Dibang (News Anchor)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Dibang

• Dibang is an Indian journalist and news anchor. He is known for his insatiable energy, which makes him appear to be aggressive while reporting. He is well-known for being a former host of the daily prime-time show ‘Jan Man’ and the weekly show ‘Press Conference’ of ABP News, an Indian Hindi-language news channel. He is considered to be one of the finest news anchors in India.

• Dibang wanted to become a pilot when he was a child.

• After graduating from the University of Delhi, Dibang entered the industry of journalism and joined The Illustrated Weekly of India, an English-language weekly news magazine in India. Later, he worked as a Correspondent for The Times of India’s weekly edition ‘The Sunday Times.’

• After working for print media, Dibang met an opportunity to appear on the television screen as a news anchor. Surendra Pratap Singh (deceased), also known as S. P. Singh, an Indian journalist, asked him to join Aaj Tak, a Hindi-language news channel. Dibang decided to get on board with the channel. ^[1]The Times of India

• Dibang, after resigning from Aaj Tak, joined NDTV, an Indian news media company, and became the Executive Editor of the ‘NDTV India’ channel following which he was appointed as the Managing Director of the channel. He hosted some programmes including the first-ever-hour-long Hindi debate show ‘Muqabla,’ which won the Best Talk Show Award at the Indian Television Academy Awards in 2006, on NDTV India channel; the show became the first Hindi-language talk show to win an award in a category consisting of mostly English-language shows. Dibang continued serving as the Managing Director of NDTV India till 2007; he continued hosting the show ‘Muqabla’ after resigning from the post of Managing Director.

• Later, Dibang started working for ABP News, a Hindi-language news channel.

• Dibang has worked with some foreign television networks including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) television network of Australia, NHK public media of Japan, and the RAI television network of Italy.

• Dibang has an inclination towards literature, music, and world cinema. He likes watching Iranian films.

• Pedro Almodovar, a Spanish filmmaker, Majid Majidi, an Iranian filmmaker, and Wong Kar-wai, a Hong Kong filmmaker, are some of his favourite film directors.

• Dibang has appeared in some films as well. He made his debut in the Bollywood film industry with the film ‘Madras Cafe,’ starring John Abraham and Nargis Fakhri, in 2013. He played the role of a former intelligence officer in the film.
  

  

  In 2010, he appeared in an award-winning Bengali-language film, ‘Gangor,’ directed by an Italian filmmaker named Italo Spinelli. He played the role of a journalist in the film; ‘Gangor’ was based on a Bangla short story titled ‘Choli Ke Peeche’ written by a Bengali writer, Mahasweta Devi. Debang, in 2016, appeared as ‘JCP Amod Mehra’ in the film ‘Pink,’ starring Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, and Kirti Kulhari.

  

• In an interview, Dibang revealed that before making his debut in Bollywood, he got a few offers for films from known filmmakers including Jayarajan Rajasekharan Nair, popularly known as Jayaraj, for a Malayalam film. Dibang added that Jayaram wanted to cast him because of his close resemblance to Indian actor Danny Denzongpa. ^[2]Rediff

• While talking about the reason behind taking the decision to work in Bollywood, Dibang, in an interview, said that he knew Shoojit Sircar, an Indian filmmaker, since his days of working with NDTV, which made him feel comfortable and confident enough to work in ‘Madras Cafe’ (2013).

• Dibang was offered to be a part of some reality shows including a dance show and a survival show, tentatively named Survivors, in which participants were supposed to live on an island. ^[3]Rediff In 2022, Dibang appeared in a Hindi-language reality show, ‘Bigg Boss 16’ for an episode in which he played a game with the contestants.