Karuna Samtani

Slow & steady

Wanting to make a career as a psychoanalyst, there are quite a few opportunities which came her way on a platter. First it was a career in advertising at HTA in 1981 and later when she was a freelance ad and documentary filmmaker, she was offered a senior position by Zee TV in 1991.
Starting as Vice-President in charge of production, operations and in-house programming, Karuna Samtani moved to EL TV in December 1994 and a year later became the president of Zee Network. Two years later she quit Zee and became a consultant for STAR TV. During the last three and half years, there were several offers on a platter from satellite channels, but Karuna preferred to work for herself and launched her own software company, Pratham Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd under which she is producing a few shows. Excerpts from an interview with Karuna who has closely seen the growth of cable and satellite television in India from its infancy to gigantic proportions in the last nine years.

You set up Pratham Media Entertainment almost a year ago. But not much has been happening in your company. Why?
I announced the launch of Pratham Media Entertainment in November last year. But after that for almost six months I was busy working on an international project. So actually Pratham started its operations in July this year and now I am working on quite a few programmes, some of which are on air and some will come on air in the near future.

Which are the shows that are on air?
Rannaghor, a cookery show, and Shuddhu To Make Chai, a talk show anchored by Moon Moon Sen are on air on Zee’s Alpha Bengali. I have already made four episodes of Thriller At 10 and two of Rishtey for Zee and at present, my commitment with Zee is to make one episode of Thriller At 10 and two Rishtey episodes in a month.

And which are the shows that are on the anvil?
There is Arman Dil Ka, a mature and intense love story which I have conceived and written which should be on air on Zee in February. Around the same time, Mere Sare Bachche, which is a sitcom, will also be aired on the same channel. Then in the pipeline there are three shows - Kinare, Purush and Samjhauta.

You seem to be going a bit slow, don’t you think?
Well, now I am working for myself and I want to utilise all the time that I have to research and plan my shows to the best of my ability. I am also looking after production which also takes lot of my time. In any case, I am not looking at the volume. Setting a target is very easy but why set one and overstretch yourself? I prefer working shorter hours now. I don’t want to become very rich. I have been working for the last 21 years and I have never switched jobs for money. I want to work for pleasure and in the process, I also want to evolve and grow as a person and a professional. Money will follow.

Why did you quit Zee?
I quit Zee because of a difference of opinion with (Vijay) Jindal (the then CEO of Zee TV). Having helped evolve Zee for so many years I wanted to function the way I wanted. Actually I acted stubborn and therefore I quit.

And then you were supposed to join Sony.
Yes, I did spend some time at Sony. But it was difficult for me to transcend from one channel to another and do the same things which I had done at Zee.
So you joined STAR TV as a consultant.

Yes, for one and half years I handled the business development at STAR and left the channel before R. Basu and his gang quit.

What was the reason for quitting STAR TV?
There was no particular reason as such. I think I wasn’t getting anywhere. I had finished my job I had taken on. I was no more motivated and enthused to continue further.

There must have been offers on a platter from other channels?
Yes, there were. There were offers from SABe TV and Nine Gold. But I didn’t take them up because I thought I wouldn’t excel beyond what I had already done.

Having handled programming at Zee and EL TV, what do you feel about this current programming scenario when prime time is being monopolised by game shows and quiz shows offering big prize money?
Well, nothing new has happened. Game shows have always enjoyed good TRPs. Saanp Seedi was Zee’s top-rated programme during those initial days. So was Antakshari later. The only difference is that there is now prize money element in these shows. We Indians are great triers. Any new consumer product launched in the market is lapped up fast. The same is the case with television shows. But by experience, I can say that game or quiz shows don’t have a long life. Nonetheless, I am also thinking about making a game show. Let’s see whether I succeed in making one.

AL Chougule


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