Executive Dossier

“I am already being called Mr Dus Crore” “

Published

22 years ago

June 22, 2004

KBC, AB, and Star TV, watch out you’ve got competition. At least that’s what the folks at Zee TV are threatening to offer to the three courtesy their game show Sawal Dus Crore which is being touted as the highest prize money game show globally and is slated to launch on 23 October. The person at the forefront will be Anupam Kher who will be the master of ceremonies – along with Manisha Koirala.

This versatile actor from the beautiful city of Shimla came to Mumbai with a dream and determination to become an actor like many others. He succeeded. And how! In his sixteen years of acting, he has done some 290 films. One of Kher’s most memorable roles is that of a father yearning for his son’s ashes in Saaransh. Another one which sticks in your memory is the role of a doting comic father he played in Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin. Kher has a challenging task ahead of him.

Zee TV is banking on SDCK – and he plays a large part in the show – to pull the network back from the the morass it has got into thanks to its programming myopia and the success of shows such as Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) on Star Plus. indiantelevision.com’s Harish Patil caught up with him on 21 October to check Kher out and had a tete a tete with the endearing gentleman. Excerpts: :

Q: How did you get this job?

A : I got a call from Gajendra Singh who is the director of SDCK some 20 days back asking for an appointment. I was surprised when in the meeting he offered the anchor’s position, as I was reading about Madhuri hosting the show. I did take my own time before saying yes.

Q: What made you accept the offer?

A: A man in his mid forties looks for things that he would like to do. I have been in the industry for past sixteen years and have done some 290 odd films. For the past three to four years, I have stopped running around for roles, as the work is getting repetitive. Of every ten films offered to me, six have the same scene and four even have the same dialogues. I have curtailed the number of projects from twenty to four-five films a year I used to do earlier, which has given me the much needed time and space for myself. I have started doing shows for children as well as theatre. So this opportunity came to me as a much awaited break in the real sense.

Q: How do you feel after taking it up?

A: I feel thrilled, just like doing ‘Saaransh’ many years back. Whenever I want to bring myself back to life as an actor, I take on a different role. Ten years after ‘Saaransh’ I did theatre again. Then I directed a film. A few years back I did shows for children which gave me immense pleasure and I am now positively looking forward to this new role on a very big platform offered to me by Zee. .

Q: Are you afraid of the Big ‘B’?

A: I have great respect for Bachchan, but I am a thorough professional. And to me this is like any other project. When I did my first film with Dilip Kumar, I was thrilled as he was my childhood hero. I grew up watching his movies. When I first met him on the sets, I just kept looking at him. But after the initial excitement was over I started thinking about my professional responsibilities. As an actor I have to perform irrespective of any pressure. So it is more like a challenge to me than a threat.

Q: But Bachchan has his commanding voice and charisma. What will be your USP?

A: Look, our show is targeted at the common man who has a dream to become very rich. We will give him a chance to fulfil that. My personality and nature will make the contestant feel comfortable. My presence will be more like a family member as I have played roles like ‘Chacha’, ‘Mama’, etc. Along with that, the amount of prize money and innovative programming will definitely help the show. Even our questioning pattern is different. The major thrust on current affairs will definitely gives us a winning edge.

The type of sets, type of background music, the presentation of the show – everything plays a vital role

Q: Are you afraid of SDCK failing? KBC is already established and many more such programmes are being canned?

A: I am a great optimist. My life has been a great source of optimism for me. I am never afraid of failures as failures are signs that you are trying. There was a time when five films were doing well; five actors were successful; five programmes were doing well – so there is a room for a person who is providing a quality product. The type of sets, type of background music, the presentation of the show – everything plays a vital role. Looking at the efforts the whole team has put in, I am confident that we are going to succeed.

Q: Phrases like Lock kiyajaya, Confident, and certain mannerisms that Bachchan uses are common with versions of Who wants to be a millionaire worldwide. And even Bachchan rehearsed for almost a month with the producers to get everthing perfect to a T before the show got on air. Have you undergone any specific training?

A: I have had just three days of training. I hardly get any time for that, but even then the end result is extraordinary. Nevertheless, we will be using words like ‘Freeze it’ for confirming the answer. The other words like ‘confident’, ‘sure’ are very common and it will be difficult to get a simple substitute for them. But as the game evolves, we will try coin the words. The language that we are going to use is going to be Hindi only.

Q: How many episodes have you shot and how many have you been contracted for ?

A: As of now we have shot four episodes. I have signed a contract for one year, and will be shooting seven days a month. After one year we will see whether we will continue or not. If I perform I will stay. If I don’t I will be kicked out. (smiles).

Q: Are you satisfied with the end product?

