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Tag: Shantonu Aditya

  • Sahara One to spread global footprint; Filmy’s US launch on 28 August

    Sahara One to spread global footprint; Filmy’s US launch on 28 August

    MUMBAI: Sahara One Media and Entertainment Ltd. has charted out plans to spread overseas the footprint of its two entertainment channels.

    The first target is the US where Sahara One, the general entertainment channel, is already available on EchoStar. Hindi movie channel Filmy will be launched on the DirecTV platform later this month. While EchStar offers a range of Indian channels including Sony, Max, Zee TV and Zee Cinema, the News Corp-controlled DirecTV has the Star, ETV and Aastha channels on its platform.

    “Our focus this year will be on the international distribution of these two channels. We will be launching Filmy in the US on 28 August and progressively extending our channels to new territories,” says Sahara One Media and Entertainment CEO Shantonu Aditya.

    Australia and New Zealand will be the next destination and plans are on to launch both the channels on 1 September. Following up on the launch of Sahara One in the Middle East, Filmy will be taken to the region in a month’s time. The two channels will also soon start beaming in Nepal and Maldives, adds Aditya.

    By having a global presence, Sahara hopes to hook on audiences from the South Asian community and rake in subscription revenues. “Our target is to make Sahara One and Filmy also available in the UK and South Africa by the end of this year,” says Aditya.

    Indian channels are increasingly eyeing the global market, particularly to boost their subscription revenues. Zee Telefilms Ltd, for instance, garners one-fourth of its total revenues from international operations.

  • Sahara One’s music channel named Hit; Ganapathy is ntwk distribution head

    Sahara One’s music channel named Hit; Ganapathy is ntwk distribution head

    MUMBAI: Sahara One Media & Entertainment Limited’s new music channel has been christened Hit. The company has also appointed Sameer Ganapathy as head of distribution for the Sahara One Television Network, which includes Sahara One, Filmy and also the proposed music channel – Hit.

    Ganapathy, who will report to Sahara One CEO Shantonu Aditya, steps into Rakesh Lamba’s shoes, who had quit the company late last year. He comes on board from SET Discovery where he was assistant vice president distribution for the western region. Prior to that he was with Discovery for four years as regional manager distribution (west).

    Aditya said, “I am delighted to welcome Sameer to our company. Sameer has over 10 years of experience in distribution and has an excellent track record. With his joining the company, Sahara One will now focus on distribution in a major way and am sure the results will be seen soon.”

    Ganapathy added, “I am very happy to join Sahara One and take on this responsibility. Sahara One is run professionally and has a great team. I look forward to taking up this challenge and working in an excellent environment.”

  • Sahara One Motion Pictures names Sharang Sharma as business head

    Sahara One Motion Pictures names Sharang Sharma as business head

    MUMBAI: Sahara One Motion Pictures, the movie production and distribution wing of the Sahara Group, has promoted Sharang Sharma, head of acquisition, distribution and movie syndication, as business head. 

    Sharma fills the post that become vacant after COO Sandeep Bhargava quit the company earlier this month. Prior to joining Sahara One Motion Pictures, Sharma was with Sony Pictures Releasing of India Ltd. He reports in to Sahara One Media and Entertainment CEO Shantonu Aditya. 

    Sharma will oversee acquisition as well as syndication deals with both domestic as well as international channels.

    Speaking about his plans, Sharma said, “I’m looking at taking the company to newer heights and aim to make this outfit the most prolific production boutique.”

    Sharma expressed confidence that the forthcoming releases under the banner — which include Madhur Bhandarkar’s Corporate, Signal and Sandwich (starring Govinda) — would bring in more cash flow just as Hunuman and Malamaal Weekly have done in the recent past.

  • Filmy Short Film festival receives 150 entries as of 19 June

    Filmy Short Film festival receives 150 entries as of 19 June

    MUMBAI: Sahara One Network’s Hindi movie channel Filmy has got over 150 entries from across India for its recently-announced Short Film Festival. The last date of submitting entries is 15 July.

    Filmy’s Short Films on Filmy is a platform for India’s best & brightest short-film makers to showcase their talent.

    Filmy has invited entries from writers, producers, directors, cinematographers and animators, among others. All genres including dramas, documentaries, live action and animated stories, with themes ranging from humour and horror to science fiction and reality are invited, says an official release. 

