ITV

Tag: Sanjay Dosi

  • Management restructure of core portfolios at UTV

    MUMBAI:There has been a major management restructuring of core sectors – content creation and allied content services at United Television.
    While three top management officers have left UTV in the near past, five top corporate people are stepping in, the Bombay Times has reported.
    The three who have moved out include – UTV’s movies section COO Sanjay Bhattacharjee (first reported by indiantelevision.com on 28 April), chief financial officer of operations Sanjay Dosi, and head of USL (United Studios Limited) Parab Sundar.
    While UTV states that the parting with outgoing officers is “mutual and amicable” the fact is that have had to make way for the business house’s restructuring policy.
    Citing reasons for the changes, Screwvala is quoted in the report as saying, “Sanjay Bhattacharjee is a good guy but he was not the right person to go upward for what we wanted to do in the movies section. Parting with Sanjay Dosi too, was amicable. However Sundar was asked to go primarily ‘on integrity grounds’.”
    The four new entrants will join from 10 June 2003 – one will join later as he is busy finishing an international assignment in his present company. Sandeep Bhargava , a senior advertising professional will head the Allied Content Services.
    Sanjay Bhattcharjee will be replaced by two corporate heads – Ram Mirchandani who was with Modi Entertainment Group for six years will join as general manager of the Motion Pictures Division and another COO who will soon join in the movies section. 
    Therefore instead of Bhattacharjee, it will now be Mirchandani who will lead the release of UTV’s three Indian co-production in movies – Chalte Chalte ( with Dreamz Unlimited) , Lakshya ( with Farhan Akhtar) and Swadesh with Ashutosh Gowariker.
    Interestingly, UTV is also taking back Ronald D’mello who had left the company to join Star Television about 18 months back. He returns as director of operations and finance.

    Also Read:
    UTV confirms departure of motion pictures head

    UTV Motion Pictures COO Bhattacharjee resigns

  • UTV takes on Sanjay Dosi as COO finance & operations

    UTV takes on Sanjay Dosi as COO finance & operations

    MUMBAI: Former Balaji Telefilms CEO Sanjay Dosi has joined Ronnie Screwvala-promoted UTV as COO finance & operations. 

    Dosi, who left Balaji towards the end of May, was appointed to his new position at UTV on 5 July. 

    As COO finance & operations for the whole group, his brief includes finance, corporate strategies and planning to drive the business forward, says Dosi.

  • Shobha Kapoor takes over as Balaji CEO after Sanjay Dosi’s resignation

    Shobha Kapoor takes over as Balaji CEO after Sanjay Dosi’s resignation

    Sanjay Dosi has put in his papers as CEO of Balaji Telefilms.

    The company that posted a net profit of Rs 290.15 million for FY 2001-02, now has a new CEO in the form of Shobha Kapoor, actor Jeetendra’s wife, who has so far been operating in the capacity of managing director.

    Dosi’s resignation was accepted at the company’s board meeting on 24 May, according to reports. The company has informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that Kapoor has taken over as the CEO and that the company is on the lookout for a chief financial officer.

    The media firm is riding high on the BSE today with the stock up 4 per cent or Rs 21.75, at Rs 565.25. The stock opened at Rs 568 today, against Friday’s clsoe of Rs 543.50. The company has registered a massive 666.25 per cent net profit jump over last year’s figures, and the board has recommended final dividend of 50 per cent.

  • Balaji hopes to laugh all the way to the bank with daily comedy on Zee

    Balaji hopes to laugh all the way to the bank with daily comedy on Zee

    Balaji Telefilms seems set to continue its winning streak with a clutch of new serials this year, three of which will premiere on Zee and Sony within the next two months.

    The production house is making its first daily comedy for Zee that will be aired some time from March 2002 in the 7:30 pm slot. Also in the pipeline is a ‘woman oriented soap’ to be aired in the 8 pm slot on Zee in April 2002. But the first new show of the year from the Balaji stable will launch on Sony mid-February and will be a daily afternoon show. This is scheduled to be a regular family drama in the Balaji tradition, although the cast could be fresh this time, says CEO Sanjay Dosi.

