For decades, All India Radio or Akashvani, India’s national broadcaster, has been ‘the sound of India.' Be it Jawaharlal Nehru’s iconic ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech, shows such as Binaca Geetmala, cricket matches, movies or, more recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann ki Baat, AIR has been and continues to be the primary source for programmes on news, entertainment and knowledge for many Indians. But there are innumerable fascinating stories associated with the radio channel itself. At our Online Talk #YehAkashvaniHai, authors Vikrant Pande and Neelesh Kulkarni tell us some of these tales and anecdotes concerning producers, broadcasters, radio jockeys and even listeners.

About the speakers

Vikrant Pande has translated seventeen Marathi bestsellers into English. His translation of Girish Kuber's book Tatayan (The Tatas: How a Family Built a Business and a Nation) won the prestigious Gaja Capital Best Business Book Award in 2019. His book on the history of the State Bank of India, The SBI Story: Two Centuries of Banking (2021), has been received well. His book, co-authored with Neelesh Kulkarni, In the Footsteps of Rama: Travels with the Ramayana, is a bestseller and has received excellent reviews. He has translated and written original pieces for Storytel, an audio book company. Pande is a graduate of IIM Bangalore, and a full-time writer now.

Neelesh Kulkarni is a management graduate, entrepreneur, theater and voice-over artist, cricket commentator, corporate coach, poet, and bestselling author published by HarperCollins and Westland Books. He has written In The Footsteps of Rama: Travels With The Ramayana (2021), Open Sesame: My Little Book of Magic Tricks (2023), Uprising: The Liberation of Dadra and Nagar Haveli(2024), and Akashvani (2025), the first and last of them co-authored with Vikrant Pande. His books have been translated into Hindi, Gujarati, and Marathi. One of his books has been made into a web series and another is being made into a movie.