THE DEALS ARE MORE
TRANSPARENT IN TV BUSINESS

You are known to be among the selected few production companies, DD is known to have patronised. Do you think your equation with DD has helped you achieve this edge over most other producers?
In the first place, I don’t agree that we have been patronised by DD. Even the equation with DD that you are talking hardly matters these days. Today, running a successful programme on Doordarshan is a tough game of survival. It is like making a superhit film. Previously a slot on DD would invariably fetch a handsome advertising revenue for the producer. Today it is a different ball-game, with DD facing no dearth of available slots. Since only a few of them are saleable, the onus is on the producer to popularise the slot and make it successful. In fact, there are so many people I know, who have got slots and had to face losses worth crores of rupees.

In that case why is it that most of your programming is targetted at DD?
It is true that we have always given priority to DD over most other channels. 70 per cent of our programming is directed at DD. One of the reasons is the reach of Doordarshan which surpasses all other channels. But the main factor is the ownership of copyright, which makes all the difference. A programme made for DD remains with you for a lifetime. It is like creating your own media asset. On the other hand making a programme for a satellite channel is as good as doing the job of a contractor. Once you have sold the programme, the rights are passed over to the channel. I do admit that buying a slot on DD at a phenomenal price and later selling it to sponsors entails a very big risk. But that only makes you work harder to ensure that the slot and the programme is a success. Which is why we go out of our way to ensure that the programme is qualitative and at the same time is backed by a unique promotional campaign which builds up awareness. Even the few programmes which we have on satellite channels have gone way ahead in terms of their TRP ratings.

So how many hours of programming time do you have on various channels at the moment?
Right now, we have 16 weekly slots of 23 minutes each including All The Best which has beaten all other countdown shows in its TRP ratings. Previously, there was an impression that we have a forte for thrillers what with Hello Inspector and Commander. Now we have dabbled into almost everything including comedy, countdown shows and daily soaps. Our daily soap Waqt Ki Raftaar is already making news, apart from the stand-up comedy Made In India. Why we even made a mark with a regional daily soap Damini which has got a regular following. This is besides the news and current affairs programme which Karan Thapar is handling on STAR Plus. Currently, there are a whole lot of projects in the pipeline including business programmes and a sports programme. By the year ending 1998, we are looking at producing 25 hours of weekly programming.

It is believed that the creative decisions in your company are made by a panel which keeps evaluating the public response and the TRP ratings from time to time. Apparently Gautam Adhikari takes the creative decisions, while you take the hard-core business decisions. True?
It is always a mutual decision between the two of us. Our main USP is that we never allow anyone else in the company to take the creative decisions. We have a number of senior people working for us at the moment, but the creative aspect and the conceptualisation of the programmes for the entertainment section is strictly done by us. I think that has really worked in our favour. When five people sit down on a table and debate over a programme, nothing comes out except confusion and chaos, which eventually reflects in the programme. In fact, most of the software companies, which I can’t name for obvious reasons, bombed because of giving up their creative control in the process of corporatisation.

Tell me about your decision to go public some time ago. Was it an image-building exercise for the company?
We came out with a public issue three years ago. The shares were at par and very reasonably priced. The shares have appreciated three times every since, at a time, when most other shares have been going down in the market. We have been very honest to our share-holders in giving them their dividends on time, but looking back on the decision now, we now feel it wasn’t at all necessary. The company already had a very good credential in the market and it did not need any image-building exercise. I guess we were advised wrongly at that time. But business decisions should never be regretted. It is important to stand by the decision you have taken. That shows your credibility.

One would have expected you to diversify much more after going public?
We could have very well had ten different divisions of our company like Adhikari events, Adhikari music division and so on. But we all know what has happened to those companies which were in a mad rush to diversify. Today, we are above most other production companies in terms of our credibility in the market and our liquidity position. Our priority has always been to strengthen our core area which is television. We are planning to expand in due curse. In fact we are currently planning to come up with something on the lines of an amusement park cum studio in Mumbai.

It is something very unique and different. We are also going for a joint venture with neighbouring countries to produce their local programmes. We are also tying up with all the regional channels so that our programmes will be featured in every regional language of India on those channels, apart from DD1 and DD2.

Some time ago there was news that
you were planning to get into film production.
No way. I don’t consider filmmaking a very rewarding profession. A successful television serial has ten times as much repeat value as a film. Besides, a successful film on television may fetch you an amount of Rs 25 lakhs, while a successful serial repeated for 100-200 episodes has much more value. I don’t want to spend my valuable time running around the air-conditioned luxury make-up vans of stars. It is definitely not my cup of tea. Besides, the deals are more transparent on television. Since the revenue comes from the channel or leading multinationals you are assured of payments.

But of late there are quite a few sponsors in the market who have backtracked on their payments?
That’s a different issue altogether. Basically it has to do with the liquidity crunch in the market. These days, even good companies make their payments after 120-150 days, since the market has become tight.

How do you rate your company in comparison to other companies like Cine Vista and Creative Eye?
It is not fair to talk highly of one’s own company. But I can tell you one thing, we are the only producers who have explored every possible subject. If you take soaps we’re there, in comedy we have already established ourselves, then there are countdown shows, current affairs, thrillers and even original programmes. Except for the fact that we haven’t yet tried a mythological. But I don’t think that really requires creativity. There is use of costumes more than anything else.