Rangaraj Pandey

Rangaraj Pandey (Tamil: ரங்கராஜ் பாண்டே) is an Indian anchor. He was born to a Brahmin family of North Indian origin in Srivilliputhur. He started his career at Dinamalar and Visual Media Career at Thanthi TV, where he is known to have helped it emerge as a popular Tamil channel. He left to start his YouTube Channel. He is the Founder and CEO of Chankyaa network .

Early life and education

His parents are originally from Buxar district, Bihar. Pandey's parents migrated to Tamil Nadu in search of better life before his birth. He was born in Srivilliputhur and did his schooling at a Tamil medium government school in Srivilliputhur as his family could not afford a private school education. . He was influenced by Tamil culture which made him pursue a Master of Arts degree in Tamil literature, from Madurai Kamaraj University..Pandey currently settled in Chennai along with his family.

Career
Pandey’s interest towards journalism started at young age. While studying in first standard, he came out with a handwritten magazine. Second standard, he worked in the Tamil daily newspaper Dinamalar. He started the well-known satire column “Doubtu Dhanabalu” a fictional character who mocks the day to day political discourse in Tamil Nadu and pan-India.

His television interviews with major Indian celebrities and politicians on Thanthi TV earned him acclaim, particularly for his bold questions and interrogative interviewing style. He hosted the talk show Kelvikku Enna Badhil () for over 150 episodes. Some of his notable interviews were with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and BCCI head N. Srinivasan.

His prime time program, ‘'Ayutha Ezhuthu'‘, a news debate program based on current affairs broadcast on Thanthi TV. He is renowned for his simple and spontaneous questions style of TV anchoring, though it invites a few debates as well, mostly related to religious, communal and political issues. He resigned his post and quit Thanthi TV on 9th December 2018.

In 2019, he was roped in to make his acting debut alongside Ajith Kumar in Nerkonda Paarvai produced by Boney Kapoor.

He currently hosts a personal vlog channel on YouTube called Chanakya.

Awards and accolades

References 

Category:Living people
Category:20th-century Indian journalists
Category:Indian broadcast news analysts
Category:Indian television executives
Category:Indian television news anchors
Category:Indian television talk show hosts
Category:Indian television journalists
Category:Indian television presenters
Category:Indian male journalists
Category:Indian male television journalists
Category:Indian political journalists
Category:1975 births