ITV

Tag: director

  • “Sab will be among the Top Three Hindi GECs”:EVP and business head of Sab Anooj Kapoor

    “Sab will be among the Top Three Hindi GECs”:EVP and business head of Sab Anooj Kapoor

     From being a copywriter, director to business head, the soft-spoken Anooj Kapoor has worn various hats. But what makes him different from others is the way he manages the work-life balance. He proudly claims that in his more than 20 years of career there has rarely been a day when he has been in office later than 6 pm. Even today, he leaves office at six in the evening and on weekends he switches off from work, unless required. Someone who believes in working hard hasn‘t forgotten to live to the fullest too…

    Indiantelevision.com’s Meghna Sharma spoke to the executive EVP and business head of Sab Anooj Kapoor about the channel‘s current plans,the reason for there being no other channel like Sab and the channel‘s future plan.

    Excerpts:

    The channel underwent a revamp recently, was it really needed? 

    Nothing we do here is what everybody else does, starting from our programming which is totally differentiated from the rest in the GEC space. So, this revamp is not because others have done it too. All we have done is revamped the packaging of the channel. The last revamp was done almost six years ago, and we thought we have had a wonderful growth in the past five years. So we wanted the packaging to be more colourful. We have retained the old colours and added more colours to our package to convey freshness, more audience on the channel as well as more people sitting together to watch our shows. It can convey a lot of things, but essentially, we wanted a fresh look.

    You said you are adding more people who are watching your channel. So through the revamp and apps are you targeting youth now? 

    Asli maaza sab ke saath aata hai… has stood true for us. The entire family comes together and watches TV. We have a mix of audience, from males, females to kids. We also have a healthy mix of Sec A, B and C. So we are not trying to broad base our TG, it is already 4+.

    However, we cannot deny that new things always appeals to people. In the age-group of 4-14, we are the number one channel. In the last TAM rating, we were ahead of Star Plus. In the higher age-group, 15-24, we are fairly strong but we realised there is a need to engage audience on fresher platforms – facebook, comics, SABurbia and other apps. And the age-group after that, we keep appealing through our ads where the whole family comes together.

    Our other initiative ‘Sab ki Saafari‘, is also first of its kind. The idea was to get people from smaller towns meet their favourite characters or watch a shoot. Through this initiative we get our loyal audiences to meet their favourite characters and also show them what goes on behind the camera. We have another loyalty program called SABprise wherein the more you watch the channel the more you get rewarded for it. We feel that today it has to be a two-way communication. If they have given us so much and helped us grow 600 per cent in five years then we should also give them something in return.
     

    With the awards season on, when can we get to see Sab ke anokhe awards? 

    We are coming back with Sab ke anokhe awards in August. The first round did well for us as we got a rating of 2.8 which I‘m not going to compare with other award shows, but for a channel like ours which has a limited reach it is a very healthy rating. It was purely because of the uniqueness of the show. We came up with categories which went beyond the clichéd categories. This time we are going to add even more categories and try to be as anokha as possible. We will be sticking to our strategy of being different and innovative.
     

    What kind of weekend programming does the channel currently have? Any plans to introduce new shows?

    Currently, we have two silent comedies on Saturday –Guttur Gu and Malegoan ka Chintu. Guttur Gu has been recognised as the longest running silent show in the world by the Limca Books of Records, and then we have Waah Waah Kya Baat Hai which consistently rates among the top five shows in the non-fictional category on the weekend. So, we have fresh weekend programming. We might add new programs in the future wherein we will look at reality or mix of unique concepts like silent comedy but nothing is crystallised yet.
     

     

     

    “We touched our highest rating of 159 in February this year and now with digitisation when we are far better placed”
     

    SAB is the only comedy-centric Hindi GEC, wherein other networks have second GEC channels, why do you think there aren‘t many players in this genre? 

    We are the number one comedy channel in the world. We are the only channel in the world which does daily comedy shows. If you will look at channels like Zee Café or Star World, the sitcoms they have are weekly and have seasons. We have Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah which has done 1200 episodes now, Lapataganj in its first avatar had done 850 episodes and FIR will be touching 1000 soon (in September). So while we have been able to be innovative, we have also done successful programming. All this while we know that there is a limited pool of comedy actors, writer, directors and producers.