A: I have seen the episodes and I am extremely happy about the whole thing. Basically I like people, and I also take real interest in them so while hosting the show I feel the same excitement that the participants feel. I feel that this person should answer correctly; hence I should help him. I share their dreams, which gives me immense amount of pleasure. Already people have started identifying me with the show. They call me Mr Dus Crore.

Q: How are you going to manage your time for all the things you will be doing?

A: I strongly believe that even a real busy person can always find time for everything; only lazy people don’t have time. I will be shooting seven days a week for SDCK. As it is I have reduced my work load, so I will able to make adjust to whatever I am doing.

Related Topics:AB and Star TV competition Watch

Up Next

‘DD is operating in a time warp’ : Ravina Raj Kohli CEO HFCL-Nine Broadcasting India.

Don't Miss

“Smriti Z Iraani gave me a tough time when I attended her talk show Kuch Diil Se” : Bobby Darling

Click to comment

Executive Dossier

Game on, fame on as Good Game hunts India’s first global gaming star

Published

1 month ago

January 27, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Game faces on, pressure high India’s gaming ambitions are levelling up. Good Game, billed as the world’s first as-live global gaming reality show, has officially launched in India with a bold mission: to crown the country’s first Global Gaming Superstar.

Blending esports with mainstream entertainment, the show brings together competitive gaming, creativity and on-camera performance in a format that tests more than just joystick skills. Contestants will be judged on gameplay, screen presence and their ability to perform under pressure, reflecting how gaming has evolved from pastime to profession and pop culture currency.

Fronting the show are three high-profile ambassadors: actor and entrepreneur Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Indian cricket star Rishabh Pant, and gaming creator Ujjwal Chaurasia. The winner will take home Rs 1 crore ($100,000) among the largest prize pools for any Indian reality show along with the chance to represent India on a global stage.

Backed by a planned annual investment of up to Rs 100 crore, Good Game is also courting brand partners, promising a minimum reach of 500 million among India’s core youth audience. The creators position the show as a bridge between entertainment and interactive culture, offering long-format content, community engagement and commercial scale.

Auditions are now open to Indian citizens aged 18 and above, inviting amateur and professional gamers, creators and performers alike. Shortlisted candidates will be called for in-person auditions in Mumbai on 14 and 15 February, and in Delhi on 28 February and 1 March 2026.

With big money, big names and even bigger ambition, Good Game signals a shift in how India views gaming not just as play, but as performance, profession and prime-time spectacle.

Digital

SpotDraft hires new CMO and CFO to fuel global push for its AI contract platform

Published

3 months ago

December 3, 2025

indiantelevision.com Team

INDIA: SpotDraft has strengthened its senior ranks as it gears up for faster global expansion, naming Alon Waks as chief marketing officer and Amit Sharma as chief financial officer. The appointments follow the firm’s $54 million Series B round earlier this year and mark a push to scale across the Americas, EMEA and India.

The AI-powered contract-lifecycle-management platform has posted 100 per cent year-on-year growth in customer acquisition, counting Apollo.io, IPSY, Mixpanel, Oyster and Panasonic among its global clients. The firm processes more than one million contracts annually, with volumes up 173 per cent and nearly 50,000 monthly active users.

Waks, a veteran of Kustomer, Bizzabo, CreatorIQ, LivePerson and ZoomInfo, will steer global marketing and category positioning as legal teams adopt AI-driven tools. Sharma, who has led finance across scaling tech firms since 2016, will guide financial strategy, investor relations and market expansion.

Both hires aim to sharpen SpotDraft’s bid for a larger slice of the fast-growing legal-tech market, expected to exceed $63 billion by 2032. Co-founder and chief executive Shashank Bijapur said the company is focused on scaling go-to-market operations in the Americas, deepening leadership in EMEA, and accelerating AI capabilities for general counsels and legal-operations leaders.

Clients report shorter deal cycles and better alignment between legal and business teams. “What used to take weeks now happens in days,” said Abnormal Security senior legal operations manager Susan Koenig. DeepL head of legal operations André Barrow, said SpotDraft has helped reframe legal “from a cost centre to a generator of revenue”.

Executive Dossier

Outdoor Ads Get Smarter as LOC8 Shifts OOH from Visibility to Attention

Published

3 months ago

November 28, 2025

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Out-of-home ads were once the wallflowers of marketing seen by everyone, noticed by few. But in an age where attention has become the world’s most fought-over currency, even billboards are getting a brain upgrade. Enter LOC8, OSMO’s AI-powered attention engine, quietly reshaping the old OOH playbook by measuring not just who could have looked at an ad, but who actually did. The shift is subtle but seismic: impressions are out, impact is in and data, not gut instinct, is calling the shots.