    The company says it is also launching a daily soap on Udaya TV in February 2002. Close on the heels of its promising Q3 results, Balaji has also announced it had hiked its rates 35 per cent for shows airing on Star Plus. Dosi says the rate hike is effective 1 January, 2002 for all four Balaji shows that are on air on Star currently.

    Furthering an announcement it had earlier that it was discontinuing programming on national broadcaster Doordarshan, Balaji said it is also ending a programme for SABe TV and one programme on Vijay TV in the coming quarter.

    While 21 of Balaji’s shows continued to remain in the top 30 shows in the satellite market, the share of commissioned revenues increased from 66 per cent to 76 per cent in the quarter just ended. The share of commissioned programmes rose to 268 hours as against sponsored programmes that dipped to 144.5 hours this quarter. Fresh regional programming on the other hand saw a marked increase from 130 hours to 180 hours over the previous quarter.

    The company stock meanwhile hit a new 52 week high of Rs 469 today during intra-day deals, boosted by the impressive Q3 performance. The company that has forecast a 50 per cent growth in bottomline for the next year, opened at Rs 428.45, closed at Rs 442.70.

  • First ever Indian TV Scriptwriters Workshop in Mumbai on 20-21 December

    First ever Indian TV Scriptwriters Workshop in Mumbai on 20-21 December

    The Indian television industry’s first ever Scriptwriters Workshop and Forum, Qalam 2001, will be held in Mumbai on 20-21 December.

    Conceived by Indian Television Dot Com Pvt Ltd as the first event of Qalam, a TV Scriptwriters forum, the workshop will provide attendees an insight into the rudiments of scriptwriting, character development, dialogue writing, the process of getting scripts approved by TV producers and channels, and the pitfalls in the business.

    Endorsed by the Film Producers’ Guild of India and backed by Balaji Telefilms, Sony Entertainment Television, Star India and B.A.G. Films, the two-day workshop will be unique for the interactivity that has been built into it. Exercises will be allotted to attendees on which they will be provided feedback. For the first time, an eminent scriptwriter and instructor from the Vancouver Film School (Canada), Joyce Thierry is coming down to India to conduct the workshop in co-ordination with leading Indian scriptwriters. Among the eminent film and TV personalities who will address participants are filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, scriptwriters Dr Achala Nagar, Anjana Sood, Ashwani Dhir, Ila Bedi Dutta, Mir Muneer, Rajesh Joshi, Vipul D Shah, Raman Kumar, Vinta Nanda, former Sony programming head Rekha Nigam and actor turned producer Soni Razdan.

    The workshop will end with a big bash and a special networking session on the evening of 21 December. Indiantelevision.com is aiming to present a select bunch of bright scriptwriters who will emerge out of the two-day gruelling sessions to the television industry, thus offering a unique opportunity for budding writers to showcase their talents and meet people who count within television -programming heads from TV channels, executive producers, creative directors from production houses and directors. The workshop will be held at Time & Again, Banquet Hall in the northern Mumbai suburb of Andheri (W).

    Says Thierry: “I am so excited about the prospect of interacting with Indian scriptwriters. I have been conducting workshops in Canada for some years now and I am looking forward to this experience.”

    Adds Star Plus creative director Deepak Segal: “Writing is integral to our existence in television because that’s from where our content flows. If you want an engineer you go to an engineering school, but where do you go if you want a scriptwriter? We decided to back Qalam 2001 because it is a first of its kind endeavour to develop writing talent and needs encouragement.”

    Adds Balaji Telefilms CEO Sanjay Dosi: “The script is the soul of any programme and it is a very creditable step by indiantelevision.com to promote scriptwriters and help them in honing their writing skills and it would go a long way in promoting new talent. The industry needs such kind of initiatives.”

