Name: Shailesh Kapoor

Designation: Senior Marketing Manager - Zee Cinema

Sun Sign: Leo, 26 July 1975

Educational Experience
I did my schooling from Delhi. Thereafter, like most other students, engineering came up almost like a default option. So, I went for a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Delhi. Very early into IIT, I realised engineering was not my cup of tea. Nevertheless, the whole IIT experience was fabulous, because it helped me meet some of the sharpest brains of India, and shaped my thinking which is today proving to be a valuable asset. Also, the hostel life opened up the world for me.

From there, I joined IIM Calcutta for my MBA. The IIM-C days were very different. I enjoyed the courses and the project works and everything else an MBA education had to offer, and I did well for myself, ending up as the third rank holder in a batch of 300!

Professional Experience
I had always been an avid watcher of Hindi cinema. But it was at IIM-C that this passion really took the shape of a career option. Luckily for me, Sony Entertainment Television visited the campus, and I decided to go for it as my first option. I got into Sony as a Brand Executive in 1999. Over the 11 months I spent there, I worked on a variety of shows and films, like Saaya, Missing and the Raj Kapoor festival. I was responsible for the on-air and off-air marketing efforts on these properties. Sony was a good nurturing ground for me, as it exposed me to the hitherto mysterious world of media and programming.

Shailesh at work

From Sony, I moved to indya.com in Bangalore, where I joined as the Channel Manager for the Cinema and Music websites. The 18 months I spent at indya were absolutely out of this world. The Internet teaches you another way of working altogether. You learn in a year what you may have learnt in three to four years elsewhere. Also, since it was a new business, the passion of the team, right from the top to below, was unparalleled.

When indya downsized drastically, I was one of the 200-odd people who left what we thought was a cherished dream, in November 2001. From there, I took a break, spent time with my family for about three months, and gave shape to my first film script. Thereafter, I moved to Mumbai and worked for a film promotion company for three months, before I joined Zee as the Senior Marketing Manager on Zee Cinema.

Zee has been a very interesting experience. Handling the marketing of a full channel is a different kick altogether, compared to handling two to three shows on a main channel like Sony. You feel you are so much more in control of things and can shape the future of your channel with your ideas and concepts. I have the support and encouragement of an excellent team here, and make no mistakes about it: I am enjoying it big time!

Job Profile
My job profile includes anything and everything to do with the marketing and promotions efforts on Zee Cinema. Right from on-air promos, off-air marketing, sales inputs, coordinating with programming, contests, channel packaging... there is so much scope to work here.

The great thing about being on Zee Cinema is that it is India's No.1 Movie Channel by a fair margin, and you know that your efforts are being seen and appreciated by millions, be it the up-market Colaba in Mumbai or the relatively mass areas of Joka in Kolkata, where I spent my two years at IIMC. It's another high altogether.

Marketing as career choice
Marketing was intuitively the one area of management that caught my fancy during my IIM-C days. The interaction with the consumer was that one thing that made me go for it. Regarding television, I initially saw it as a stepping stone for a career in films. But at Zee, I have realised the true power of the medium.

But frankly, it's still the fact that I am working on a Hindi movie channel that is important. Because, at the end of the day, Hindi cinema is in my blood, in a way that I cannot explain.

Current Marketing scenario
The satellite television industry is very new in India. So, we can't expect a predictable scenario anyway. Things will keep changing, and the key is to be able to think through the changing scenario while you have the vision to shape the future.

Right and wrong about current marketing scenario
I seriously don't think there's anything wrong. Like any other free economy model, our TV industry will find its own way out. Yes, we can always say that there is a dearth of variety in the content available. But we have to realise that we are only ten years into the industry. Things will emerge. In fact, compare today to, say, two years ago, and the difference is more than noticeable.

Personally, the effort will be to understand the consumers and give them the content they want. The trick is that the consumers will never be able to verbalise their needs. You have to get the insights out of them and build your properties around that. And that's where the marketing person's challenge comes in.

Shailesh at his brother's wedding with family.

Five years from now
Tough to predict, but whatever I am doing, wherever I am, it will be something around Hindi cinema. Two of my film scripts are ready. I have not managed enough time to narrate them to some of the key producers in Bollywood. But yes, that will always be one option that I would want to take forward in the next year.

But otherwise, be it TV or films or theater or whatever else, Bollywood will never be out of my scheme of things.

Hobbies
I love films of course, and lot of my free time goes into watching either the new releases or the classics from the past, which I can watch again and again, and yet again. I love writing too, and have a weekly column on msn.co.in on Hindi cinema, which keeps me going.

