| NTERVIEW | MUKESH SHARMA |
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Chaya Unnikrishnan
Posted online: Friday, May 06, 2005 at 0000 hours IST
On May 4, Mukesh Sharma completes five years as Director, Sahyadri. When he took over the reins in the year 2000, he wasn’t exactly welcomed. A non-Maharashtrian, what does he know about running a Marathi channel, they snided. Besides, the entire staff was used to working in a bureaucratic atmosphere and didn’t take kindly to Sharma’s style of functioning. He wanted to run it like a private channel and changing their mindsets was no mean feat. Yet, the suave director managed it and today Sahyadri is amongst the top three regional channels of Doordarshan. It’s also giving the other Marathi channels a run for their TRPs. Over to Sharma ...
When we had met five years ago, you had said that you wanted to run DD like a private channel? Have you accomplished that?
To a large extent, yes. When I took over as the director, my aim was to earn revenue for the channel. At the same time, I didn’t want to lose sight of DD’s original purpose as a public service broadcaster. Consequently, I had to find a balance between the two, which I think I have managed successfully. Not only is Sahyadri making money but it is also showing programmes that are entertaining, educative and informative.
Many of its shows like Hello Sakhi, Hello DD etc were introduced by you and they are still going on. What, according to you, has made them popular?
These were the first interactive shows on the channel which clicked with the viewers in a big way. The beauty of these shows lies in its simplicity. The names are very simple and therefore have a high recall value. There aren’t many visuals and the format is light and informative. Even the anchors of our shows are a far cry from those seen in the past. Unlike the earlier staid, studio anchors are chirpy and proactive, extremely passionate about the show they are hosting. I also started the trend of customising programmes. Fair & Lovely people were interested in sponsoring a women’s show. We came up with Bharari, a show that counsels women on different careers. The show was slotted at 7.30 pm and it was made lavishly. Introduced three years ago, the show which has featured the likes of Vimla Patil and Meera Borwankar has been very well-received. Later, Kesari Travels was keen to brand a programme that would suit its profile. I came up with the idea of a travel-related quiz show for kids based on geography and history. Soon Lux will be sponsoring a woman-based show which will show the fairer sex efficient in any field she choses. It’s about women of substance.
You seem to feel strongly about woman empowerment. The recent Sahyadri Navratna awards had girl child as its theme...
Girl child, woman empowerment and AIDS are subjects that have become close to my heart. When I was watching a recent awards function, I felt a sense of deja vu. It was nothing different from the one held last year. That set me thinking. I decided that my awards will be different and that difference will be made by adopting a theme. The best I could think of was the girl child. Do you know that in Mumbai where we claim to be highly educated and modern, there’s a vast difference in the ratio of girls and boys. The boys outnumber the girls. I thought it would be purposeful to send this message through a big platform. Of course, I made it certain that it didn’t sound as though we were sermonising. The programme had to be entertaining. Looking at the response from various people, I think we have been more than successful.
Tell us how you got the idea of holding the Navratna puraskar?
There are awards for music, films, serials and what have you. I wanted to felicitate nine people who belonged to a field other than films. And Navratna awards was conceived. There’s a swarratna, khelratna, chitraratna and so on. It started three years ago and we have found 36 ratnas. The criteria is that people should have excelled in their fields and belong to Maharashtra. Also, ninety per cent of them should be Maharashtrians. We invite an independent jury comprising eminent people who choose the nine ratnas. Since last year, I have added another ratna, the balratna which is awarded to a child who has achieved a remarkable feat. Last year we felicitated a boy who ran the 21 km marathon and this year we awarded a girl who swam continuously for 12 hours.
You have started an award dedicated to the girl child called Sahyadri Navjyot. How did that come about?
