Doordarshan news anchor Sarla Maheshwari passes away | Television News
3 min readNew DelhiFeb 12, 2026 01:42 PM IST
Doordarshan news anchor Sarla Maheshwari, 71, has passed away. Ex-Doordarshan anchor Shammi Narang shared the tragic news about her passing on X and shared, “I feel utmost grief in announcing the sad demise of my ex co-News anchor at Doordarshan, Sarla Maheshwari.” As per reports, she passed away in Delhi.
He further added, “She was the embodiment of grace and courtesy. Beautiful not just in appearance but even more so at heart, she had a remarkable command over language and was a reservoir of knowledge. Her presence on the Doordarshan screen had a unique aura. She respected everyone and uplifted every space she was part of. I pray that God grants her soul eternal peace and gives strength to the Maheshwari family.”
Who was Sarla Maheshwari?
Sarla was a prominent anchor on Doordarshan in the 1970s and 1980s. She was one of the first news anchors who read news live on Indian television. She started her career with Doordarsan in 1976 as a news announcer when she was pursuing her PhD and applied for the post of a news anchor. She worked with Doordarshan till 1984 as a news anchor, and then moved to the UK, where she was a news reader with BBC till 1986. She rejoined Doordarshan in 1988 after she moved back to India, after her son’s birth.
In a 2012 chat with IBN 7, she recalled that she once laughed out accidentally during a news broadcast because she fumbled accidentally during a live broadcast. In another chat with Doordarshan, she recalled that the broadcast did not allow them to take a breath, or even clear their throat during the broadcast. She shared that this was the era when there were no teleprompters and they had to memorise a lot so they could recite the broadcast of their memory. “This was a job of immense responsibility and you needed to have a certain amount of maturity to do this well,” she said.
Back in the day, Sarla would get a lot of fan mail about her appearance and in the same chat with DD, she shared that she was often told to smile more often. There were some viewers who pointed out the mole on her face as they did not like it. They would also point out that her bindi was often crooked. Sarla shared that she received many film and advertisement offers at the time but she did not pursue them as she was just not interested in this line of work. She recalled that she was also a lecturer at this time at Delhi University’s Hansraj College.
