days later, pleading him to update his pension scheme. Referring to the allegations on the then news casters of reading out lies in favour of the Government, Narang said that they don't read lies, but just hid the truth.Doordarshan lost its acclaimed spot after Cable and Satellite television entered India as it just couldn't stand the competition, with its refusal to adapt to the age of live telecasts. The crew in the competing channels was also comparatively younger, as against the predominantly middle aged Doordarshan crowd. Initially regarded as an expensive novelty, Cable television gradually picked up, eventually pushing Doordarshan to become a 'dull-as-ditchwater propaganda machine' of the Government, despite initiatives taken by its professional Directors General. With the trend then demanding the old newsreaders to switch to the roles of news anchors
News presenter
A news presenter is a person who presents news during a news program in the format of a television show, on the radio or the Internet.News presenters can work in a radio studio, television studio and from remote broadcasts in the field especially weather...
, not many were able to adapt and instead changed their pursuits. Referring to this, Narang said that he would have been a misfit in the current era. On the current scene, Narang observed that it has become 'trivialised' and added that 'the young reporters, fresh out of college, in vogue now would be good in interviewing filmstars but wouldn't be an appropriate choice before Dr Karan Singh or Manmohan Singh'.
After Doordarshan
Narang switched to doing voice-overs and compering shows post Doordarshan. He has done theatre with artists like Sheila Bhatia. Narang has been compering the Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Awards ceremonyGodfrey Phillips National Bravery Awards
The Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Awards is a social initiative of Godfrey Phillips India, instituted in 1990, to honour courageous people in Indian society...
since its inception in 1997. In 1998, Narang founded Studio Pindrop, Delhi's first digital recording studio, which is popular among voice over artists and musicians. He is also a visiting faculty at MADarts, Jaspal Bhatti
Jaspal Bhatti
Jaspal Singh Bhatti is an Indian television personality famous for his satirical take on the problems of the common man...
's film school, and has done voice-overs for its award winning two minute animation film, Nanhi Chidiya. He has lent his voice to the audio guides on heritage monuments in Jaipur
Jaipur
Jaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million....
, Jodhpur
Jodhpur
Jodhpur , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located west from the state capital, Jaipur and from the city of Ajmer. It was formerly the seat of a princely state of the same name, the capital of the kingdom known as Marwar...
, Bikaner and Mysore. He also compered the Guinness record breaking tea party in Indore
Indore
Indore is one of the major city in India, the largest city and commercial center of the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. Indore is located 190 km west of the state capital Bhopal. According to the 2011 Indian census, Indore city has a population of 1,960,631...
. Narang was in one of the four two-member teams that undertook a journey from Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
to Haridwar
Haridwar
Haridwar is an important pilgrimage city and municipality in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India...
as part of the TV show, Be Positive, that was on air on Pragya TV, a spiritual lifestyle channel. The Jai Ha! campaign of BJP during the 2009 elections used Kaka Hathrasi's
Kaka Hathrasi
Kaka Hathrasi was a noted Hindi satirist and humorist poet of India. His real name was Prabhu Dayal Garg, though he wrote under the pen name Kaka Hathrasi, after his home town Hathras, and published over 42 collections of humorous verse, in all...
satirical jingles sung by Narang. On the potential of the voice-over industry, Narang spoke in an interview that 'voice is the biggest asset of communication' and it can get one a very decent pay even at the starting level. He noted the importance of a good and clear voice. He believes that everyone is capable of voice modulation, though one realises it only in front of a camera or microphone. He recommends a 3 minute recitation session of 'Om' everyday, steaming the throat without gargling, yoga, meditation and avoiding abusive language for a deep and young voice. He is the male voice with a deep baritone that guides the passengers on the do's and don'ts and the Hindi version of the courteous 'Please mind the gap!'
Mind the gap
"Mind the gap" is a warning to train passengers to take caution while crossing the gap between the train door and the station platform. It was introduced in 1969 on the London Underground...
announcements inside the Delhi Metro
Delhi Metro
Delhi Metro is a rapid transit system serving Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad in the National Capital Region of India. It is one of the largest metro networks in the world. The network consists of six lines with a total length of with 142 stations of which 35 are underground...
trains everyday and night. He has composed music for a number of ad films, like Tata Tea's
Tata Tea
Tata Tea Limited, also known as Tata-Tetley, is the world's second largest manufacturer and distributor of tea. Owned by India's Tata Group, the Tata Tea Limited markets tea under the major brands Tata Tea, Tetley, Good Earth Teas and JEMČA...
Na jaane kya rishta. He was also seen in a couple of films.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Language | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Uttejna | Hindi | Lead role |
| 2002 | The Web of the Witch Makdee Makdee , promoted as The Web Of The Witch in English, is a children's film in Hindi directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, starring Shabana Azmi, Makrand Deshpande, Shweta Prasad, and Alaap Mazgaonkar. The film tells the story of a young girl in north India and a alleged witch in a mansion... |
Hindi/ English | Guest appearance (as himself) |
| 2003 | Maqbool Maqbool Maqbool , a 2004 Indian film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj and starring Pankaj Kapoor, Irfan Khan, Tabu and Masumeh Makhija is an adaptation of the play Macbeth by Shakespeare.... |
Hindi | Mr. Bhosle |
| 2005 | Sahibzade : A Saga of Valour and Sacrifice (2D Animation film) | Punjabi Punjabi language Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language... |
Voice over |
| 2009 | Nanhi Chidiya (Animated short film) | Hindi | Voice over |