    Also, before SAB, comedy wasn‘t seen as an important genre by GECs. We have been able to reign in that limited talent and try to cultivate a few more. With the limited pool I don‘t think there is enough talent for more than one channel to survive. And secondly, we have a DNA which has gotten us consistent success. There is no doubt that other channels have dabbled into comedy especially after seeing SAB‘s success, but all the top three or four GECs have not been able to succeed. And, therefore they are apprehensive.
     

    Do you work with a certain set of production houses or open to others as well? 

    We have always encouraged new producers, but at the same time we have certain set of producers that have consistently worked for us. We also have people who have never done comedy before and doing it successfully for us. For instance, Malegaon ka Chintu is produced by Deepti Bhatnagar Production which hasn‘t done comedy in the past,Gutur Gu is done by Fireworks who have in the past doneCID and Aahat. And of course, we have Asit Modi, JD Majathia, Vipul Shah and Ashwini Dheer. So, we have been able to mix both.
     

    You are also available in the US, UK and Europe, what has been the response there? 

    We are extremely popular abroad. In the UK we are the fastest growing channel.

    It is a fact that we have created almost 7,000 hours of original programming and when we compare data with other channels dedicated to comedy we are miles ahead of them. From the 70s, since DD started, no channel has claimed or can claim to be the number one channel based out of India but we can!
     

    It‘s going to be a year now since digitisation took place. How has it helped the channel? 

    We have a business model which by definition doesn‘t afford us very high rates and because we also have to keep our profits in mind, we couldn‘t place ourselves where top three or four GECs could. This meant, we could not be well placed in the analog. However, with digitisation, we now fall in the GEC cluster. Now our sampling will soar up. We also strongly feel that our trial retention rate is high.
     

    Currently, which are the weak slots that you would like to strengthen?

    The difference between manufacturing and television is – that in manufacturing you can perfect a formula whereas in our industry, the same raw material will go to the same factory but the end product sometime works and sometime fails.
     

    Lastly, when do you see Sab among the top three? 

    We are well on our way. We have never stopped growing. We touched our highest rating of 159 in February, this year and now with digitisation when we are far better placed, I hope we will one day be among the top three.
  • Jon M. Chu to don the director’s chair for the action packed GI Joe 3

    Jon M. Chu to don the director’s chair for the action packed GI Joe 3

    MUMBAI: The trend of sequels seems to have taken over Hollwood, with Zack Synder already in talks of a Man of Steel sequel, and Jason Blum planning another installment for his recent BO shocker The Purge, it is Paramount and MGM‘s turn to make a deal with Jon M. Chu to helm another installment of G.I. Joe.
     
    The high octane franchise that started with 2009‘s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, saw a makeover done by Chu in 2013‘s G.I Joe Retaliation starring Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis in the lead. The movie was refashioned entirely, with Paramount Studios having pulled the film from its 2012 release to make it 3D and do some creative visual enhancements.
     
    The studio‘s effort was paid off well with G.I Joe Retaliation raking in $ 365 million worldwide. The studio has also played a similar gamble with its latest upcoming Brad Pitt starrer World War Z, which has begun to generate a positive buzz following its zombie driven trailers, although the movie was prematurely written off because of its production issues initially.

  • Ang Lee all set to make his TV debut

    Ang Lee all set to make his TV debut

    MUMBAI: Often we see, successful TV celebrities moving to films to widen their reach. But in case of director Ang Lee, things are different.

    The celebrated director, who recently won the best director Oscar for Life of Pi is soon to make his TV directorial debut.
     
    Lee has signed up to direct the pilot episode of US network FX‘s Tyrant that tells the story of an American family pulled into a Middle East conflict.

    Said FX president John Landgraf, "Time and again Ang Lee has demonstrated an ability to present characters with such depth and specificity that they reveal the universal human condition. No one could be a more perfect film maker to bring Tyrant to indelible life."
     
    The show is slated to go on the floors this summer.

