India Today to revamp 10 pm Newstrack with Marya Shakil at the helm

New Delhi: India Today Television is set to revamp its flagship prime-time show Newstrack at 10 pm with veteran television journalist and news anchor Marya Shakil leading the broadcast.

Newstrack was previously hosted by Rahul Kanwal, who moved to NDTV earlier this year as Group CEO and Editor-in-Chief. Shakil joined India Today from NDTV last week. 

The transition was telegraphed on August 14. Shortly after BestMediaInfo first reported Shakil’s exit from NDTV, India Today opened its 10 pm bulletin with a stylised teaser built around the refrain “Oh Marya Oh Marya”. 

The studio-shot promo, with vibrant lighting and bold branding, flashed a prominent “Coming Soon” and set off lively speculation online about a refreshed 10 pm show fronted by Shakil. 

India Today has already begun integrating Shakil into its nightly news cadence. On the day Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan was nominated as the NDA’s vice-presidential candidate, the channel introduced Shakil in-studio to analyse the development.

Shakil joined NDTV in August 2023 as Executive Editor, National Affairs, after nearly two decades of political reporting and anchoring across major newsrooms. 

Before NDTV, she was Political Editor and Senior Anchor at CNN-News18, where she helmed the daily debate News Epicentre, led election coverage and fronted long-form reportage. An alumna of Jamia Millia Islamia with a master’s degree in mass communication, she began her career at CNN-IBN (Network18) in 2005.