UNICEF came to me with a proposal of making a series on the girl child. Their research showed that there were many girls who were doing well in studies despite adverse conditions. One girl came from a poor background, another girl’s father was an alcholic yet another one stayed very far from school... It moved me and I decided to make a short series. I asked UNICEF to get me nine such girls and sent my camera team to their villages. After that I thought why not felicitate these girls? The entire event was weaved in a dance ballet which showed the various forms of Durga like Kali, Saraswati and between each of the avatars, we incorporated the story of one girl child. Successful women from different fields were invited to felicitate the girls. While watching footage of the girl’s lives, Aroona Irani was moved to tears and she recalled how she had to drop her studies because her father didn’t think girls should be highly educated. Raveena Tandon and Meera Borwankar were also very encouraging. The show was a big hit so much so that now the UNICEF chief of India is planning to replicate this in other developing countries.
Events seem to be your forte...
You can say that. Initially, we spent on our events but later because of their popularity, corporate houses came forward to sponsor it. Navratna Puraskar is now being sponsored by Godrej which gives us 10 - 12 lakhs and we are quite happy with it. I know that other awards are more lavish and grand but what purpose do they really serve besides entertainment? My awards, on the other hand, are meaningful.
You also started Hirkani awards which recognise women who have topped in various walks of life...
nWhen I decided to name it Hirkani, many people didn’t like it. They thought it was very old-fashioned. But I stuck to it because it had a very interesting story behind it. I am not a Maharashtrian but when I read the story of Hira, I was impressed and thought it was the best title for a woman achiever.
When you took over, you had said that you invited Marathi filmmakers to premiere their new films on Sahyadri. What happened to that plan?
Even now I am open to the idea. Kiran Shantaram and a few others whom I spoke to had responded positively. I had even met the chief minister and asked for more subsidies but somehow things didn’t work out. All the same, one positive aspect is that, earlier the Marathi film slot on Sunday 4 pm would fetch hardly 1-4 lakhs, today the same slot is earning us Rs 13 lakhs which is a vast improvement. That is because there has been a marked difference in the overall TRPs of the channel.
So, where does Sahyadri stand amongst the regional channels today?
When I joined Sahyadri, the scenario was pathetic. Sahyadri featured at the bottom after Alpha Marathi, Tara, Prabhat and Eenadu TV. People used to joke that they had heard about Sahyadri but never seen it. Even amongst the regional channels of Doordarshan, Sahyadri was nowhere in the picture. I found that the people working here had a typical government mindset. Also, the fact that I was a non-Maharashtrian irked many. I found that there was no motivation, no pep amongst the staff. Even the channel had no connectivity. I met cable operators and urged them to show Sahyadri, this despite the fact that there was a law which said cable operators should carry three DD channels. However,I knew that ultimately the cable operator will beam it only if the viewers demand for it. This meant that the programming had to be good. And I started concentrating on content. Today I am proud that at a recent awards function, Sahyadri bagged six awards out of the 11 categories it was nominated for.
The channel is also looking as good as the satellite channels...
That was another aspect I had to look into when I took over. There were a lot of technical glitches and I told the producers and engineers to rectify it. Initially, they were reluctant but then they realised that if they had to gain respect they had to be good. The technical faults dropped from ninety per cent to ten per cent. I used to watch my channel for 17-18 hours a day looking for flaws and making notes to correct them.
Currently, from 3 pm to 8 pm, Sahyadri is carried as a terrerstrial channel and after 8 pm as a satellite channel. After 8 pm, the other satellite channels are garnering higher TRPs. I have suggested to the Delhi office that programmes after 8 pm should be made self-financing. DD will only market them. It will be linked with the TRPs. If they aren’t upto the mark they can be axed. Let’s see how it goes.
To bring about so many changes, you must have faced a lot of opposition ...
You bet. It wasn’t easy changing the mindsets. But since I am a filmmaker myself, I knew how each department functions. I used my knowledge to guide people when they had a problem not as a boss but as a colleague. This helped in thawing the ice and gradually things started working out. Do you know that I have set up two parallel offices, one for film acquisition and another for marketing.
Both the offices are independent and are helmed by different directors. While the film business is over 100 crores, the marketing office earns 200-300 crores and the TV fetches just around 25 crores. But I am not insecure. I believe in synergising energies which will help in smooth functioning.
When you look back on the five years in DD, what are your feelings?
Of my entire career of 25 years, I think this five year period has been a goldmine. Whatever efforts I have put in, have borne fruit.