  • Let’s differentiate ‘News Channels’ from ‘Views Channels’ to save real journalism: TV9 Karnataka & News9 director Mahendra Mishra

    Let’s differentiate ‘News Channels’ from ‘Views Channels’ to save real journalism: TV9 Karnataka & News9 director Mahendra Mishra

    That there is a political-promoter-news channel nexus in the South of India is something that we have been aware for quite sometime. In all the four states-Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala – hardly a day goes by without the politician promoters using her/his media vehicle as a mouthpiece. After money and muscle, it’s media’s turn across South for politicos who seem to have gained mastery over the game. For them, the news channel appears to be the strongest weapon to run the political business.

    Now the big question is what happens to the sanctity of news if politicians convert the newsroom into their party office as we come across quite often…

    The words that define news are – independent, unbiased and factual. Clearly these words don’t reflect the character of these ‘news channels’.

    As a news channel, we are supposed to be the ‘conscience-keeper’ of the society. Also, we are the pillar on which the democracy rests. Aren’t we going to do just the opposite by adulterating ‘news’ with our personal agenda?

    We tend to believe that aam aadmi is intelligent enough to understand the design behind such attempts, but what we forget is that it’s the same aam aadmi that is spending time to consume (if not digest) the ‘adulterated’ news content being put out by these channels.

    It eventually leads to the dilution of the ‘real’ news consumption which sounds demoralising for the journalistically-driven news channels. It’s surely not a healthy sign for the growth of Indian news television, especially in the regional space.

    Secondly, these ‘adulterated’ news channels spoil the fearless, uncompromising and unyielding breed of journalists who are out there to make a real difference. Once you have worked with one of these news channels, it’s highly unlikely that your journalistic fire will still be alive.

    Essentially, these ‘views’ channels thrive on the propaganda, leading to a nearly deoxygenated journalistic environment. How do we expect fearless journalism to flourish in such a debilitating ambience? It’s a serious challenge we are going to face in the years to come.

    To top that, since these channels hardly command ‘sizeable’ viewership in their respective markets, they resort to underselling the channel. It means that real ‘news’ channels are also under pressure to sell the ‘air-time’ at comparable rates. This is the reason why most of the regional ‘views’ channels are bleeding badly across south today, but in the process, they have ensured that the real ‘news’ channels also suffer.

    Another important point is that the national television content regulators like News Broadcasters Association can’t really monitor the newscasts of these channels as most of them have deliberately stay away from being part of any such regulator. It poses serious risk for the audiences who may easily fall prey to their ‘luring’ tactics.

    Generally speaking, south India has around 20 news channels-directly/indirectly promoted by politicians, mostly in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka while there are just a few which can be classified under the non-political and unbiased category.

    As TAM data suggests, the viewership share of regional news channels has grown by 15-20 per cent in south India in 2011, unlike other genres, as compared to the previous year and interestingly, this trend looks to continue in the years to come. The striking point here is that most of the growth has come from the political news channels being launched/or running across all languages in south.

    Is it clean, pure journalism that is driving this growth in South India? The answer is a straight ‘NO’. Then, can we call it a positive trend?

    Take Karnataka for instance. The state saw three major launches of political news channels-Janashri (Janardhan Reddy), Samaya 24/7(Karnataka’s Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani with Ex-CM B S Yeddyurappa’s backing) and Kasthuri Newz 24(H D Kumaraswamy).These channels put together have grown to occupy around 20 per cent of the total news viewership in Karnataka in 2011.

    I don’t see any reason why these channels shouldn’t exist or grow.These channels have as much right to telecast or show what they want as anyone else. But I believe that it’s unfair to call them a ‘news channel.’ My contention is why should a ‘views channel’ be allowed to run in the garb of a ‘news channel’.

    Let’s create another category for such channels and spare people getting confused with ‘news channels’. Let there be a different mechanism to handle this category. The idea is to ensure that people must not be fed ‘views’ in the form of ‘news’. Let’s not fake things. Let’s grow up and accept the facts as they are.

