New Delhi: ‘Darwaje bayein taraf khulenge’ (doors will open on the left) is a sentence that over 50 lakh people — who use the Delhi Metro daily — hear every day. However, not many people know about the people who are behind the voices that make public announcements to make travel easy for commuters.
Shammi Narang, the man behind Hindi announcements in Delhi Metro
Shammi Narang, who is an ex-news anchor, is the man behind the iconic voice of Delhi Metro. The 66-year-old has lent his voice to all Hindi in-train and in-station announcements of Delhi Metro, Gurugram’s Rapid Metro, Mumbai Metro, Bangalore Metro, Jaipur Metro and the Hyderabad Metro Rail.
Born in Delhi, Narang graduated in engineering and then reportedly made his foray into the voice-over industry with the Hindi division of Voice of America. Later, he went on to become Doordarshan’s one of finest news presenters.
After his around 20-year association with the Indian public service broadcaster, he switched to doing voice-overs.
Shammi Narang then opened Studio Pindrop, which is said to be Delhi’s first digital recording studio and is famous among voice-over artists and musicians.
In his illustrious career, Narang also did voice-overs for an award-winning two-minute animation film ‘Nanhi Chidiya’, and is behind the audio guides on heritage monuments in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner and Mysore.
He has also done theatre and has been a visiting faculty at a film school.
Rini Khanna, the woman behind English announcements in Delhi Metro
Rini Khanna, who has also been the television news anchor, is the woman behind the voice of Delhi Metro. Her voice is behind all English in-train and in-station announcements of the Delhi Metro.
She started her career with All India Radio and then worked with Doordarshan till 2001. Later, she became a professional voiceover.
Rini Khanna graduated in English literature from Delhi University and then did a PG diploma in Journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) in Delhi.
