Executive Dossier

‘A slight slip in control can make comedy appear inane’ : Manjul Sinha

Published

25 years ago

May 19, 2001

Manjul Sinha saw his first movie when he was all of two days old. Films have since been an obsession for him. Born into a “filmi family”,- they owned a cinema hall in Patna – Sinha always wanted to be a director. So after graduation in English Literature from the prestigious Hindu College, the first thing he did was take a train to Mumbai and start assisting his uncle, filmmaker Shivendra Sinha. He however soon came to the conclusion that training under someone could be no substitute to a specialised course. Hence, after “wasting a year” as he puts it, he joined the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. He passed out with a first in 1977 and returned to Mumbai to pursue his career.

For the next few years, there was not much heard from Sinha until Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi happened. The dawn of colour TV in India is synonymous with this serial. Such was its popularity that cinema halls would run empty on Friday nights. Seventeen years after YJHZ, Sinha is back with another comedy – Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan – on Zee TV, which is in its first weeks on air. In between YJHZ and YHMMJ, Sinha has to his credit several ad-films and a series of one-hour stories on Zee – Rishtey.

What drew you to direction?
Well, I was born into a film family. We were into exhibition of films and later ventured into distribution and even production of some Bhojpuri films. So, the interest in the medium was there right from the start. Then, in my formative years at Sainik School, Tilayia, we used to have regular screenings of movies and thankfully the principal there was a person who had a fair knowledge of the medium. He would brief us about the film before each screening and this facilitated an easy understanding and led to greater interest in movies. I think all these factors contributed towards my decision later to become a director.

But did you always want to be a director? After all, children are normally fascinated by the idea of being actors.
Always. This is because I realised that whenever I had to perform on stage, I was uncomfortable. But I was a good visualiser and would manage things quite well without actually coming into the picture. In fact I’ve recently found an old diary of mine from when I was in Std. 8 where I’ve written I wanted to be a director.

What are the natural instincts that a director needs to have?
Basically, a director needs to be a good observer, a thinker. He needs to be a leader of men without making it obvious to people working with him. He needs to be a people’s man because filmmaking is all about teamwork.

How do you look back to Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi?
When YJHZ happened, TV was just about taking off in India and most people were apprehensive about entering the medium. In fact we ourselves weren’t sure about how different the technicalities would be in shooting a serial as opposed to a film. I remember a lot of jokes about Kundan Shah and me were doing the rounds in those days. But yes, there was a freshness involved in the task. The entire crew – actors, writers and cameramen – were extremely committed and determined. They all worked with a lot of passion and the end result is there for everyone to see. In fact later – my assistants, the writer – all have tried to create something similar but the success of YJHZ remains unmatched.

How different is it making a serial now compared to back then with respect to work schedules, the actors, their availability and performances?
Those days can never come back. Then, we used to shoot one episode in approximately three and a half days. I still take two days to shoot one episode though there are directors who even try and complete two episodes a day. Sincerity and dedication is lacking now. Then actors would work on a single project, now they do half a dozen of them simultaneously. They fit in two to three shifts a day and are always in a hurry. When this happens, performances are bound to decline.

You’ve always been very selective about your work. Don’t you feel you got left behind in the rat race?
No, I don’t. Money has never been my top priority. In any case, do you think those directors who are supposedly directing three to four serials simultaneously are actually present during the shoot? I don’t want to be a ‘series’ director. I am proud of all my work and am involved with it in every possible way. In fact the only reason I became a producer was because I realised that the product which was the result of my hard labour was not being handled well at the last stage. It was not being marketed the right way or given to the right channel. As a producer I have complete control over my product.

Any specific reason why you’ve specialised in comedy?
No. I would love to direct a soap. But not everybody can handle comedy well. The channels know it very well and hence after YJHZ everybody wanted me do a comedy. It wasn’t a conscious choice.

How difficult or easy is it do direct a comedy compared to a soap?
Comedy is the toughest. The control required is immense and it has to be handled intelligently. A slight slip in control can make comedy appear inane.

Comedy is also tough simply because our culture is not steeped in humour except maybe to an extent Marathi culture. The psyche of Indian viewers is such that they enjoy watching emotional upheavels more than watching comedy. As a result, over here a comedy possibly cannot be a TRP chartbuster. Even the effort required in sustaining the interest of the audience is far more compared to a soap where the makers can get away with occasional low phases.

