Shammi Narang

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Shammi Narang is a former Indian news anchor. He is an acclaimed voice-over artist and Delhi-based entrepreneur. He is known for being a part of the Hindi division of Voice of America and was associated with Doordarshan as its news anchor during the 1970s – 80s. He is famous for being the voice of the Delhi metro.Shammi Narang belongs to a Sikh family, and his father and grandfather, who were of Lahnda origin, worked in the Indian Armed Forces. His father motivated him to pursue stunt riding as a hobby during his college days, and later, worked for Escorts as a stunt rider for some time.Apart from being a voice-over artist, Shammi Narang is also a semi-trained singer, who often sings with his wife, Dolly Narang as she is a trained classical music singer. Dolly Narang belongs to Chandigarh and is a student of the noted Indian music composer Jaidev. She frequently sings Ghazals at many live events and occasions. Shammi Narang likes playing jazz drums and harmonium in his leisure time. Shammi Narang while singing a song with his wife.During his college days, a technical director of the United States Information Service (Delhi), Flanager noticed Shammi Narang’s voice in the auditorium of IIT, Delhi campus when Shammi was checking the mike clarity on the stage at an event. He offered Shammi Narang to assist him in sound testing as Flanager liked Shammi’s voice. Later, Flanager referred Shammi to a Hindi scholar, Shastri, who trained Shammi to become a part of the Hindi division of Voice of America. Once, in a media conversation, Shammi Narang stated that Shastri told him to read a page, which was in the Hindi language and was so impressed with Shammi’s voice that Flanager gave him rupees two hundred for the same. Shammi remembered, Shastriji asked me ‘Hindi aati hai’? I had left Hindi in class VIIIth. But, I insisted I knew. He gave me a page to read. I did. Without knowing what it all was. Within 15 minutes, Flanager gave me Rs.200 as ‘payment’. I was stunned! Those days, it was a huge amount. My mess charge for a month was Rs.95.”.After completing his post-graduation degree, he started working as a marketing professional at Larsen & Toubro and served the organisation for some time.Shammi Narang liked adventurous activities during his college days, and this desire led him to join Escorts as a stunt rider. He was highly inspired by the character of Rishi Kapoor from the film Bobby and used to perform stunts often. In the late 1980s, he had an accident, which broke his nose.In 1982, he gave auditions in the Doordarshan, where he competed with more than 10,000 aspirants. According to Shammi Narang, he appeared in the Doordarshan auditions in a T-shirt and tattered jeans. A former Indian news anchor at Doordarshan, Devki Nandan Pandey praised his performance at the auditions. He then worked with Doordarshan for twenty years and developed a style for himself with his baritone. In those days, Doordarshan was the only channel, which used to telecast news with few visuals and restrained only to vocal illustrations. With the passage of time, he became the face of Doordarshan news reading because of his correct pronunciation and diction. During that time, it was considered that news readers were so powerful that they could influence the Government for them. Shammi Narang while reading the news on DD.According to Shammi Narang, a shocking incident happened to him at Doordarshan studio during his auditions. In a media conversation, he narrated that the veteran news anchor Devki Nandan Pandey praised his voice after an audition, and Shammi ignored him unknowingly. He said, When I came back, an old gentleman with an amazing voice asked me, ‘To ye tumne padha? Achcha padha’. I said thanks and went ahead. A staffer rushed to me asked ‘Who do you think you are? You know who this gentleman was?’ I pleaded ignorance and he said to my shock, ‘It was Devki Nandan Pandey’!”.Once, in an interview with a media house, Shammi Narang stated that in a news show, he read out some news for ex-servicemen regarding their new pension scheme, and two days after the news aired on Doordarshan, an elderly havaldar paid a visit at his house and started requesting him to update his pension scheme.According to Shammi Narang, the news readers of the 1970s – 80s were blamed for reading out lies in favour of the Government, but he rejected all the allegations and stated in a media conversation that the news readers only tried to hide the truth and did not read lies. Shammi Narang while singing a song on Doordarshan in 1989.