A producer in Doordarshan took her chances in directly asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for an interview in her forthcoming programme on JRD Tata.

To her utter surprise and delight, the PM not only agreed but sat through cut-aways and read aloud from a script in large typeface kept for him next to the camera.

In his remarks, Dr Singh noted Tata’s role “as a dreamer, a builder, a humanist, (and) above all a true patriot. Contributing to the transformation of our country from a colonial, agrarian economy into a modern industrial economy.”