Do you need minute scripting for a comedy or do you normally improvise on the sets?
We do improvise but no improvisation will work unless there has been minute detailing with regard to the script. Minute scripting is quintessential and without it the director is not able to take the viewers into the zone of “willing suspension in disbelief”.

What do you feel of the present trend of the dominance of slapstick?
Well, slapstick is the easier form vis-a vis situational comedy in the same way as overacting is easier compared to method acting. But over the years their success shows that there is definitely an audience for it and so long as there is an audience the channels are more than happy to provide it.

Given a choice between slapstick, situational and satire, which appeals to you the most?
I would always opt for satire. But in India, political satire always runs the risk of running into problems, especially on the national channels. A satire on human conditions is an interesting proposition but again needs to be handled in a very sensitive manner.

Where do you draw your inspiration from? Do the comedians of yesteryears play a part?
The comedians of yesteryears – Charlie Chaplin, Marx brothers – are the biggest heroes cinema has ever seen. Even though I don’t necessarily keep them in mind all the time, the fact is that in the subconscious mind their images and actions do exist and play a part when I conceive a scene. Otherwise the inspiration can come from so many sources. I used to keep a diary to note down the funny things that happened during the course of my daily schedule and still refer to it at times.

What distinguishes your genre of comedy from that of others?
My comedy is woven around our lives. It is an extension of life’s pathos, an attempt to laugh at ourselves. Even my slapstick has smart punchlines that are laced with pathos and the aim is to make a telling statement in a subtle manner. See, even when Chaplin chewed his shoes in one of his movies, it reflected a grim reality of the times. I seek to create a similar effect through my comedy.

What are the things you would never compromise on as a director?
The script and performances. They are the backbone of any successful project

It is seen that many actors who are good in intense scenes falter doing comedy. How do you extract performances from them?
Well, I believe I am a good teacher. I use a lot of metaphors and similes to get the actor into the right emotions and to feel situations better. My background in English Literature helps me in doing this. Besides, I ‘m very patient and always believe that the first shot or the first expression can never be the best or the conclusive one. I don’t act out a scene though.

Some actors actually prefer not to have a script for comedy. How do you cope with this?
I would never allow this. An actor who insists on this is not serious about his job.

Do you write all your projects?
I used to. Now I don’t get into the technicalities of writing, though I still monitor the writing very closely. I think that is imperative for a project to evolve the way it is conceived.

Any project which you would be averse to directing?
A quiz show. I would rather participate in it.

Who are your favourite actors on Television?
I haven’t seen a better actor than Shefali Chayya on TV. I would love to have her on all my Rishtey stories. Shekhar Suman is versatile and I believe much of his potential remains untapped. I would love to work with him.

Shefali Chayya

Which of your works are closest to you?
YJHZ, my ad-films and my stories on Rishtey. In fact I can safely say that my stories on Rishtey is the real me.

Anything you would like to take up in future?
I have a rough idea. I would love to work on a series that will loosely be a sitcom with a soapish theme. I will have satire and at times it will also be very grim and emotional. It is still at the conception stage and I’m yet to work out the minute details.

Satyajit Ray

Who is you favourite director?
Satyajit Ray. All his work was from the heart and he never compromised on his creativity and what he actually wanted to say.

As a filmmaker what does Manjul Sinha stand for? For instance, if Yash Chopra’s work can be characterised as passionate depiction of utopian love, what is your style of film-making all about?
It would be difficult for me to classify my work into a particular genre because I’ve directed diverse plots. But yes, my work is an attempt at reality. Let me put it this way. That even in creating fantasy, I present it as close to reality as I can. So that it may evoke the same emotional response from the audience.

Related Topics:Colour TV Film Manjul Sinha Rishtey Shivendra Sinha Television Tilayia YHMMJ YJHZ Zee

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Executive Dossier

Game on, fame on as Good Game hunts India’s first global gaming star

Published

1 month ago

January 27, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Game faces on, pressure high India’s gaming ambitions are levelling up. Good Game, billed as the world’s first as-live global gaming reality show, has officially launched in India with a bold mission: to crown the country’s first Global Gaming Superstar.