The rest of the time is when I spend some moments with a few close friends. It's really important because I am aware how we let go of our close friendships because of corporate hustle and bustle. But no such thing for me.

And of course, like any other Indian, I love to watch cricket. Hope we turn things around in the coming weeks and do well in the big event!

Idea of enjoyment
Enjoyment for me is a holiday with three to four close friends... what we do is not very important. It might be a trip to some quiet, scenic place or just a few hours in town, moving around, shopping, watching a film and eating great food. It's the company that's more important. And yes, I love the two weeks I take off every year to spend time with my parents in Delhi. They are truly enriching in their own way.

Name: Palki Malhotra

Designation: Executive Producer - UTV

Sun Sign: Pisces, 28 February 1978

Educational Experience
BA in English Literature from Mithibai College, Mumbai.

Professional Experience
I was in advertising initially. I worked in an ad agency, called Facts, as a Production Executive. Then I joined UTV as an Assistant Director and worked on fiction shows like Swaraaj (DD), Waaris and Hip Hip Hurray (Zee). Then I became an Assistant Executive Producer and worked on a serial called Sarhadein. At present I am the Executive Producer for UTV and am working on Kehta Hai Dil which airs on Star Plus.

Job Profile
I'm an Executive Producer with UTV. I have to be the master of all trades. My basic job profile includes managing everything on the sets from A to Z. I can't be ignorant about anything. I have to know each and everything about each and every one on the sets.

Television as career choice
I started my career in television in 1997. I was always interested in television. When I got into this industry there were no double standards like there are in the film industry.

Palki with Shagufta Ali and Smita Bhansal

Current Television scenario
The present day television scenario is really improving. The audience today wants to see something beyond the saas-bahu sagas. And there has been a conscious effort by the channels to give them what they want.

Right and wrong about current Television scenario
There is nothing like right and wrong in the industry. If a serial gets a high TRP, the formula is right and if it doesn't, the formula is wrong. The most important thing here is to believe in what you do. One also has to change according to the needs of the audience. So, a lot of things have to be kept in mind for a particular thing to be right in the television industry.

Five years from now
Five years from now I see myself as an individual producer.

Hobbies
I love dancing.

Idea of enjoyment
My idea of enjoyment is dancing. It gives me immense happiness and pleasure.

Name: Abir Goswami

Job Profile: Actor

Sun Sign: Aries, 14th April 1975

Educational Experience
My elementary education was from different places throughout India like Bihar, Nagpur and Rajasthan due to the nature of my father's job requirements.

I've done my MBA (marketing) from Lala Lajpath Rai Institute.

Professional Experience
After I did my MBA I worked for Videocon in the Internal Audit Department for three months. Then I worked for Indian Express Group in the Circulation Department that managed events and promotions. After that I moved on to BPL Mobile and worked there as an Assistant Manager in the Corporate Sales Department.

Being very passionate about acting, I did theater when I got the opportunity. My first play was Basant Ki Raat Mein which was directed by Bhupen Deshmukh. I started my stint in television in the year 2000, but for the first four months there was no work and like any other newcomer I was making the rounds of the offices of the producers and channels.

TV serials: I got my first break from the serial Aahat. I also did a couple of other serials like Daddy Samjha Karo and CID. Presently I'm working in Kittie Party and Miit. I've also played small roles in serials like Kkusum, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kamal, Manthan (Neena Gupta Productions), Parchaiyaan (Sahara TV), Aasha Ki Kiran (ETV). I got a lot of recognition with a negative character I played in Kabhi Sautan Kabhi Saheli.

Feature films: I played the character of Phanindranath Ghosh in Raj Kumar Santoshi's The Legend of Bhagat Singh. Initially I was chosen to play the character of Ajay Ghosh but the makers found a more suitable look alike of the character and hence I was given to play the character of a freedom fighter who turns traitor. I was a little apprehensive to play a negative role in a period film but in the end it all turned out well for me.

I've just completed shooting for Ram Gopal Verma Production's Darna Mana Hai, directed by Praval Pandey. The movie is in its post-production stages and will hit the theaters in April.

Television as career choice
A career in television today is very tough. Those days of stardom have gone and it's not like it was before. Now with more and more channels and production houses coming up there is no dearth of people entering the industry. I am an MBA but I was always interested in acting and it's only because of that passion for acting that I am where I am and not in an office behind a desk.

