V is for victory

Nevertheless, the team doesn8217;t believe in letting good ideas pass by. So, if MTV has got Beavis and Butthead, Ghosh says V has something better, something desi Udham Singh, the guy who whiplashes music videos. 8220;We invent our own formulae. The American concept of attitude8217; is not the same as the Indian one,8221; explains Ghosh.

Shankar feels Channel V ticks because it cannot be pinned down. 8220;We are constantly re-inventing ourselves,8221; he says. Ghosh says he has no idea of what they will be doing a few months later. Both insist that V invented and promoted the Hindi pop scene. 8220;The groundwork we have done as far as local music goes is tremendous,8221; says Shankar. According to him, V8217;s programmes are 8220;a beautiful mixture of market research and gut feelings8221;. And unlike other channels, V does not believe in farming out programmes to independent producers. 8220;V make everything,8221; says Ghosh. 8220;The producers need to be quality sadak chhaaps 8212; it is easier to work in-house as we are conscious of having a certain style. V can make comments on television just by doing what it does,8221; explains Ghosh. While some shows still come from Hong Kong, the percentage is decreasing. 8220;We have always been autonomous in our working style with our own PR and marketing team and office setup. We are really bullish about promoting Indian shows,8221; says Shankar. Already there are around 15 shows from India. 8220;Earlier, Hong Kong used to dictate. Now all the decisions are taken here,8221; says Ghosh.

Including going full steam ahead with road shows, pub-promotions and other interactive events. Channel V has also dabbled in music cassettes. 8220;This is a natural extension of our channel,8221;8217; claims Fuller. Ghosh has a dream project 8212; to start a band called 8220;After your dad goes to sleep!8221;

8220;People buy us on brand influence, because we get noticed. Youth know our catch phrases, our signals and signs, our VJs and their eccentricities,8221; says Fuller.. The VJs are selected on how they talk and whether they can build a relationship with the audience 8212; it is like a friendship. However, for all this, there are problems. In one TV households kids get sidelined by parents and so does V by other channels. 8220;Forty per cent of our audience watches V at a friend8217;s house or in cafes,8221; says Fuller. The other drawback is the paucity of live music and a sense of history. 8220;Our attitude is to give the public what its likes plus something it should listen to,8221; says Ghosh. Another problem is that music channels have, traditionally, been snag channels people watch and switch to something else. 8220;The challenge is to make them stay on,8221; says Shankar. And when asked what has gone drastically wrong with V, Ghosh replies, 8220;Office space! We have grown and have run out of space so fast that we did not even notice,8221; he says. The marketing division moved out, curiously, to an office just above MTV8217;s!

8220;Now we can spy on MTV. We have drilled holes in the floor to see what they are upto!8221; he says. Ghosh claims the secret of V8217;s success is that V is probably the only channel which knows its audience 8212; the youth and the youth-minded. 8220;We don8217;t have a crime or soap script we have to stick to,8221; he says. He does not agree that MTV is up-market and V down-market. 8220;If you take a look at your fancy kids and the normal Indian kids, there are certain common denominators, universals that work,8221; he says.

Channel V cuts through the divide separating the South Mumbai brat and the guy in Ahmedabad. 8220;And there is a way to talk with them. There is no separate speak for them,8221; Ghosh adds.Thelingua franca, needless to say, is V-speak.