Blending esports with mainstream entertainment, the show brings together competitive gaming, creativity and on-camera performance in a format that tests more than just joystick skills. Contestants will be judged on gameplay, screen presence and their ability to perform under pressure, reflecting how gaming has evolved from pastime to profession and pop culture currency.

Fronting the show are three high-profile ambassadors: actor and entrepreneur Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Indian cricket star Rishabh Pant, and gaming creator Ujjwal Chaurasia. The winner will take home Rs 1 crore ($100,000) among the largest prize pools for any Indian reality show along with the chance to represent India on a global stage.

Backed by a planned annual investment of up to Rs 100 crore, Good Game is also courting brand partners, promising a minimum reach of 500 million among India’s core youth audience. The creators position the show as a bridge between entertainment and interactive culture, offering long-format content, community engagement and commercial scale.

Auditions are now open to Indian citizens aged 18 and above, inviting amateur and professional gamers, creators and performers alike. Shortlisted candidates will be called for in-person auditions in Mumbai on 14 and 15 February, and in Delhi on 28 February and 1 March 2026.

With big money, big names and even bigger ambition, Good Game signals a shift in how India views gaming not just as play, but as performance, profession and prime-time spectacle.

Digital

SpotDraft hires new CMO and CFO to fuel global push for its AI contract platform

Published

3 months ago

December 3, 2025

indiantelevision.com Team

INDIA: SpotDraft has strengthened its senior ranks as it gears up for faster global expansion, naming Alon Waks as chief marketing officer and Amit Sharma as chief financial officer. The appointments follow the firm’s $54 million Series B round earlier this year and mark a push to scale across the Americas, EMEA and India.

The AI-powered contract-lifecycle-management platform has posted 100 per cent year-on-year growth in customer acquisition, counting Apollo.io, IPSY, Mixpanel, Oyster and Panasonic among its global clients. The firm processes more than one million contracts annually, with volumes up 173 per cent and nearly 50,000 monthly active users.

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Both hires aim to sharpen SpotDraft’s bid for a larger slice of the fast-growing legal-tech market, expected to exceed $63 billion by 2032. Co-founder and chief executive Shashank Bijapur said the company is focused on scaling go-to-market operations in the Americas, deepening leadership in EMEA, and accelerating AI capabilities for general counsels and legal-operations leaders.

Clients report shorter deal cycles and better alignment between legal and business teams. “What used to take weeks now happens in days,” said Abnormal Security senior legal operations manager Susan Koenig. DeepL head of legal operations André Barrow, said SpotDraft has helped reframe legal “from a cost centre to a generator of revenue”.

Executive Dossier

Outdoor Ads Get Smarter as LOC8 Shifts OOH from Visibility to Attention

Published

3 months ago

November 28, 2025

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Out-of-home ads were once the wallflowers of marketing seen by everyone, noticed by few. But in an age where attention has become the world’s most fought-over currency, even billboards are getting a brain upgrade. Enter LOC8, OSMO’s AI-powered attention engine, quietly reshaping the old OOH playbook by measuring not just who could have looked at an ad, but who actually did. The shift is subtle but seismic: impressions are out, impact is in and data, not gut instinct, is calling the shots.

In a landscape where marketers question every rupee spent outdoors, LOC8 is turning lampposts, flyovers and traffic islands into precision-mapped attention laboratories. By crunching dwell time, visibility zones, perceptual size and real-world obstructions, the platform is dragging OOH into a future where creativity meets computer vision and where the best ideas aren’t just eye-catching, but eye-measured. From automotive facelifts to FMCG novelty and real estate trust-building, the message is clear, outdoor has stopped shouting and started listening. Indian Television Dot Com explores more about it in an Interview interview with OSMO co-founder Nipun Arora.

On how OSMO is shifting outdoor advertising from a visibility-led medium to an attention-led one through LOC8.

Traditional OOH has long been measured by visibility and impressions i.e how many people could see an ad. OSMO, through its proprietary AI platform LOC8, is shifting that narrative more towards likelihood of being noticed. Using computer vision and machine learning, LOC8 analyzes real-world video data to measure visibility zones, obstructions, dwell time and perceptual size; bringing precision to how attention is quantified outdoors. It moves the focus from mere impressions to quality of impressions, making OOH a data-verified, attention-led medium comparable to digital in accountability.

