Vinod Mehta

Who is Vinod Mehta?

Vinod Mehta was until February 1, 2012, the editor-in-chief of Outlook India. He is at present an advisor to the magazine.

Mehta was born in Rawalpindi, in Pakistan. His family fled to India when he was three. He grew up as an army brat from a Punjabi refugee family in the syncretic culture of Lucknow of the 1950s—an experience that turned him into an unflagging 'secularist'. He attended La Martinere school in Lucknow and the university there. Leaving home with a BA third class degree, he experimented with a string of jobs, including that of a factory hand in suburban Britain, before accepting an offer to edit Debonair in 1974, a journal best known for featuring naked women.

The next three decades saw him become one of India's most influential editors as he launched a number of successful publications such as the Sunday Observer, the now defunct Bombay daily, The Independent, and the founder-editor of The Pioneer. Currently, he is editorial chairman of the Outlook Group.

Vinod Mehta has authored a biography of Meena Kurnari and Sanjay Gandhi, and published a collection of his articles under the title Mr Editor, How Close Are You to the PM? His much acclaimed memoir, Lucknow Boy, was published in 2011.