    I think 2011 will be seen as a year when these ‘views’ channels threatened to adulterate ‘news’ beyond recognition. And it went almost unnoticed. It’s high time that the country, especially south wakes up to the underlying risks of ‘adulterated’ journalism. This is going to be the biggest test for the ‘real’ news channels in the years to come. If the sancity of the news has to be restored, this battle has to be won. That’s the only way out…

  • Life! Camera Action bags top recognition at Nevada Intl fest

    Life! Camera Action bags top recognition at Nevada Intl fest

    MUMBAI: New York based director Rohit Gupta‘s film Life! Camera Action has lapped up the Platinum Reel Award for the Best Narrative Feature Film 2011, the highest recognition at the Nevada International Film Festival 2011 held in Las Vegas.


    Challenging and thought provoking, Life! Camera Action…takes an unflinching look at the complexities of a girl‘s tolerance and persistence in a journey to follow her dreams in a diverse melting pot set up.


    Life! Camera Action is a story of a young Indian-American woman Reina‘s journey, who sets off to pursue a career in filmmaking against the wishes of her family and as she tries to make ends meet, she begins to seen another dream – to prove to her parents that her drive for her dream is sincere.


    She is of the belief that while being born with a personality may be an inherent gift from one‘s parents, to live as a personality is an achievement of our own and a return gift to the parents.


    The film features Dipti Mehta, Shaheed Woods, Noor Naghmi, John Crann, Subodh Batra amongst others.


    The Nevada International Film Festival is the Silver State‘s annual celebration of the best in American and international cinema, bringing together independent filmmakers, growing audiences and the film industry professionals who make it all possible.

  • Lintas Media Group director Lynn de Souza

    Lintas Media Group director Lynn de Souza

    Women in television and media… a handful of them but all worth their salt. Most people know them for what they do in their respective fields but there’s much more to them than just their work and the designations that come with it. A mother, a media buyer, a homemaker, a soap maker, a Gucci lover, an animal rights’ activist, a producer, a journalist, a shopoholic, an entrepreneur, an ad sales head, a CEO, an auditor… they’re all there… carving a niche for themselves and making their presence felt in boardrooms and studios, on-screen and off-screen. Whatever said and done, creativity runs in their blood. These Indian media power women have arrived and how.

    In the first of the weekly series – Ms Media – 25 Women Who Matter – we have someone who felt she was giving an exam while answering our queries for this column. Hiding behind her serious professional appearance is a lady who is extremely passionate about animals. She’s Lynn de Souza… the multi faceted media professional, author, tennis champ, a trained veterinary nurse and animal rights’ activist… we could go on!

    Lynn-opinion

    Before going on to what the lady is all about… Let’s take a dekkho at what she thinks she’s all about!

    A song by Whitney Houston best describes Lynn’s life mantra

    Well there’s a bridge and there’s a river that I still must cross
    As I’m going on my journey
    Oh, I might be lost

    And there’s a road I have to follow, a place I have to go
    Well no-one told me just how to get there
    But when I get there I’ll know
    Cuz I’m taking it

    Step By Step, Bit by Bit,
    Stone By Stone (Yeah), Brick by Brick (Oh, yeah)
    Step By Step, Day By Day, Mile by Mile (ooh, ooh, ooh)

    “I am a very intelligent person, and also more creative than most. I am also more perceptive than I would like to be. It’s a Scorpio trait and when I was born both the Sun and the Ascendent were in Scorpio. So yes, my weakness is that I do have a nice sharp sting!!! I am an impatient person; impatient with humans, but very patient with animals! In my performance appraisal, I am always told to be less direct and more tactful, but then I don’t know whether being brutally honest is a strength or a weakness! I believe I am also quite a compassionate fool.”

    Not a word more required to know her true mettle. Panache, threat, compassion and an impatience of sorts… it’s all there in those words.

    For the uninitiated, as far as the “designation” bit goes, this Goan heads Lintas Media Group as director and has been in the industry for more than two decades. Lynn is known for her outspoken nature, one who doesn’t hesitate to call a spade, a spade.