    Shortlisted films would then be aired on the channel and viewers will be called upon to vote for their favourite film. Also, the ‘Audience Favourite’ film and filmmaker will be profiled on Filmy, the release adds.The channel has roped in prominent Bollywood filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar as the jury head for the initiative. 

    “I am glad to be associated with Short Films on Filmy — sometimes I look back and wish that such a platform was available in my early years! Through this contest, Filmy has given a great opportunity to independent and amateur filmmakers to exhibit their talent to a nationwide audience. I hope that this Festival throws up fresh talent for Bollywood,” says Madhur Bhandarkar.

    Sahara One Media And Entertainment Limited CEO Shantonu Aditya says, “We are very excited with Madhur’s involvement! His inputs will be very critical in identifying talent and finally deciding the best short films to be telecast on Filmy.” 

    “Short Films on Filmy has had a very encouraging response in its first year. We’ll continue to bring such pioneering platforms for developing and showcasing emerging filmmaking talent and providing them with a stepping-stone to success,” says Filmy business head Ashutosh..

  • Eurasia Cup telecast to be split between SaharaOne, Filmy

    Eurasia Cup telecast to be split between SaharaOne, Filmy

    MUMBAI: Looks like Sahara is not about to let go the foothold it has got into the India cricket telecast game. After having aired the recently concluded series between India and England, SaharaOne has now acquired the rights for the next five years to a new offshore cricket event — the EurAsia Cricket series.

    The first edition of the event will be held in the Gulf Emirate of Abu Dhabi from 22 April to 5 May 2006 and is the result of an alliance between the Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Trust and the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council.

    SaharaOne CEO Shantonu Aditya says, “We are delighted to partner with Creative Eye (from whom Sahara got the rights) in promoting the EurAsia Cricket Series 2006.” Creative Eye had earlier acquired the rights for this VK Sports Management Group.

    BSNL is Sahara’s title sponsor for the event which will feature the A teams of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Making up the numbers for this six-nation event are cricket “minnows” Holland, Ireland and UAE. The teams are divided into two groups. Sahara will simulcast the 14 day-night ODIs on SaharaOne and and recently launched movie channel Filmy. SaharaOne though will take a break between 8:30-10:30 pm to protect its prime time shows while Filmy will air the matches uninterrupted.

    The big question of course is what benefits Sahara expects to get out of a series at a time of serious cricket overload what with the national team literally ending one series and getting into another with barely a break in between. More so since Aditya confirmed that Sahara had no plans to launch a sports channel in the near future.

    According to Sahara One Television COO Purnendu Bose, the Subrato Roy-promoted network sees three clear opportunities that it would be exploiting from this property, for which it holds the global satellite rights as well as in stadia rights.

    First of course is the composition of the Indian team, captained by Venugopala Rao, which includes the latest star in the making and opener Robin Uthappa, pacemen RP Singh and VRV Singh, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, all-rounder Reetinder Singh Sodhi, and wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Kaarthick, all of whom have played for India. Opener Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan and middle-order batsman S. Badrinath also find a place.

    The team composition allows for Sahara’s marketing pitch for this series, which is that the network will be showcasing “today’s heroes” or the “Young Tigers” who will have a significant role to play in the Indian cricket scheme of things with the mantra being so much on youth. According to Bose, this event going forward had the potential to become a major property in itself.

    Explaining the programming strategy, Bose states that the event will “get me additional ratings during my graveyard shift (2:30 pm to 7:30 pm)”. The telecast on SaharaOne, in much the same way as national broadcaster Doordarshan does with its main channel DD1 when it telecasts India cricket, will pull away from cricket at 7:30 pm and hook back in at 10:30 pm to get in the “final hour of action”.

    Thirdly, says Bose, “whatever additional sampling that happens because of the cricket is good for the channel.”

    One wonders though that with the Rahul Dravid and the gang playing so much cricket whether there will be any interest left in watching an India A team. No matter how good India A is, the coverage devoted to it in the press indicates that there is a huge question mark over just how much interest the average cricket watcher will have in it.

    Having said that, cricket that does not feature the main eleven has generally been given step motherly treatment in this country. So it is encouraging to see SaharaOne at least try and push the cause of the sport beyond just the main eleven.

