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Tag: Seemanto Roy

  • The making of ‘Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain’ to be aired on Discovery Channel

    The making of ‘Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain’ to be aired on Discovery Channel

    MUMBAI: History is etched with stories of numerous innocent victims who were killed as a result of man’s greed and deceit. One such mind numbing event in the history of India is the Bhopal Gas Tragedy that occurred 30 years ago. Marking the day of this fateful event, the making of upcoming corporate thriller ‘Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain’ will be showcased on Discovery Channel on 3 December 2014 at 8:30 PM exactly 30 years later. The film chronicles the terrifying catastrophe that occurred in Bhopal on December 3, 1984.  

     
    This 22-minute making video shows behind-the-scenes clips from the film including interviews with the cast. Anchored by Kal Penn, the making will give viewers a chance to know the characters and actors who play them better.

    This inspirational film helps each and every one of us appreciate and acknowledge the gruesome circumstances of the tragedy, their trials, tribulations and eventually their struggle to lead a normal life. It gives the audience a chance to see and know, about the life and times of the people of Bhopal before and after the disaster.

     
    That night left when the toxic gas leaked into the air, it changed the future of the people of Bhopal so much that they are still trying to move on in life.
    ‘Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain’ is produced by Seemanto Roy & Ravi Walia starring Martin Sheen, Mischa Barton, Kal Penn, Raajpal Yadav and Tannishtha Chatterjee in prominent roles. The film has been written by Ravi Kumar and David Brooks and is scheduled to release in India on December 5, 2014.

     

  • ‘Cable companies should start thinking like DTH operators’ : Seemanto Roy – Sahara One Media and Entertainment CEO

    ‘Cable companies should start thinking like DTH operators’ : Seemanto Roy – Sahara One Media and Entertainment CEO

    After taking charge, Subroto Roy’s younger son Seemanto Roy has drawn up an aggressive plan to grow Sahara’s media and entertainment business. His target: launch of five channels over 6-8 months, revival of the motion pictures business and setting up of a film institute.

     

    In this his first interview to the media after becoming Sahara One Media & Entertainment CEO, Roy spells out his plans to Indiantelevision.com’s Sibabrata Das.

     

    Excerpts:

    Media companies have seen opportunities and been on aggressive mode in the recent past. Why haven’t we seen that sort of game being played out by Sahara?
    We have just launched Firangi, a world TV channel dubbed in Hindi. We are also going to launch five more channels over the next 6-8 months. This will include a Bengali language channel, details of which I can’t specify now.

    Won’t this be in the entertainment space as the channel will be under the Sahara One Media & Entertainment umbrella?
    In that sense, yes. It will be in the non-news space. But we can’t spell out the positioning of the channel at this stage. We are finalising the details.

    There were plans of launching a music channel and Sahara had also initiated talks to buy out Music India. What is the status?
    Launching a music channel is on our agenda. Though people say it is a cluttered and thin-revenue market, we believe the space is growing. There is an opportunity, if the positioning is done well. We are figuring out the positioning of the channel.

    Sahara had announced in late 2004 an investment plan of Rs 15 billion for its media and entertainment business and Percept was put in an operational role. Are you happy with the speed of the progress since then?
    We relaunched our flagship Hindi general entertainment channel and ramped up our movie production business. We also launched a Hindi movie channel called Filmy. Our focus now is to widen our channel offerings.

    How much money Sahara is going to pump in for this?
    We can’t give you the financial details. We’ll announce them early next fiscal.
    ‘In the news channel business, alliances are taking place. But in any case, we are not interested in diluting majority‘

    Is there a move to transfer the broadcast operations of the entertainment channels into Sahara One Media & Entertainment?
    The process is on. We want the entertainment business to be in a single entity.

    Obviously this will enhance the turnover of Sahara One Media & Entertainment. Now the listed entity does not capture the advertising revenues which is with the broadcasting entity. But is it that the past liabilities of Sahara India TV Network, the broadcasting arm, will not be transferred to Sahara One?
    No, we are not transferring the liabilities.

    How do you separate the broadcasting arm of the news channel business?
    The news channel operations, because of the regulations on holdings and other issues, will need to be separate.

    Sahara One was planning to raise up to $50 million through foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs). Are you going ahead with it?
    We have no plans of raising money at this stage.

    Sahara One had diluted 14.98 per cent to Sivasankaran’s Aircel Televentures (later renamed Siva Ventures) for Rs 1.2 billion. BCCL (Times Group holding company Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd) also acquired close to 6 per cent stake in the company. Are there plans to further dilute equity?
    No.

    Sahara had mandated Ernst & Young (E&Y) for offering suggestions to restructure the news channel business. What were the recommendations?
    They were appointed to look into the growth prospects. We appoint consulting firms to get their perspectives.

    Are you looking at diluting equity in the news business?
    There is nothing.

    Are you in talks with investors?
    It is difficult to comment on this. In today’s market, alliances are taking place. But in any case, we are not interested in diluting majority.

    Why did you drop the Sahara name from Samay, your national news network?
    We gave the channel a new look. Besides, we are developing the sub-brands. Having lots of brands with the Sahara tag can be confusing. We did it in Filmy as well. We are maintaining Sahara as a network brand.