    Information and television services company Indian Television Dot Com Pvt Ltd has earlier held the Indian Telly Awards 2001, the first ever television industry awards held in July this year. Says indiantelevision.com founder & CEO Anil Wanvari: “There is a paucity of trained television scriptwriters in India. This is a plaint I have often heard from the TV industry. After the Indian Telly Awards 2001, Qalam 2001 is an effort from our company to start what we hope will become de rigueur in television – training.”

  • Balaji’s Q2 net profit Rs 66 million

    Balaji’s Q2 net profit Rs 66 million

    When you’re hot you’re hot. Other media companies may struggle with financials in a depressed market scenario but no so Balaji Telefilms Ltd. The seven-year-old production company registered a net profit of Rs 66.24 million on net sales of Rs 236.20 million in the results announced for the second quarter ended 30 September 2001.

     

    While cost of production and telecast fees remained at the same level as Q1, staff costs almost doubled to Rs 4.3 million compared to Rs 2.6 million in the last quarter. “This is due to the increase in programming hours,” says Balaji company secretary Ajay Patadia.

     

    The company managed to continue its pace of growth. Though net sales remained at the same level as the last quarter, the bottom line improved as net profit margins have gone up from 20 per cent to 28 per cent.

     

    The other income in the quarter has gone up from Rs 0.28 million to Rs 5.2 million, principally through dividends earned from its investments in bonds and mutual funds. “The company has invested close to Rs 160 million in mutual funds,” says Patadia.

     

    Other expenses have gone up from Rs 8.1 million in Q1 to Rs17.5 million in Q2.

     

    One aspect that is worth noting is that there was no interest component in this quarter. “Our company has achieved the target of being a debt free company,” clarified Patadia.

     

    The board has also declared an interim dividend of Rs 2.50 per share (25 per cent on an equity share of par value of Rs 10/-), the payment date being 12 November, 2001.

     

    The figures of the corresponding quarter of the previous year have not been drawn since the listing requirements were not applicable.

     

    The company owned by the family of former film star Jeetendra Kapoor expects to rake in a turnover of close to Rs 1000 million at the end of the current financial year, CEO Sanjay Dosi pointed out in a recent interview with indiantelevision.com.

     

    Obviously the production house will continue to bank on its tried and tested formula of the weepy family drama that it expects will keep it laughing all the way to the bank.

  • Balaji could touch Rs 1000 million in revenues this year

    Balaji could touch Rs 1000 million in revenues this year

    Balaji Telefilms is poised to rake in a turnover of close to Rs 1000 million at the end of the current financial year, having worked up the family soap into a luxuriant lather in the last few years.

    The seven-year-old production house, which specialises in hooking the middle class, middle-aged Indian woman to the small screen, is now eyeing youth and the entire family. Balaji plans to enter the arena of weekend programming shortly, directing house-bound families to even more soaps. According to Sanjay Dosi, CEO of Balaji, the production house is not likely to deviate from its tried and tested formula of the tear-jerking family drama, which has reaped rich harvests for the company owned by the family of former film star Jeetendra Kapoor.

    Balaji Telefilms Limited (BTL) is currently riding high on the wave of its successes, with talks doing the rounds of the industry that following the examples of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii on Star Plus, the company would be hiking the rates for Kkusum, being aired on Sony. Relentlessly continuing the superstition of the success of the K factor, Balaji has recently put two serials, Kavyanjali and Kutumbam Oru Kodu on Vijay TV, enthralling southern audiences. On Star Plus, meanwhile, the soap Kasautii Zindagi Kay, touted as a musical love story, is poised to go on air from 29 October.

    Although Dosi insists that Balaji maintains a good mix of thrillers as well as ‘character-based’ and ‘family-based’ serials, he avers that the family soap remains a favourite with Indians across the country, an assumption that forms the basis for yet another daily afternoon soap, Kal, which goes on air on Sony in November.

    The TRP ratings scandal, the association with cornered bull stock-broker Ketan Parekh and the aborted alliance with channel Nine Gold notwithstanding, Balaji continues to do well on the stock exchange, making it the only media company which has had a successful year after launching its IPO in November 2000.

