SINCE joining forces with the BBC more than 15 years ago, Anita Rani has become a regular on our airwaves and television screens.
She has co-hosted Countryfile since 2014, won numerous accolades for her powerful documentary on the Partition of India and danced her way into the nation’s hearts after reaching the semi-finals of Strictly Come Dancing in 2015.
Despite her success, it has not been an easy ride for the 43-year-old. In March, she said that she faced the “triple whammy” of being Asian, northern and a woman in her early career and termed it as a “tough struggle”.
Though positive about the industry, Rani says that the “power structures need to change” and she has had to work harder than others to achieve her multifarious career spanning over two decades.
The presenter says: “I’ve got three things that are different from most people who work in TV.
It’s funny that people have preconceived ideas of you. I just think you only see a certain aspect of everybody.”
The popular broadcaster was raised with brother Kuldeep in Bradford, West Yorkshire, by parents Balvinder and Lakhbir, now in their 60s, who moved to the UK four decades ago to run a clothing business.
She had a passion for journalism from a young age and discovered her talent for broadcast at 14 when she secured her first radio show at Bradford’s Sunrise Radio, where her mother presented her own show.
After leaving school, Rani studied for a degree in broadcasting at Leeds University. From university, Anita worked as a researcher for the BBC and other media organisations, and soon worked her way up to the top.
As well as her presenting gig with Countryfile, she also files reports for The One Show and was a guest presenter during the coverage of the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018.
Rani especially caught attention for her BBC programme, My Family, Partition and me: India 1947. The documentary won her a much coveted Royal Television Society Award, as well as an Editor’s Special Award at the Eastern Eye ACTAs in 2018.
As well as being a passionate environmentalist, Rani has also lent her voice to several charity initiatives. During the 2020 lockdown, she was involved in TK Maxx’s ‘Give Up Clothes For Good’ campaign in aid of Cancer Research UK For Children & Young People, which invited people to bag up pre-loved items and pass them to others in need.
She has been outspoken on other causes too – for one, Rani has been helping campaigners who want schools to teach pupils about Partition and the Empire.
Rani has also been vocal about her grief after suffering a miscarriage in 2018. The journalist, married to Bhupi Rehal, a tech executive, went public with the news on her social media account, claiming it was important to use her voice and platform to help others.
After sharing her story, she said that many women and men had reached out to her and shared their experience as well. “My body and soul experienced something I’ll never forget, and I’m not going to do what I did initially and act as though it was nothing, as though I’d just had a graze,” Rani, who lives in east London, says. “Because it was something. It was – and is – incredibly sad, and that’s okay to say. There’s no getting around it: life is hard.”
In December, it was announced that Rani’s memoirs The Right Sort of Girl would be published by Bonnier Books UK. It is due to be released in July 2021.
