Gitikka Ganju Dhar

The darling of India’s experiential industry, founder of Ministry of Talk – Made in India, Gitikka is probably India’s most awarded live host and a preferred choice for events that require more case than trace, experiences that are large format, content based and necessitate the gear of experience and expertise. She is a popular choice to host special projects in the presence of global Heads of State, Presidents, Prime Ministers and leadership from the corporate world. The name common to some of biggest and most acclaimed live projects in recent times, is hers. Kargil Vijay Diwas, Fit India Launch, Main Bhi Chowkidar, Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas, IIFA Press Conference, META Awards, Telegraph She Awards, Vibrant Gujarat, Khelo India Youth Games, CREDAI Youth Con, Global Aviation Summit, The Sufi Route, International Convention of Wedding fraternity, Magnetic Maharashtra Summit, ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit, Founding Conference of International Solar Alliance, US India Business Council Ideas Summit, India International Energy Forum and India International Science Fair, all, had this artist weave the incantation of her talk.

She has been named Nation Builder by India Today Magazine, one among 100 Nation Builders from across the spectrum of Indian industries. She has been awarded the Woman Super Achiever Award at the World Women Leadership Congress 2020. She has also been honored with the prestigious Woman Leadership Award by ET Now at Stars of the Industry Awards 2019. Named Live Artist of the Decade at WOW Awards Asia, she has also been honored with the Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Indian Experiential Realm by Business World Applause. She was named amongst the ten most influential women in the Indian Live Industry in a book, The Decade of Transformation, published by EEMA. She has been named Best Live Host India at various relevant platforms, Best Anchor India Female at EEMAX Spotlight Awards 2018 and 2017, Best Emcee Award India by Business World BW Applause Awards 2017, Best Emcee India Live Quotient Awards 2012, WOW Awards Asia Best Emcee Corporate and lifestyle Events India 2019 and 2020 and 2021. She also bagged the award for Outstanding Television Host for an Indian Cookery Show at the Restaurant India Awards 2019.

Gitikka has launched her first and much awaited communication course – Communication Unwrapped online, on menova.org, 22 years of experience in 11 modules. The lab has taken off to a flying start. Gitikka is now spreading her wings as a speaker and launching communication workshops and seminars in the live format, across India!

Gitikka has achieved a rapid-rate adaptation towards being an online, virtual event host and moderator, over the past few months. She was one of the first Indian anchors to host a virtual event, having steered the PM led Fit India Virtual Event 2020. Virtual META AWARDS 2020, Virtual Nestle Lifelong Health Show, HSBC Achievers Webinar, Virtual PolyTechcircle Digital Transformation Awards and Summit, Virtual Techmanch 2020, Virtual Indian Digital Marketing Awards, Virtual NASA Talk Show, Virtual India IP Conclave, Virtual Edutainment Show Talk Show with Imtiaz Ali, Virtual WOW Awards Asia, Virtual Dil Se Shukriya Concert for Delhi Police Event and many more.

She is a veteran of many television shows and thousands of live events across the globe. The reasons for her success are simple. The intellectual quotient she brings to the job is unparalleled. Her oratory skills enchant. Her words bewitch and resonate. Her stage presence enraptures, her ebullience belies the two decades across which she has wielded the microphone and her professionalism reassures. Well known for her extempore renditions, you have to watch her live to fully understand the impact that she has on live audiences.

With grace and gumption, she has changed the way India views female live hosts. She says, “I do not wish to be viewed as a female or male host whilst on stage, my gender is inconsequential to the job at hand, neither as a celebrity do I want to be cast. The quality of my work should be the celebrity, nothing but, skill, voice and content should matter, whether I am talking for a razzmatazz event or one soaked in protocol. How good one looks should be incidental, what one wears should be a part of the overall vibe and what figure your age sit at should be immaterial.” Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres defy these stereotypes. In India, does a male anchor’s shelf life come with an expiry date too? Female news anchors adhere to no such bondage, there, only skill matters. In a category of performers who were for long handcuffed by the male gaze, she has successfully steered the focus onto substance, having redrafted the scope of a female live host’s presence on stage. The agenda now stands rebooted.

Today, in the best phase of her career as a live artist and that too at a stage when most female anchors were expected, as in the earlier days, to hang up their boots, Gitikka talks at events that range from brand launches to government events to film awards to rural marketing experiences, no small feat to achieve this range. She is idolized by the young blood entering the Indian live industry. She has emerged as a thought leader, social influencer and a patriot to be watched out for.

Hailing from the valley of Kashmir, settled in Mumbai, Gitikka is married to a banker and is daughter of an Armed Forces veteran and an Economics Professor. A prolific writer for live industry platforms, she is penning her first book for children. She is a member of various national committees – Event and Entertainment Management Association of India and is on the Whistling Woods Event School Industry Board and Wizcraft MIME Academy Advisory Board. She is also a Principal Member of the Advisory Board of Touchwood Wedding School.