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 Much
of Star Plus’ success story is attributed to Sameer Nair. He
is Indian television’s true blue visionary who feels the pulse
of the people and their remotes. It’s this insight, that has
steered the future to Star TV’s position of dominance. Star
TV rules the general entertainment channel field with a head start
of 40-50 top shows. Last week the channel’s No.1 show Kyunki
Saas Bhi Kabi Bahu Thi underwent a major transformation ushering
in the fourth generation of Viranis. According to Nair, the change
is only to move the story ahead.
Nair’s
keenness is best described in his own words:"If I see a loose
ball I hit it for six, and not get out." One of his recent
steps is the network’s collaboration with Screen for the annual
awards. Where others would seek out a short term, need to do basis,
Nair and Star have a long term commitment. Excerpts:
Star
TV collaborated with Screen for the latter’s annual
film awards. Is it the first time for such a collaboration?
Yes, the collaboration between Screen and Star was a first, and
we used Star Gold to showcase the Shammi Kapoor festival which was
an advantage, and we were able to create the buzz.
How
was the response to this? Why was there no live telecast?
It was a very good event, picture perfect. It was the first time
that such an event started smack on time and technically it was
a slick event. People have liked it and by taking a two day break
it was better, we could clean up post production. Any way live telecast
isn’t really live, it means two-three hours deferred.
Is Star TV becoming more awards/event specific vis a vis India?
We have tied up with Screen for five years and happy to be part
of it and hope to make it a much bigger event. We have done the
Channel V awards but never done a movie awards event, this is the
first year we have been actively associated. We decided to go with
Screen as it is a big paper, a big group ad we are a big network,
all this together made it into a bigger proposition. We are looking
to improve standards of awards functions and add more weight.
Kamzor Kadii Kaun has not been received too well with the viewers.They
find Neena Gupta too brusque and rude.
We have received mixed reports. We are getting bouquets and brickbats
-- the show is supposed to get hatemail. So the show and its reception
is going as per planned.
RAAAH on Zee TV is a reality show like Temptation Island, are you
still looking at the desi version?
No. The idea has been voted out.
First
it was Kaun Banega Crorepati, now it’s Kamzor Kadii Kaun. Is
this what Star is focussing on, adpating formatted shows?
In some cases, yes. The reason why you work with a licensed
format is because it’s been done before. They have a plan,
a system, a production viability, they have been through that, so
all you have to do is buy the license and adapt it. But it can’t
be done for all shows. We did it with Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
and now The Weakest Link. It’s Neena at her snobbish best,
I love the visuals.
The question
which arises often is: is this the time for game shows or daily
soaps. But in general entertainment TV there is no specific time
for anything, it should be a mix -- we have game shows, daily soaps,
weekly soaps. Somethings work somethings don’t. So far we have
seen some success.
Speculation
is that Kaun Banega Crorepati has gone off the air, under the pretext
of another season.
That’s not true. It’s been on air for really
a long time now and needs to be rested. It’s been 305 episodes
and that’s a lot of episodes and one must give credit to both
the format and Bachchan to hold on to something which has been played
with such frequency. A break is good. It’s very common everywhere
else in the world to do breaks. It’s not common in India, agreed
but now we as leaders are going to be pushing forward with the classic
western way of doing TV like they do -- with season breaks. This
keeps the format alive, allows for evolution for lifting up things.
And of doing things better. In the US the season begins in September.
That’s how it works every where -- things like sitcoms and
drama series take a break and come back. Except daily soaps which
anywhere in the world go on and on. That is really the future for
TV in India.
Will you do something like that for your other family soaps?
Currently, we have a lot of dailies so they will continue. But we
also have some format shows KKK, Kya Masti Kya Dhoom, Khulja Sim
Sim, etc. We have done it with Rendezvous with Simi. This is the
third season of the show and in the new look and feel of Star Plus,
her show doesn’t fit in as it’s in English, so now it
has been moved to Star World. It is the first indegenious show on
Star World.
How do you see the year ahead?
2000 was spectacular, we completely rocked the world. 2001 has been
a year of consolidation and paramount was to hang on to the No 1
position which we reached very quickly -- within 10 days of launching
KBC we were No 1. Then the first six months of KBC and the new look
of Star Plus took us rocketing and stayed ahead. In 2001, the critical
task was to consolidate and grow and not lose the advantage and
that was the focus. When we started 2001 we had 20 of the top 50
shows. And so from that point on just kept adding up the numbers.
At the start of 2002 we have 45 of the top 50 shows! Apart from
KKusum on Sony, Zee has none.
The
last one year both Zee and Sony have revamped content and their
channel IDs.
We changed our complete network ID in May. It’s an image thing,
and it doesn’t result in better or worse viewership, you change
IDs to make a new statement. so we don’t make a big deal about
it. People don’t watch channels because their logo looks good.
Or because you have some pretty girl who is hiding behind feathers.
They watch a channel because they want to watch the shows. ID changes,
logo changes and new look and revamps, channels do for themselves.
They are not going to make a big deal.
What is your vision for the year 2002?
We want to lead and dominate in every category. With Star Plus we
are leading and dominating the general entertainment category and
will stay there. We have a lead on Star Movies and Star World and
are building on that. The focus is now pretty much on Channel V
and Popstars. The last one year we put the house in order. Now we
have streamlined and sorted out our lives and are neck to neck with
MTV. The last one year was a year for housekeeping rather than bloodshed
and bravado. Take the war to the enemy’s camp where popstars
will do that. Then we have a major action series called Josh coming
in June 2002, it’s a version of Miami Vice. We are making it
as one hour weekly show at budgets comparable to 15 times more than
what has been done before. KBC gets revived in the next fiscal --
we have a July to June fiscal year.
—Piroj
Wadia
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