In a landscape where marketers question every rupee spent outdoors, LOC8 is turning lampposts, flyovers and traffic islands into precision-mapped attention laboratories. By crunching dwell time, visibility zones, perceptual size and real-world obstructions, the platform is dragging OOH into a future where creativity meets computer vision and where the best ideas aren’t just eye-catching, but eye-measured. From automotive facelifts to FMCG novelty and real estate trust-building, the message is clear, outdoor has stopped shouting and started listening. Indian Television Dot Com explores more about it in an Interview interview with OSMO co-founder Nipun Arora.

On how OSMO is shifting outdoor advertising from a visibility-led medium to an attention-led one through LOC8.

Traditional OOH has long been measured by visibility and impressions i.e how many people could see an ad. OSMO, through its proprietary AI platform LOC8, is shifting that narrative more towards likelihood of being noticed. Using computer vision and machine learning, LOC8 analyzes real-world video data to measure visibility zones, obstructions, dwell time and perceptual size; bringing precision to how attention is quantified outdoors. It moves the focus from mere impressions to quality of impressions, making OOH a data-verified, attention-led medium comparable to digital in accountability.

On how marketers can use LOC8’s dwell-time, visibility and perception insights to craft more effective, emotionally resonant OOH campaigns.

LOC8 helps brands understand how people truly experience outdoor media how long they look, from what distance, and under what conditions. By quantifying dwell time, visibility duration, and perceptual size; marketers can plan campaigns that align with real human viewing behavior. This empowers creative and strategy teams to design emotionally resonant storytelling where messaging, visual hierarchy and placement are optimized for how people actually notice and process OOH creatives.

About what LOC8 has revealed through campaigns like Renault Triber and Namaste India on how categories such as auto, FMCG and real estate use attention metrics to drive outcomes.

Each category uses attention data differently but all share one common goal: to convert outdoor visibility into measurable engagement.

• Automotive | Renault Triber

For the new Renault Triber facelift, bold creative met data-led planning through LOC8. By analyzing on-ground video data, LOC8 measured real audience attention across placements factoring in visibility zones, obstructions, traffic speed and perceptual size. This enabled Renault to identify corridors that delivered maximum reach, saliency and engagement, optimizing media efficiency and ROI.

• FMCG | Namaste India

In OOH, innovation is the hook and assets are the bait. But bait often hides the hook. With Loc8’s attention metrics, we ensured the bait wasn’t a hurdle, rather it became the perfect stage for innovation to deliver its full impact! The insight proved that creative novelty, when validated by attention data, drives deeper engagement and measurable brand lift.

• Real Estate

For luxury and real estate campaigns targeting HNI/UHNI audiences, attention patterns differ especially between front and rear passengers, who are often the core audience segment for premium sites. LOC8’s ability to distinguish rear vs. front visibility plays a critical role here. It helps identify sites that offer longer viewing windows and stronger perceptual dominance from the rear seat where decision-makers are most likely seated making it a key differentiator for premium and trust-led categories. Together, these insights prove that auto optimizes for impact, FMCG for recall, and real estate for trust visibility showing how attention metrics adapt to category goals while ensuring measurable outcomes.

On how attention analytics will shape the future of brand storytelling and media planning as OOH becomes more digitised and data-driven.

As outdoor digitizes, attention analytics will inform not just where to advertise but how stories are told in public spaces. This evolution transforms OOH from a static broadcast channel into a dynamic attention ecosystem, where creativity is optimized through evidence-based insight.

On how LOC8’s data-led framework helps marketers quantify OOH impact and make outdoor a more accountable, ROI-driven medium.

LOC8 bridges the gap between intuition and evidence. By quantifying metrics like visibility duration, attention opportunity index, and visual saliency rank, it allows brands to benchmark site performance and justify investment. This data-led approach brings transparency, comparability and ROI measurement to a medium historically driven by perception.

On how OSMO ensures AI and computer vision enhance creativity rather than reduce it to numbers.

OSMO believes that technology should enhance creativity, not overshadow it. LOC8’s attention models reveal what naturally draws the human eye helping creative teams refine design cues, contrast, and visual hierarchy for greater impact. By merging art and science, LOC8 empowers creativity with intelligence.

About the creative best practices and design cues LOC8 has uncovered regarding what truly captures consumer attention outdoors.

LOC8’s visual cognition analysis has surfaced clear patterns across campaigns:

• High contrast and minimal messaging outperform cluttered designs.

• Motion cues draw significantly longer dwell times.

• The first two seconds are critical, creatives must establish focus instantly.

• Contextual alignment between the creative and its environment increases attention by over 30%.

These learnings offer a scientific foundation for creative effectiveness helping brands design OOH that’s visually magnetic and emotionally memorable.

On how attention metrics will integrate into omnichannel planning where OOH, digital and social work together for unified brand impact.

Attention can become the unifying KPI across OOH, digital and social to creates seamless storytelling continuity, where outdoor triggers digital engagement. The future of omnichannel planning lies in attention-led integration ensuring that campaigns don’t just reach audiences everywhere but truly capture and hold their focus.