Saeed Naqvi is senior Indian journalist, television commentator, interviewer. He has interviewed world leaders and personalities in India and abroad, which appear in newspapers, magazines and on national television, remained editor of the ''World Report'', a syndication service on foreign affairs, and has written for several publication, both global and Indian, including the
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
, ''
The Sunday Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper Sunday editions, published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.
In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group, Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated a ...
'', ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'', ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', ''
The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...
'', ''The Citizen'' and ''
Outlook'' magazine. At the ''Indian Express'', he started in 1977 as a Special Correspondent and eventually becoming, editor, Indian Express, Madras, (1979–1984), and Foreign Editor, The Indian Express, Delhi in 1984, and continues to writes columns and features for the paper.
Career
Saeed Naqvi started his journalist career as Staff Reporter with ''
The Statesman'', Delhi in 1964, later he became editor of the ''Sunday Magazine''. During this period, in spring of '68, when
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
visited India, he along with fellow photographer,
Raghu Rai filed new reports and photographs for newspapers. He stayed in the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram as a disciple to capture the story of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
stay in Ashram, Rishikesh, Himalaya. He reported from the inside about the life and living of
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
,
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...
,
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
and
Ringo Starr
Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...
.
As editor and producer, of WORLD REPORT, a weekly foreign affairs show on
Doordarshan
Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...
(the national network) called Worldview India, apart from a prime time international news and features series entitled ''It's A Small World'' (1997–1999) for
Star TV. From 1986 to 1997 WORLD REPORT produced an international affairs series entitled World Report for Doordarshan, featuring interviews with major world leaders.
Thereafter it produced a series of programmes entitled ''Hamara Bharat'' (Our India) on India's syncretic culture. Saeed has been Editor, Foreign Editor, Foreign Correspondent for major Indian dailies – The Indian Express, The Statesman and written for a range of publications like New York Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Washington Post, Boston Globe and others.
During his long career, Saeed Naqvi has interviewed world famous leaders and politicians including
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...
,
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
,
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...
,
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...
,
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...
,
Mohammad Najibullah
Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996) was an Afghan military officer and politician who served as the second president of Afghanistan from 1987 until his resignation in April 1992, shortly after the Afghan mujahideen' ...
,
Hamid Karzai
Hamid Karzai (born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan politician who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from 2002 to 2014, including as the first president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan from 2004 to 2014. He previously served a ...
,
Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...
,
Gorbachev,
Tariq Aziz
Tariq Aziz (, , 28 April 1936 – 5 June 2015) was an Iraq, Iraqi politician who served as the Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq from 1979 to 2003 and Minister of Foreign Affairs (Iraq), Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1983 ...
and more
Famous Bollywood film director
Kabir Khan assisted Saeed Naqvi. He worked for Naqvi as a cinematographer and travelled to many countries for documentary and interview shooting.
Author
His latest book is a literary work where he wrote a drama in English ''
'
The Muslim Vanishes. This book has been published by the penguin. The theme of the book became the topic of the discussion among the scholars. In this book, author imagine a society where Muslims abruptly vanished.
Lecture

He has been called for lectures and talks by prestigious institutions, societies and clubs. He was invited by
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
in 2016 to talk about his book 'Being the Other: The Muslim in India'. He delivered the 18th Narendran Memorial Lecture on 'Saffron surge: can it be stopped' at the Trivandrum Press Club on 18 August 2019.
He was also given a
Tedx Talk in
Jamia Millia Islamia
Jamia Millia Islamia is a Public university, public and research university located in Delhi, India. Originally established at Aligarh, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, United Provinces (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India) during the British R ...
on 16 October 2017.
Personal life
Saeed Naqvi is born and brought up in Mustafabad, Lucknow. He studied at
La Martinière College, Lucknow
La Martinière College is an elite educational institution located in Lucknow, the capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The college consists of two schools on different campuses for boys and girls. La Martinière College (for boys) wa ...
.
Naqvi married to Aruna Naqvi
and has three daughters, journalist Saba Naqvi and writer
Farah Naqvi and Zeba Akhtar.
His mother is Atia Naqvi while his brother is Shanney Naqvi.
Books
* ''Reflections of an Indian Muslim'' (1993)
* ''The Last Brahmin Prime Minister'' (1996)
* ''Being the Other: The Muslim in India'' (2016)
* ''Watan mein ghair وطن میں غیر : Hindustani Musalmaan'' (2018) – Urdu translation of Strangers in their own country'': The Muslims in India''
* ''
The Muslim Vanishes'' (2022)
Awards
* National Integration Award 2003, awarded by the National Commission for Minorities in New Delhi on 18 December. The award was conferred "for his outstanding contribution towards promoting communal harmony and national integrity".
Awards
''The Milli Gazette
''The Milli Gazette'' is an Indian English language digital news publication (formerly a fortnightly compact newspaper) based in Delhi. Founded in January 2000, the publication describes itself as the Indian Muslims' Leading News Source. I ...
'', January 2003, accessed June 2007
References
External links
Personal website
at ''The Indian Express
''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...
''
Saeed Naqvi, columns
at '' Outlook''
Saeed Naqvi
at '' NewsX''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Naqvi, Saeed
La Martinière College, Lucknow alumni
Indian male television journalists
Indian Shia Muslims
Kirori Mal College alumni
Indian columnists
Writers from Lucknow
Indian television talk show hosts
Indian newspaper editors
Living people
20th-century Indian journalists
Journalists from Uttar Pradesh
1940 births