  • Sahara One firms up Hindi music channel launch timeline

    Sahara One firms up Hindi music channel launch timeline

    MUMBAI: Sahara One Media and Entertainment Limited is all set to launch its Hindi music channel. “We are launching the channel in the next few weeks,” said Sahara One Media and Entertainment CEO Shantonu Aditya.

    Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that Sahara would be launching a music channel to expand its bouquet of entertainment businesses.

    The music channel will be encrypted but free-to-air. “We are big in Bollywood. A music is a natural extension for us. It will be a free-to-air channel at this stage,” Aditya said.

    The name of the channel has yet to be finalised. The company launched its movie channel Filmy in February.

    Sahara One head Shailendra Singh said, “I am delighted to inform that we will soon be launching our next channel, which will be a Hindi music channel. It will cater to millions of music lovers across India and worldwide. Along with Sahara One Television and Filmy, our music channel will complete the genres of mass Hindi entertainment from Sahara One, and will strengthen our bouquet immensely.”

    According to a statement issued by the company, Sahara One’s forthcoming Hindi music channel will showcase the best of Hindi music from Bollywood films and non-film albums, along with music events and original programming.

    Aditya said, “As a genre, music channels have tremendous potential for mass acceptance and popularity, and we will try to give the same kind of innovativeness to our music channel’s programming that is seen on Filmy and Sahara One Television.”

    He further added, “The new channel will also provide excellent synergy to the motion pictures business, which produces several films each year, thereby creating a lot of fresh content for our television businesses. In fact, Sahara One Motion Pictures, Sahara One Television, Filmy and our music channel will all be mutually supportive of one another and will enable us to deliver tremendous value to viewers and advertisers alike.”

  • Frames debates the merits of the studio versus the independent filmmaker

    MUMBAI: The relationship between studios and independent filmmakers was a subject discussed at an afternoon session of Frames, the convention for the business of entertainment. The speakers were Sahara One CEO Shantonu Aditya, filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt,Govind Nihalani and Bobby Bedi and Adlabs Films chairman Manmohan Shetty.

    Nihalani pointed out that studios and independent filmmakers have their strengths and both parties should look to work with each other. “Artistically released commercially successful films can be made.
    Corporates should realize that creativity is equity. The independents should realize that money is as important as creativity. Studios should know that sometimes small risks pay off big time. That is because audiences like to be surprised.

    “A studio basically operates on calculated budgets and big stars to secure an ROI. Scripts are chosen if a star is attached. This ensures a long run. An independent filmmaker, on the other hand, feels that an idea and a directors treatment of that idea is what creates value. Lavish sets, big stars add value. However, they do not create value. There is a way to bridge the two and both should realize that they need each other.”

    This point was echoed by Shetty who noted that in the West independent filmmakers go the studio route to release their films. In India, there are studios like Yash Raj Films. However, important directors like Karan Johar still call the shots and studios chase them for the rights to distribute their films. “Reliance buying Adlabs means that more films will be made. Fortunately we have not suffered any losses till now.”

    Bhatt spoke on the benefits and challenges of being an independent filmmaker. “Movies that do not have personal supervision of an idea are doomed to fail. One does not only make movies. You need passion and religious fervour. There is talk of delivery systems but you need to invest in ideas. Otherwise these systems will be parched of good content. It is important for a filmmaker to keep himself lean and thin. A studio executive unfortunately only understands a Shah Rukh Khan. He does not understand the value of an idea. I would argue that studios are victims of hype. An independent filmmaker, though, has to pay off any debts incurred. He cannot hide behind abstractions.”

    Bedi said that indepdents are better incubators of ideas. “In the West studios do not incubate ideas as it is too expensive. An independent filmmaker approaches a studio with an idea. The studio then works that idea to a maturity level where one is able to confidently approach exhibitors.”

    Aditya says that Sahara One has had success as it concentrates on its strengths of marketing and distribution. “We have made 14 films as projects. There have been start dates and finish dates. We have also spent quite a bit on marketing. We have worked in different genres. We picked up Page Three when nobody wanted to touch that film. At the same time, it is difficult to know which idea will work. We get 70 ideas a week. Of course, each presenter of the idea is confident in it. Once an idea is given the go ahead, we do not interfere with the creative process other than keeping a check on how the work is progressing. The writer is given freedom.”