    She wishes she were 20 years younger so as to start all over again… but this time on the content side of the business as that’s where all the action is going to be. “For the television and media industry, there are optimistic, positive, exciting, challenging and great times ahead,” says Lynn.

    An alumnus of the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute, she began her career in 1982 with a brief stint at Speer before spending five years at O&M, where she did planning and buying for brands like J&J, Asian Paints, Titan Watches and Unilever. Trikaya Grey (now Grey Worldwide) got added to her resume, where she joined as media director in 1988.

    In this media business, which has become a huge scientific industry in the last few years, Lynn was an early bird entry. She’s been credited with pioneering the concept and openly championing the cause of media buying, as an independent business in India, after training stints with Mediacom at London and Dusseldorf.

    In this male dominated Indian society, women are now making their presence felt and in every walk of life. So how easy or difficult is it for a woman to be a top-notch professional? Lynn believes it’s not that difficult. “This is an equal opportunity industry, much more than most. At one time, there were more women media directors than men, and people used to wonder why!” she says.

    In an industry where there are more men than women, how does she face male dominance (if any)? “I don’t face any challenges that men don’t. As for male dominance, better you ask them how they fight female dominance! (If there is any, and I am sure there isn’t!),” Lynn quips back.

    Lynn-ventory

    So what’s on this versatile lady’s inventory at present? Firstly, she wants to see the Lintas Media brand and its sub-brands “making a positive difference to the market in all aspects – from client service, to new media use, to talent development to rebuilding client respect for the work that media agencies do and the ethics that media professionals employ.”

    Second thing on her agenda arises out of her love for animals. “I am driving expansion of the Goa SPCA’s activities within Goa beyond what we do for ownerless animals – responsible pet ownership is practically non existent in that State and that’s a new thing that we are working on,” says Lynn.

    Another pet peeve of Lynn’s is the current television ratings system. She’s made no bones about the fact in the media that the current ratings system is not up to the mark. And that with new emerging media platforms, the existing ratings system will become redundant. An active member of the Media Research User’s Council (MRUC) Lynn has formed technical and business committees to act on the suggestions made by the industry for improving the TV ratings system. “I am keen on making a real difference to the state of TV audience measurement in this country despite some fairly stiff and below-the-belt opposition in this area,” she stresses.

    When asked about that special quality of hers which brought her to the position she is today, she cheekily replies – “Breathing.”

    Lynn-tertainment

    An avid lover of animals, Lynn took in a pet rat for company when she went to Australia to study for a year.

    She has two homes, one in Mumbai and the other in Goa. In Mumbai, she lives with her parents. “My parents are in thier late seventies but pack in more energy and spirit than 20 of me!” Lynn says. Then she has her pets Gemma and Pixie. Gemma is an Afghan hound who she rescued a few years ago and Pixie is her 13 and a half year old pom.

    Her passion is her pets and her day starts and ends with them. “Apart from my pets, the other thing that makes me tick are all the birds and animals we work with and help. I don’t know how I could ever live without one of these creatures with me. Animals put our lives into perspective, they remind us that we do not own and control the earth, and never will,” she philosophises.

    What’s more, Lynn is also an author and has to her credit a work of fiction – ‘A Dog’s Life’, which was published two years ago. The book is a first person account of a mongrel and his mates, a touching story of friendship that crosses social boundaries. Now she’s working on her second book, which is scheduled for release next year.

    Phi-Lynn-thropist

    On being queried about her philanthropist efforts, she quickly replies that she’s not as much a philanthropist as she would like to be. “I wish I could do more for less fortunate people, but I think there are already too many people doing that. So I choose to give a lot to the world of nature. Indians do very little for the animals, it’s certainly not a popular cause to work for, and that’s our society’s short-sightedness,” she says.

    “Plus I always find that the people who say ‘why do you work for animals when there are so many suffering humans?’ are those who do nothing for humans either, whereas all those who work in human and social upliftment show a lot of compassion towards animals too,” she reminisces.

    On a concluding note, what this tough lady strongly believes in is that the means are always just as important, if not more, than the end. “I like to build rather than raid, to enjoy the fruits of my own efforts than feast on the efforts of others,” she says.