Current Television scenario
I have been in this industry for the last two years or so and I can't remember any bad experience as such till date with anybody in the industry. At the end of the day I have always got my money. Sometimes it may come late but it comes for sure. Gayatri Telesoft, Neo-Films, Balaji Telefilms are a few good paymasters. Everyone is very cooperative.

Right and wrong about current television scenario
In this industry where there are highly talented people, there are also hordes of short- sighted and egoistic people. And because of them the deserving people don't get their due and recognition. There are many good and talented makers but again they are not getting a break because of the monopoly of some.

The position that I am in today, frankly, there is nothing I can do. At present my primary concern is to carve a niche for myself in this industry and work my way towards establishing myself in this industry. One has to be in a position of power to bring about a change. Right now, I don't think I am in that position.

Five years from now
Five years from now I want to be established as an actor and do more meaningful roles. I want people to remember me as a good actor.

Hobbies
I love playing cricket. I also enjoy singing. In fact, I have learnt classical singing. The thing I love doing the most is going away from Mumbai to a hill station with a few friends and forgetting everything else. I love watching movies and I'm a total movie buff.

Idea of enjoyment
My idea of enjoyment is being in a state where I forget myself and my work and all my problems. I love to sit with my friends and laugh and forget all worries. Also as I mentioned earlier I love to travel. That's my idea of enjoyment.

Name: Jaikishin Chhaproo

Designation: Manager - Group Media - Godrej Consumer Products

Sun Sign: Leo, 13 August 1973

Educational Experience
Bachelor of Engineering (Instrumentation) - 1994. Vivekanand Education Society's Institute of Technology (VESIT), Bombay University.

Post Graduate Program in Management Studies (Marketing) - 1997. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research (SIMSR), Bombay.

Professional Experience
Joined R.K. Engineering in 1994 as Sales Engineer - Designing & Marketing of Control Valves & related accessories.

Joined Plus Channel early 1997 handling media research & acquisitions of serials & movies marketed by Plus.

Joined Wipro Consumer Care in Feb. 1999 as Manager - Media, handling the media requirements for brands like Santoor, Wipro Baby Care, Wipro Corporate Identity (Sunflower logo).

Joined Godrej Consumer Products Ltd in June 2001 as Manager - Group Media.

Job Profile
Handling media for Cinthol, ColourSoft, FairGlow, Godrej No. 1, Godrej Ezee etc. Besides this I coordinate for the media requirements for Group Companies Godrej Sara Lee, Godrej Foods, and Godrej Agrovet (Real Good Chicken).

Marketing as career choice
After doing my engineering, I joined a marketing firm- R.K. Engineering and worked for a year only to realize that I could not do this for the rest of my life. I opted to study further and so decided to do my MBA and joined Somaiya. I was actually planning to specialise in Finance.

Somewhere then I firmed my mind and decided to seriously consider Marketing as the field and make a career in Media. Maybe it was based on the down trend in the finance sector.

Once my mind was made - all roads ahead were towards a career in advertising. Be it my projects or summers. I would actually approach agencies and interact with client servicing heads and media directors to understand the various facets in advertising.

Must surely take this opportunity to thank all those good Samaritans. A very special mention to Ms Sumita Das - who was very helpful. Thank You Sumita.

Current Marketing scenario
Thankfully the market for most categories has revived close to normalcy. Unlike a few years back when all we could hear and see was recession. Every other person was jumping onto the dot com jamboree. As far as the categories I have worked on - the market will take maybe a year to two years to start showing a positive swing.

Right and wrong about the current marketing scenario
The marketers have pampered the consumer and spoiled his/her purchase behavior. I think we have taken "Customer is the King" a bit too literally.

Where is the (loyal) consumer? Have you seen one lately?? The consumers are today loyal to brands offering them gold coins, foreign trips etc?? Till Stocks last.

Five years from now
Buying Media.

Hobbies
Fishes. I have an aquarium at my place. I keep adding more fishes almost each week. Besides this, while traveling I usually prefer to move with a book. I usually enjoy fiction and have read all the books of Sidney Sheldon and Jeffery Archer. Currently I am enjoying the collection of Ken Follet. Besides this I enjoyed Why Men Don?t Listen and Women Can't Read Maps. The Alchemist is my favourite book.

Idea of enjoyment
Usually try to spend weekends with my family and plan weekend outings with my wife.

Name: Richa Nayyar Job

Profile: Actress

Sun Sign: Gemini, 24 May 1978

Educational Experience
Honours in English from Punjab University (Government College for Girls, Chandigarh).

