ITV

Tag: Back To The Floor

  • ‘Back to the Floor’ series returns on BBC World

    ‘Back to the Floor’ series returns on BBC World

    NEW DELHI: BBC World is all geared to re-capture an unusual day in the life of India’s top CEOs with Back To The Floor.

    Starting 31 October, every Sunday at 11am and 11 pm, a brand new series of Back To The Floor will see the leaders of some of India’s biggest companies return to shop-floor level to understand the challenges and issues facing their staff.

    Presented in documentary style, as part of the India Business Report strand, the eight-part series will feature guests such as Maruti Udyog Ltd, MD, Jagdish Khattar, Park Hotels, chairperson, Priya Paul, Pantaloon Retail, CEO and MD, Kishore Biyani and Cadbury, CEO, Bharat Puri.

    Each episode begins with an overview of the business and the background of the corporate head, who then steps into the shoes of an ordinary worker in their organisation.

    In the first episode, Khattar, who usually travels to work in one of his company’s Vitara cars, walks through the main gate of his factory in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of Delhi, with the rest of his employees.

    The programme captures the MD of the country’s largest car manufacturer working through the materials section, participating in physical training exercises, shifting heavy engines and quickly gulping down his tea during his short breaks at the Maruti factory, says a company release.

    According to BBC World, commissioning editor, Narendhra Morar: “The new series of Back To The Floor offers unique glimpses of top management returning to the basics of their businesses. It’s a compelling series that provides a completely different view of some of India’s leading industries.”

    In the following weeks, the programme will feature Paul working with her housekeeping and laundry sections, and trying her hand at cooking as a chef in her multi-cuisine restaurant, whilst Biyani works behind the customer service desk at Pantaloon Retail, dealing with angry customers and selling shirts at one of his outlets, adds the release.

  • UTV to beef up non fiction software production

    UTV to beef up non fiction software production

    MUMBAI: After fiction and animation, software major UTV has now trained its sights on the non fiction segment.

    Keen to tap into the huge potential for this segment both in the burgeoning domestic market as well as among overseas broadcasters, UTV plans to float a team of ideators who will be primarily responsible for coming up with original ideas that can be converted into viable series, both here and abroad. Heading the team is old UTV hand Jyotirmoy Saha, the general manager, animation. Saha, who has extensive experience in networking with meeting with buyers for UTV’s animation software in international markets, has been given the additional charge of non fiction. Saha also has the mandate for constituting the team of five ideators, responsible for generating the content. The talent pool will be the only addition in terms of investment to the UTV team for building up the non fiction segment, says Saha.

    With growing demand, no genre within the non fiction segment is taboo, believes Saha, except perhaps for natural history, which he believes may not be the company’s core competency. That apart, Saha is keen to try game show formats, biography formats, current world issues, documentaries for the young…the list can go on.

    For starters, UTV has bagged a deal in Washington for an one hour documentary for the National Geographic Channel, details of which Saha is loath to reveal at this point. BBC World’s show Back To The Floor is produced by UTV, the first run of which ends on 14 February. It was last year that UTV got seriously down to the business of making non fiction software with the co-production of a 26 episode ‘cuisine tourism’ show Pan Asia that was aired in five countries including Canada. Pan Asia currently airs on Star World in India.

    The non fiction team within UTV will however not restrict itself to domestic channels, as Saha puts it, “Thinking only India cuts off 85 per cent of my market.” So, while the team would operate out of India, UTV will actively look at international markets.

    UTV also has the growing brood of news channels in its focus. It has produced a series Back To School on the different ways in which children in different parts of the country go to school, including Kashmiri kids whose school is housed in a houseboat, and Kutchi kids in Gujarat whose school is located in the salt pans of the westernmost tip of the country. It has also pitched two shows for the proposed UTV channel for the young, says Saha, the theme for which will be ‘kids, learning and adventure’.

  • BBC World to launch ‘Back To The Floor’

    BBC World to launch ‘Back To The Floor’

    MUMBAI: The focus is on the basics of business at BBC World.

    Starting Sunday, 4 January, the channel will air a seven-part series Back To The Floor, as part of it’s India Business Report strand, at 11am.

    The series will have some of the top management from India’s largest business houses return to shop level to gain a real understanding of working life in their companies, interacting with their employees and facing the same challenges and problems as them.

     
    The first series features Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani, who takes on the role of an ordinary shop floor worker for a day, says a company release.

    Responsible for leading the $17 billion group into the 21st century, the 46-year-old Stanford graduate will work like one of the 2,000 employees based in India’s biggest refinery in Jamnagar. He will be collecting oil samples and noting temperature readings and handling crises as a radio officer at the Port Operations Control room. In short, he will gains a real insight into life at the sharp end of his business.

    Amongst the interesting moments of the programme include him queuing up for meals and getting into crowded buses and then returning to the boardroom for a meeting with his divisional heads to seek solutions for the issues brought to light during his time on the floor.

    In yet another episode, Infosys’ Nandan Nilekani takes on the responsibilities as a project manager for three days, he comes in terms with the pressure faced by his staff. 

    Amongst another series of Back To The Floor is one where the founder and Chairman of Apollo Hospitals, Dr Pratap Reddy takes on a stint as an intern doctor and take an inside look at emergencies and complicated operations. The experience offered him the opportunity to listen to the day-to-day problems of his employees at various levels.

    According to BBC World, commissioning editor, Narendhra Morar, “This is a unique series that will be absolutely fascinating for our viewers in India. The business leaders featured in these seven programmes learn many tough lessons about the reality of life on the shop floor, with cameras capturing every moment of the trials and tribulations they encounter while going Back To The Floor.”