The Sahara Shree I Know....

My acquaintance with Sahara Shree or Subrata Roy dates back to the year 1989 when I won the National Award for the Children's Film "Anokha Aspatal". When Bhaisahab (that is the way I address him) heard about my achievement he immediately organised a felicitation to honor me, since I was from his home town Lucknow. Apart from the fact that we developed an instant rapport, Bhaisahab always respected & supported upcoming talent.

The next time I saw his love, affection and concern for me when I had an attack of acute diarrhea at Lucknow, where I was heading the Doordarshan Kendra. The year was 1995. I remember he was so worried that he rushed to my house at Nirala Nagar with his entire team and took me to KGMC Medical college where I was admitted. He left the hospital only when he had the assurance from the doctors that my condition was absolutely under control.

Though we have been interacting as an when we meet; however todays meeting with him was purely impulsive.Last week of Oct 2010, I saw his photograph on page 3 of the TOI with Mrs Jaya Bachchan. I knew he was in Mumbai hence I called him and I was there at Sahara Star having mishti doi & sandesh with him. Though we discussed a lot of things, about our families, children etc, but one thing he said and I quote "The amount of work the almighty is taking out from me will need 4 to 5 times of rebirth to finish it. Even 18 hours a day is not enough."

I am 100% confident that he will continue to work with the same zeal & enthusiasm for many more years till he reaches a century mark and carry on the Sahara Bat for more runs. As I don't see any difference between him and Sachin Tendulkar vis-a-vis their appetite for more milestones in their respective fields.

Finally the parting gift was more of a mutual admiration society. I said"you don't look at all your age, you look more vibrant & more energetic. " And he said "you are looking more handsome"

Thanks Bhaisahab for being what you are the same old level headed humble, down to earth, gentleman.

Inauguration of Multi camera set up studio for Young Journalists in Mumbai Ryan school, Chembur

On the 2nd october 2010, I was invited by the Ryan International Group of Institutions to be the Guest of Honor and inaugurate their New Multi camera set up Studio at Ryan International school, Chembur. Ryan group has been in the forefront as far as media education is concerned. Education through lens has been their motto and they were the first to open a TV studio inside the school to ensure that the children have hands on experience at the primary level itself. I was also impressed with the young students who have been trained (by ICEPLEX.TV a media initiative of Ryan Group) in TV news broadcast viz. reporting, scripting, anchoring, newscast, interviews, editing, handling of camera & other equipments. These trained students are called YJs or Young Jourknows. There are more then 200 such YJs all over India.

The other Film, TV & Media personalities who were invited by the Ryan International Group to do the honors were CEO Ryan Pinto, Johny Lever, Roop kumar Rathod, Kalpana Lazmi, Padmshri Kumar Ketkar, Kaanchan adhikari (Adhikari Bros), Ryan group Head Francis Joseph & Imtiyaaz along with Young Journalists.

I was told that the New Studio will also cover the schools of New Mumbai & provide Hands On training to the students, interested in broadcast media. Its the 2nd TV studio in Mumbai to be housed inside a school. The first of its kind is at Ryan International school Malad, Mumbai which has a mention in the Limca book of records.

All the guests & I was impressed with the idea of training students at the school level itself. It was the right time to make them understand the ethics of News production as the present day content which is being churned out is of abysmally low quality.

During the course of discussion Roop Kumar Rathod raised his concern regarding the weak Intellectual Property Right laws in India. Kalpana Lazmi , the director of Rudali felt, a time will come when the future generation will only remember the remix songs, sung by the present generations of singers .Original numbers of Mohammed Rafi , Lata Mangeshkar, Kishor kumar, Mukesh, Asha Bhosle & others will be forgotten. This is alarming & the State is a mute spectator

Normally when you are invited for an inauguration, the ribbon is cut by the chief guest. But if you have six Guest of Honors how will you save the day. Ryan Group had envisaged this problem and they were ready with the idea. A ribbon was shared among the VIPs and they were together asked to cut it into pieces. Later on we signed each piece individually in order to display the same as a memoir in the studio. I thought that was a smart move by the organizers .

All in all it was a day to remember, as the drive back home from Chembur to Juhu with Johny Lever was an experience. I was on the driving seat and Johny Bhai was sitting next to me. At every signal there was a traffic jam since it was day time and people could see Johny Lever clearly. Some body wanted to shake hands, some body for his autograph. He obliged them where ever it was possible.

After watching the quality of work produced by the YJs of ICEPLEX.TV, I am of the opinion, they are the future of Television News as they are aiming Beyond Breaking News.

When James Bond Sir Roger Moore came to Mumbai......

The year was 2005. UNICEF approached DD Mumbai to do a program towards the empowerment of Girl Child Education.

Accordingly 9 girls were selected from the poorest of the poor families in the state of Maharashtra, who have done well in their studies, in spite of the hardship they faced in order to pursue their goal. They were between 11 to 13 years old.

After their selection by UNICEF India, they were invited to come to Mumbai and were groomed by a friend Dr Jamuna Pai , celebrity dermitologist.

In order to ensure, the Event does not go unnoticed, I invited Bollywood icons Raveen Tandon and Aruna Irani, Miss world Yukta Mukhi and a host of women celebrities at DD to felicitate and honor these angels.

The event was quite a successes. As luck would have it , the video of the event was seen on web by Sir Roger Moore(James Bond), the brand Ambassador of UNICEF. Needless to mention he was quite impressed the way these girls were projected by us. So During his visit to India along with his wife, Sir Roger Moore made it a point to meet the local director of DD and have lunch with him.

It was 18th November 2005, we met at Grand Hayatt , Mumbai. He was particularly happy to note that in spite of the onslaught of commercial Tv Channels in india, I have been able to create tv programming which has the glamor quotient as well it is socially relevent.

Although I had many such lunch & dinner meets with various celebraties, film personalities and public figures during my tenure at DD Mumbai but eating out with James bond was a humbling experience.

On 14th October 2010, Sir Roger Moore will complete 83years. I can only wish him a happy, healthy & stress free life and he continues to Bond with the Best.....