Original version

BBC World Service South Asia

Migrated podcast image for: Outlook

Outlook

Factual: Life Stories

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

Outlook: Sabira Merchant: A life lived head on

Magazines & Reviews

WhatsApp Image 2023-07-20 at 2.44.23 PM.jpg

20/07/2023 GMT

Sabira Merchant: A life lived head on

BBC World Service - Outlook, Sabira Merchant: A life lived head on

Sabira Merchant has been at the centre of Mumbai culture for 80 years

Sabira Merchant is an actor and etiquette trainer who is celebrated for founding the famous nightclub, Studio 29, in her home city of Mumbai, India.

In India, Sabira Merchant is a name associated with sophistication and elegance – she’s an etiquette trainer who has coached big-name stars including Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta. Hers has always been a life lived head on. As a girl, she was sent to a Swiss finishing school, and she went on to marry and have children as was expected of her. But in the 1960s, when her children were still small, she took up acting, becoming a renowned thespian in Mumbai. In the 1970s she became nationally famous as host a TV quiz show, What’s The Good Word? – the first English-language show of its kind in India. She went on to open a famous nightclub in Mumbai, Studio 29, which was where the city’s elite partied in the 1980s. Now aged 80 she published her memoir, A Full Life (2022). 

Presenter: India Rakusen
Producer: Jo Impey and Hetal Bapodra

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

Photo: Sabira Merchant Credit: Sambha Vora

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Outlook

Sabira Merchant: A life lived head on

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service South Asia

About BBC World Service