    The secret of its domination may have been the single-minded pursuit of success by creative director Ekta Kapoor, its healthy mix of sponsored and commissioned programmes or its judicious use of several channels, rather than reliance of just a few. But the finger on the audience’s pulse has ensured that Balaji’s reach increased from six channels at the start of 2000-01 to ten towards the close, covering Doordarshan, DD Metro, Star Plus, Sony, Zee, Gemini, Udaya, SABe and Metro Gold. This needless to say, resulting in increased programming hours – from 616.5 hours in 1999-2000 to 1457 hours in 2000-01.

    Turnover, consequently, has been jumping by leaps and bounds. From a turnover of RS 200.9 million in 1999-2000, it posted revenues of RS 489 million in the last financial year. And at a time where everyone seems to be revising their growth targets, Dosi doesn’t rule out a growth rate of 100 per cent this year.

  • Star, Balaji make light of tiff over ‘Kyunki’ clone

    Star, Balaji make light of tiff over ‘Kyunki’ clone

    Reports that there was a dispute between Star India and Balaji Telefilms over the Tamil reworking of the hit soap “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi Balaji” were downplayed by both the channel and the production house today.

     

    Balaji had been commissioned to do the programme for the Tamil language Sun TV network. Star raised objections after it was noticed that the initial episodes were virtually identical to that of ‘KSBKBT’ being shown on Star Plus.

     

    According to Star corporate communications head Yash Khanna, since Star owns the worldwide rights to the soap it had asked Balaji to change the storyline and the television software production house had agreed to do so.

     

    The Tamil version started this April and 104 episodes have already been shown.

     

    Balaji CEO Sanjay Dosi said the issue had been sorted out and emphasised that Star and Balaji continued to share a most positive relationship.

  • Balaji to stick to making teleserials, rules out starting entertainment channel

    Balaji to stick to making teleserials, rules out starting entertainment channel

    Sanjay Dosi, CEO Balaji Telefilms Ltd, on Friday categorically ruled out any moves on the part of his company to start an entertainment channel.

     

    “The reasons I had put forth earlier for not going for our own channel are still valid,” Dosi said. “Our core competence is making great serials, and that would be compromised if we were to start a channel because our clients would naturally be suspicious that we would reserve our best for our own channel,” he had said in an earlier conversation with indiantelevision.com.

     

    He was responding to rumours circulating in the industry that veteran filmstar Jeetendra, whose daughter Ekta kapoor is Balaji’s creative director, was in Delhi trying to raise money for launching a new channel. An investment of Rs 1 billion was envisaged, it was rumoured.

  • New Balaji serial ‘Kabhi Souten, Kabhi Saheli’ launches Monday on 9 Gold

    New Balaji serial ‘Kabhi Souten, Kabhi Saheli’ launches Monday on 9 Gold

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms Ltd, India’s leading television software producer, unleashes yet another serial on Monday on Channel Gold Nine’s 9:30 pm slot on DD Metro.

     

    Following on after its superhit serial “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi”, “Kabhi Souten, Kabhi Saheli” (KSKS) marks yet another landmark for Balaji which seems to have made the making of successfull serials into an assemblyline habit. Shooting for the serial is simultaneously going on in English.

     

    “We see a big market for our serials in countries like the West Indies, Fiji, South Africa, Mauritius, etc, which have third and fourth generation Indian communities residing there,” Balaji CEO Sanjay Dosi said. ” In Hindi, there was the language problem which we had to get around if we wanted to properly exploit our potential. We considered subtitling but felt that while this might work for full length features, it would fail in the serial format,” Dosi said. “We are not trying for another “Mouthful of Sky” (the first Indian soap made in English), Dosi clarified. The actors will be mouthing normal dialogues with no attempts at Anglising,” he added.

     

    KSKS will air four times a week from Monday to Thursday at 9:30 pm. If the promos are anything to go by anyway, there appears to have been some “visual inspiration” from the critically acclaimed Tamil film “Kandukondein Kundukondein” which was itself loosely based on Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility”.