Post Graduation from National School of Drama, Delhi (1998-2001)

Learnt theater from the Academy Theater, Atlanta, Georgia in the United States for two years.

Film Appreciation Course from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

Professional Experience
I've been doing theater for the last 17-18 years. After my course in FTII, I came to Bombay in 2001.

Serials: I've worked in serial like Sach (Doordarshan), Hakeekat (Sahara), Amaanat, Aap Jo Bole Haan To Haan?Aap Jo Bole Na To Na, Kamal and Astitva (Zee), Sssh?Koi Hai and Sanjeevani (Star Plus), Hakeempur.com (ETV Urdu) and Aasha Ki Kiran (ETV Hindi).

Films: I've done this film called Dharini produced by the Films Division which should release within the next two months. I've also worked in an Indo-French film called Hawaa Aane Do which is in its post-production stages and should release by July this year. Then I've acted in a short film made by FTII called Until the Next Dawn. I also have four corporate films to my credit.

Television as career choice
I've always wanted to do theater. My dad (Sewak Nayyar) has his own theater group called 'Yavanika Theater Group' and so I've always been actively involved in theater. Television has been my second priority. But today television is the most popular platform for anyone's claim to fame. I'm not made for films and I don't even think I'm heroine material and I rather do performance oriented roles than dance around trees in movies!!

Current Television scenario
The television scenario today is changing and also revolutionising as new TV programmes with new ideas are coming up. You can't fool the audience anymore by showing them anything. The audience is now fed-up of the saas-bahu sagas. Their viewpoint is broadening and television today provides a better insight to them. And soon the television scenario is going to change even more.

Right and wrong about current Television scenario
It's a very subjective question. Something that I think is right; my mom may think it to be wrong. So one can't really define what is right and wrong about the current television scenario. Personally if you ask me, I don't like the saas-bahu family dramas that are shown on television.

Five years from now
Five years down the line I see myself doing just theater if I don't do anything bigger and better in television or I see myself as a very big star on television.

Hobbies
I love singing, swimming and traveling. It's a different thing that today because of my work commitments I can't travel as much as I did initially.

Idea of enjoyment
I love watching films, not the typical masala films but more on the lines of offbeat cinema and art films. I love the movie made by director Akira Kurosawa called Red Beard. More recently, I've liked Mr. and Mrs. Iyer and Freaky Chakra. I would love to act in movies of this genre.

Name: Pavan Chawla

Designation: Manager, Public Relations - MAX

Sun Sign: Capricorn, 9 January 1960

Educational Experience:
Arts graduate in Economics, Public Administration and English, and enjoyed my college years thanks to excessive extracurricular activities like dramatics, music and volleyball. Which also yielded a second class in the aggregate, but then in MA-I English Literature, I was third in the merit list in Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Professional Experience
Twelve years of print and electronic media experience, which breaks down to: PR & Journalism: six and a half years Electronic Entertainment Media: five and a half years.

Executive Editor, Zee Entertainment Guide (October 1994 to April 1995) - Worked with Rajat Sharma on The Guide. I managed the content, wrote for, edited and designed the entire magazine. Took the guide to the newsstands in Bombay, New Delhi and Ahmedabad. The Zee Entertainment Guide had a print order of 400,000 copies!!

Four Years with The Times of India Group. Magazine Coordinator, E-Times. (February 1994 to September1994) - Managed content, wrote for, edited and designed this entertainment guide. Was involved along with Bharat Kumar Raut and Arun Arora in the conceptualization, dummies and the final launch of E-Times from Bombay, New Delhi, Calcutta and Bangalore.

Senior Feature Writer & Sub Editor, The Metropolis on Saturday (March 1993 to February 1994). The Metropolis was Bombay's up-market weekly news- and features-based 'paper. My specialization was News and Features, particularly Lifestyle, TV & Film Entertainment, Indian and Western film and popular music, and leisure in general. Worked with Bachi Karkaria, Bharatkumar Raut, Ayaz Memon, Shashi Baliga, and Carole Andrade. I handled both, news and features pages such as the Front Page, Cinema, Leisure and Nostalgia, and the City, Nation and World news pages. Was also the in-house music and food critic.

Feature Writer & Sub Editor, The Independent and The Metropolis (July 1992 to February 1993) - Was part of the team that created and shaped The Metropolis on Saturday.

Sub Editor - The Independent (November 1990 to June 1992) - Pritish Nandy's ad had said in 150 points: "Pritish Nandy will train 12 bright young journalists." Well, I was one of them! Slaved at the News desk, which is where you develop a news sense. Handled all news pages, and contributed extensively to the news and features pages. Worked with Anil Dharker, Pritish Nandy and Nitin Padte.