On how marketers can use LOC8’s dwell-time, visibility and perception insights to craft more effective, emotionally resonant OOH campaigns.

LOC8 helps brands understand how people truly experience outdoor media how long they look, from what distance, and under what conditions. By quantifying dwell time, visibility duration, and perceptual size; marketers can plan campaigns that align with real human viewing behavior. This empowers creative and strategy teams to design emotionally resonant storytelling where messaging, visual hierarchy and placement are optimized for how people actually notice and process OOH creatives.

About what LOC8 has revealed through campaigns like Renault Triber and Namaste India on how categories such as auto, FMCG and real estate use attention metrics to drive outcomes.

Each category uses attention data differently but all share one common goal: to convert outdoor visibility into measurable engagement.

• Automotive | Renault Triber

For the new Renault Triber facelift, bold creative met data-led planning through LOC8. By analyzing on-ground video data, LOC8 measured real audience attention across placements factoring in visibility zones, obstructions, traffic speed and perceptual size. This enabled Renault to identify corridors that delivered maximum reach, saliency and engagement, optimizing media efficiency and ROI.

• FMCG | Namaste India

In OOH, innovation is the hook and assets are the bait. But bait often hides the hook. With Loc8’s attention metrics, we ensured the bait wasn’t a hurdle, rather it became the perfect stage for innovation to deliver its full impact! The insight proved that creative novelty, when validated by attention data, drives deeper engagement and measurable brand lift.

• Real Estate

For luxury and real estate campaigns targeting HNI/UHNI audiences, attention patterns differ especially between front and rear passengers, who are often the core audience segment for premium sites. LOC8’s ability to distinguish rear vs. front visibility plays a critical role here. It helps identify sites that offer longer viewing windows and stronger perceptual dominance from the rear seat where decision-makers are most likely seated making it a key differentiator for premium and trust-led categories. Together, these insights prove that auto optimizes for impact, FMCG for recall, and real estate for trust visibility showing how attention metrics adapt to category goals while ensuring measurable outcomes.

On how attention analytics will shape the future of brand storytelling and media planning as OOH becomes more digitised and data-driven.

As outdoor digitizes, attention analytics will inform not just where to advertise but how stories are told in public spaces. This evolution transforms OOH from a static broadcast channel into a dynamic attention ecosystem, where creativity is optimized through evidence-based insight.

On how LOC8’s data-led framework helps marketers quantify OOH impact and make outdoor a more accountable, ROI-driven medium.

LOC8 bridges the gap between intuition and evidence. By quantifying metrics like visibility duration, attention opportunity index, and visual saliency rank, it allows brands to benchmark site performance and justify investment. This data-led approach brings transparency, comparability and ROI measurement to a medium historically driven by perception.

On how OSMO ensures AI and computer vision enhance creativity rather than reduce it to numbers.

OSMO believes that technology should enhance creativity, not overshadow it. LOC8’s attention models reveal what naturally draws the human eye helping creative teams refine design cues, contrast, and visual hierarchy for greater impact. By merging art and science, LOC8 empowers creativity with intelligence.

About the creative best practices and design cues LOC8 has uncovered regarding what truly captures consumer attention outdoors.

LOC8’s visual cognition analysis has surfaced clear patterns across campaigns:

• High contrast and minimal messaging outperform cluttered designs.

• Motion cues draw significantly longer dwell times.

• The first two seconds are critical, creatives must establish focus instantly.

• Contextual alignment between the creative and its environment increases attention by over 30%.

These learnings offer a scientific foundation for creative effectiveness helping brands design OOH that’s visually magnetic and emotionally memorable.

On how attention metrics will integrate into omnichannel planning where OOH, digital and social work together for unified brand impact.

Attention can become the unifying KPI across OOH, digital and social to creates seamless storytelling continuity, where outdoor triggers digital engagement. The future of omnichannel planning lies in attention-led integration ensuring that campaigns don’t just reach audiences everywhere but truly capture and hold their focus.