     

    Isn’t the Hindi news space getting too cluttered and hurting channels like yours?
    There is a lot of sampling happening at the moment. Our region-centric channels continue to perform well.

    One area where Sahara had a big opportunity but let it slip was the motion pictures business which had several hits at one point of time. What went wrong?
    The movie business doesn’t always give you hits.

    But the movie production business stayed dormant for a long time as there was an exodus in the team?
    There was a gap in between. Film production is futuristic – actors are not always available, nor even directors. But it is not that we lost momentum. We went back to get our plans in place. We will be getting back into it big time in the next fiscal. We will be producing 10 movies in 2008-09, out of which 4-5 will be big budgets and the remaining in the medium range.

    Don’t you think Percept hijacked the motion pictures platform?
    Not really, we are still working with them. We are acquiring movies – so we could be buying from them as well.

    Earlier you did a long-term deal with K Sera Sera where you even took an equity in the company. Are you looking at such deals again?
    We will follow all kinds of business models – producing films ourselves, acquiring, locking directors, co-producing (including international). We will have the studio model. We have a strong team and will also be in film distribution. Besides our own movies, we will also be acquiring for distribution. We are, however, not looking at overseas distribution now. We feel the home turf is an important market.

    What about home video?
    We are not getting into it. Nor will we be launching our music label.

    Sahara has not been going slow on movie acquisitions for satellite TV rights. Why is it so when the other movie channels have been more aggressive?
    Acquisition prices have gone up, but we have brought some big titles like Guru. We have also been buying syndicated content.

    Is it that you believe in syndication of titles rather than acquisition?
    We do both. Though we have introduced programming as well, we realise that movie channels will have to revolve around films.

    Is Filmy in course for its revenue target of Rs 500 million in the year?
    I don’t want to comment on the financials. But we are doing well and reaching our targets.

    What are the plans of beefing up content on Sahara One which seems to be hovering around 60-70 GRPs?
    The market is evolving and we have plans for the channel. In future, the fight in the Hindi GEC (general entertainment channel) space will be for slots. We are targeting slots.

    Do you have a strategy for regional channels in the entertainment space?
    We may launch two channels in the regional space. We want to test the regional market. But we don’t plan to grow in every direction.

    What made you launch Firangi and how do you see its growth potential?
    We are looking at the birth of a new genre. In the general offering, it is like a GEC. And it also can be looked at like Star World. Firangi is somewhere in the middle. We can attract audiences from both sides. The content is picked up from across the world, is fresh, contemporary and bold. And its strength is that the stories end in 6-8 months.

    Have you shelved plans to start a film institute?
    We will be in it. We are talking to strategic partners. For location, we are weighing various options including Mumbai.
  • Sahara One comes under control of promoters

    Sahara One comes under control of promoters

    MUMBAI: Sahara Group promoters have taken back operational control of Sahara One Media and Entertainment Ltd.

    Seemanto Roy, the younger son of Sahara chairman Subroto Roy, has been made head of the company and CEO Shantonu Aditya will report directly to him.
    Earlier, Percept promoter Shailendra Singh was managing the operations and Aditya was in effect reporting to him.

    “Percept was acting as the representative of Sahara for the Group’s entertainment business. Sahara One employees were involved with Percept. Under the new arrangement, Roy will be directly involved,” a source close to the company says.

    Singh, however, will continue to advise Roy. In an internal circular, the company has communicated the structural change.

    “In order to strengthen the activities of Sahara One, Seemanto Roy will head Sahara One’s business. Shailendra Singh will be the advisor to Roy,” the circular says.

    Incidentally, Subroto Roy’s elder son Sushanto was earlier looking at Sahara’s media and entertainment business.
    Seemanto will also be responsible for setting up Sahara’s film city in addition to Amby Valley housing project, which falls in his portfolio.

    Sahara One runs two TV channels and is also engaged in the movie business.

    The company clocked Rs 2.12 billion in revenues and earned a net profit of Rs 72.27 million for the fiscal ended 31 March 2006.

    According to Singh, direct involvement of the promoters is a progressive move as the company is on a major expansion drive.

    “We continue to be in the same position as strategic advisors. We succeeded in taking Sahara One’s businesses to some level and put a team in place. Now that the scalability of the game is bigger, the direct involvement of the promoters is essential to take Sahara One to the next level,” he adds.

    Percept has completed 11 out of the 15 movies it was to produce for Sahara. “We are ready with the other four, which we will be doing for them,” says Singh, stressing that the relationship with Sahara has not changed much.

    Sahara had entered into a management joint venture with Percept almost two years back to handle its entertainment business.

    The Hindi general entertainment channel needed to be fixed as it was floundering in a genre which had strong players like Star Plus, Sony TV and Zee TV. Special focus had also to be laid on the movie production business.

    Early this year C Sivasankaran’s Aircel Televentures bought 14.98 per cent stake in Sahara One Media and Entertainment Ltd for Rs 1.2 billion.

    Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd, owners of Times of India and Zoom television channel, also acquired a small stake in the company for approximately Rs 380 million.