Freelance contributions - Extensively for Saturday Times, The Illustrated Weekly, Sunday Mid-day, Mid-day, The Independent and other publications. Have been music and food critic for Femina, The Illustrated Weekly, The Independent, The Metropolis on Saturday and E-Times.

Concurrent with my job at the Times, I was news reporter for Vinod Dua's Parakh for a while in 1993, and also had the first Top Ten show of English songs in the country on All India Radio FM way back in 1988. Received great help from Shashi Gopal, Suresh Thomas, Bashir Sheikh, Parag Kamani and Atul Churamani of Magnasound, Vijay Lazarus of Music India, V.T. Ravi and Meena Iyer of HMV, and R.V. Pandit of CBS for this. They'd give me rights to air the songs on AIR without a royalty payment!

In 1993, on the day of the launch of Times FM in India (15 August 1993) one of the shows on air was researched, written and presented by me - a rockumentary on Michael Jackson, with Irshwin Balwani. Those were fun days!

My Programming & Production stint with cable & satellite (C&S) TV was with Sony Entertainment Television, from September 1995 to mid-June 2000, during which time I worked my way from Production Executive to Senior Executive Producer and then Head of the Friday PMU. My job was to creatively and strategically manage shows for content and promotional activity.

Through my tenure, some of the shows I handled became the biggest in C&S in India, and included Aahat and CID. I also worked on several other shows including Kanyadaan, Family No. 1, Mahayagya, Take Five, Tujh Pe Dil Qurbaan, Hum Aapke Hain Countdown, C.A.T.S., The Rasoi Show, India Magic and Cover Story.

I've also written several shows like Kanyadaan, CATS, Jagjit Singh's Revival concert, Archana Puran Singh's Celebrating India, and co-written with Rishi Talwar, a feature film starring Sanjay Dutt, Shamita Shetty and Chandrachur Singh, called Mohabbat Ho Gayi Hai Tumse. For five years, I was Sony Entertainment Television's male voice for on-air promos.

My journalism experience helped me in handling the election news specials in the Chunav Chunauti series of 10-minute bulletins in 1998 that ran for three days, and were hosted by Vinod Dua and Mark Tully, and produced for us by TV 18 in New Delhi.

Current Job profile and Designation
I'm Manager, Public Relations for MAX, the premier Movies and Events channel from Sony Entertainment Television India Pvt Ltd. I drive PR for every MAX programming and business initiative including MAX corporate in the media marketplace through print and electronic media, targeting all our valued viewers and business associates.

I drive PR for the biggest acquisition in Indian television history - the C&S rights to all the ICC Limited Overs Cricket tournaments for six years all the way to 2007 and an ICC Trophy. I target print, Internet and electronic media regardless of language and location across India. Equally, I also drive PR across the country for MAX's other mega entertainment genre, Hindi Movies.

Television as career choice
I'd already been with The Times of India group for four years, and if anything seemed bigger and more mass than print journalism, it was Television. I got into Sony Entertainment Television a month before it launched in 1995 the opportunity and the challenge were huge as it was the 37th or 38th channel in India then.

The goal was to break through the clutter, get noticed and established as a channel that provided complete family entertainment, and within a couple of years of our launch, we had arrived at the top spot, with the biggest shows in television history!

It's as dynamic as print or any other kind of journalism - you're only as good as your last episode or byline. And more creative too. That hasn't changed. In fact, today, it's even more dynamic, and constantly challenging. I've been fortunate, but I'm proud of two things: the TOI and the Sony Entertainment Television pedigree.

Current Television scenario
Not as cluttered as it was, thankfully, but far more organized and intensely competitive.

Right and wrong about current television scenario
What's right about present day television - I think style, look and feel is up there? but we've lost out on variety in content. With so many daily soaps, somewhere the vibrancy of variety has lost out.

Earlier, there were so many many different talents and genres, but I guess it's all part of evolution and we'll say some day, "Wow, that was some phase, but thank God it's over!"

Five years from now
Retired, in Hawaii, writing, playing the percussion, composing music on my computer, scouring the net, working on my websites, reading W Somerset Maugham's recommended 100 Best Books of all time and watching all the great movies I missed or want to watch again. Just chilling out.

Hobbies
I just mentioned some above? as for the rest, maybe this isn't the right forum.

Idea of enjoyment
There you go again!