Star struck

It was a challenging time for the Rupert Murdoch-owned broadcast network. The original team of Peter Mukherjea and Sameer Nair,who had catapulted Star India into the country’s most successful broadcast business and were credited with defining the Indian television story,had just left. The entry of a new player,Colors,the Hindi GEC channel launched by Viacom 18,made things worse. Colors came in with refreshing content that broke the spell of the saas-bahu serials that Star Plus had become famous for. With big-ticket reality shows such as Bigg Boss and Khatron Ke Khiladi and fiction shows such as Balika Vadhu,Colors soon caught the bored Indian audience’s fancy and dislodged Star Plus from the top position which it had occupied for almost a decade.

Less than two years later,the script stands completely changed. “When I came in,there was the challenge of ensuring growth in the existing businesses and the challenge of expanding into new markets. I am truly privileged to have taken charge under the circumstances that I did. It brought out the best in me,” says Shankar. “Also,I have one of the most exceptional teams in the business,” he says.

Shankar had a unique strategy to make things fall in place. “When you are facing a challenge,the worst thing is to start looking at what the competition is doing and not at your own strategies,” says Shankar,who says he doesn’t watch programmes on rival channels. This means Star Plus didn’t get into the race of acquiring licenses of expensive global reality shows like its rivals. It,instead,reviewed its own programming strategy. Old shows such as the K-serials produced by Balaji Telefilms were taken off the air and replaced with content from new production houses. “Fiction is the main staple of Indian TV audiences. They also like to watch relevant shows on social issues,” says Shankar. The new shows that worked were Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai,Sasural Genda Phool,Gulaal and non-fiction shows such as Aap Ki Kachehri with former cop Kiran Bedi. Once the channel was back on its feet,Shankar initiated the growth process. Star has expanded into new regional markets and launched ventures such as a home-shopping channel Star CJ and a movie production business under Fox Star Studios. Shankar’s success in getting Murdoch’s business in India back on track also won him the responsibility of overseeing Star’s business in the Middle East,the UK and the US.

Before Star,he was the CEO of Media Content and Communication Services (MCCS),a joint venture between Anand Bazar Patrika Group and Star Group,that runs Hindi news channel Star News. Prior to this,he was the editor and news director at TV Today where he started news channels — Aaj Tak and Headlines Today. He was also instrumental in launching the news division of the Sahara Group. He also helped in the launch of the environment magazine Down to Earth.

Shankar feels being a journalist helped shape him into a successful media manager. “As a journalist,you observe society and its stakeholders. You look at new situations every day and make sense out of everything to explain it to your viewers. That training has enabled me to handle new situations in my role as a manager,” he says. Though he gets to watch a lot of television and “observe various behaviours and trends on TV”,his favourites are shows on Star. He is also partial to any new show because “it is like a baby which needs to be nurtured and showered with affection”.

He has a clear vision for Star India. “I want Star to be the most relevant way to connect with everybody in this country and to add value to their lives,” he says.