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As
head of CinéMaya Media, Sunil Hali has emerged as a pioneer
in South Asian media production and management in the US.
A double gold medallist in engineering, Sunil claims the distinction
of being featured on the cover of The New
York Times, Metro Section.
In June 2000, he launched NREYES, the millennium TV series
profiling the most successful US-based NRIs, on Zee TV Network.
The same month he launched, as the publisher, the North American
edition of The
Indian Express
through a Franchise Agreement. Hali is also the chief executive
consultant to EBC, the first South Asian FM radio station
in the US.
In an email interview with indiantelevision.com, Hali holds
forth on his company, projects and ambitions. Excerpts -
How
did your foray into the medium begin? How long have you been
in this business?
I have been in theatre since childhood and have worked in
Baaki Itihaas, Ek Aur Dronacharaya, Under Secretary,
etc through my college and postgraduate degrees in engineering
in Roorkee and Nagpur. I came to the US in 1997 and within
a short time felt a creative urge to fill up the void in the
South Asian media scene, initially by making a TV Serial.
I created a TV serial Aadhey-Adhooray (1992) after
acquiring the rights to the script. It was telecast on TV
Asia UK (now Zee), TV Asia USA, cable channels, and later
released on video. I soon realised that television will become
big through satellite and to become a major player, I needed
to understand the field completely, and produce high quality
programmes in order to stand apart. Since my expertise is
management of large projects, I opted to start producing television
and events in 1993.
But, how exactly do you operate sitting in the US? Do you
have a set up in India?
I have a full-time staff of three persons in India. I
have a good relationship with channels, and am always networking
with able writers, directors, actors and technicians. This
has been developed through observing their work and frequent
trips to India. Since we are the only company that has produced
most of international television work in the last decade,
we have established a unique name for ourselves with the channels.
And we propose projects with international audience in mind,
television or events.
Being outside the "box", my effort is to propose unique concepts,
pitch them to the senior programming people in channels. I
believe strongly in "partnering" and the directors are very
active players in my projects and are given wide responsibilities.
I am also setting up an office in Mumbai with additional staff.
My goal is to produce high quality entertainment TV programmes
and films with South Asian ethos for our audience world-wide.
There would be limitations on the kind of work you can
source from India. So what are your alternatives?
In fact, our limitation is our strength. Being probably
the only company that has produced international subjects,
with authenticity, we have a headstart and identity. As we
have made a name for ourselves for quality and standards,
and earned the trust of channels, we are ready to produce
subjects based in India. Also, sooner or later, the canvas
of shows will expand and some will be shot abroad, In fact,
Zee TV, Zee News, B4U, and CNBC/TV18 have sought our services
for projects on a short notice and we delivered.
Do you essentially cater to the Indian diaspora or do you
look at a wider canvas?
We are a media company and provide programmes that should
appeal to Indians around the world. But the prime target audience
is India, this is the largest segment and also helps make
projects commercially viable. Our initial entry was obviously
through programmes based abroad. But now our reputation has
established as producers of high quality, and the trust we
have earned is helping us to get programmes based in India.
These will be primarily shot in India.
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The
channels are so caught up with daily issues and are
not able to respond and act on getting new programmes
off the ground fast.
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A still from Dollar
Bahu |
What is your production set-up like?
We have about 2,400 square foot office space in mid-town
Manhattan. We have a crew on full-time staff and others on
an on-call basis. We have camera, liner and Non-liner editing
setup, sound and light package for smaller shoots. But we
have a complete knowledge of the space in US and rent on an
as-needed basis.
Which subjects appeal to you as a producer?
Any subject which has potential for appeal to the largest
audience, offers visual treatment, has depth and is entertaining.
NREYES that features successful Indians in USA inspires
youth while Mausam got featured on the cover of New
York Times. Dollar Bahu has become a brand on India,
and Bollywood Awards in USA and a six-nation cricket series
for international broadcast involved international crews and
established a milestone in production in the USA for us.
On what basis do you choose a channel?
Generally speaking, every channel has a character with
respect to the type of programming and people to deal with.
Zee is the first Indian channel and we have started with them
and done most of the work with them. We are expanding with
programmes for Sony and Star too.
On what basis do you choose a director?
The foremost criteria are professional background and
abilities to work with an international crew. The flexibility
and commitment with us and not being spread too thin, commitment
to quality and mutual respect and somewhere down the line,
cost consciousness. After that, the relationship evolves and
we move forward.
What exactly went wrong with Dollar Bahu when Ajai
Sinha had to be replaced as director with Ravi Kemmu?
Zee suggested I take Ajai Sinha as director. I researched
on him and contracted him to do the work after explaining
our functioning style that requires serious and single minded
commitment.
But once he got Justujoo, and Dollar Bahu became
a twice-weekly show, I anticipated trouble. When I asked him
on how he would handle the two projects, he said his friend
Eshan Trivedi would direct Justujoo after the initial
two episodes. But he got busy with Justujoo untill
he reached the US. Then, I started getting complaints from
EPs in Zee that editing suggestions were discarded. On checking
with my team, I found that he was using music from Hasratein
and stock CDs which was inappropriate to our scene requirements.
This was unacceptable as the product suffered and he was charging
me for the music anyway. In the US, his weaknesses started
to show up. His directorial inabilities were exposed when
a party scene with major cast and 25 plus people took two
days to shoot. After returning to India, his attention again
shifted to Justujoo and he asked his assistant to direct
some scenes of Dollar Bahu. When confronted, he said
he wanted to give him a chance.
Have you ever felt that not being physically present in
India has been a handicap to your production business?
Production of work on hand has not suffered due to this
but business has. The channels are so caught up with daily
issues and are not able to respond and act on getting new
programmes off the ground fast. This is in spite of acknowledging
that our product will make a difference. Communication and
progress has improved due to Internet. And now with international
presence, most channels are actively communicating to progress
on our projects faster as they are unique in concept, quality
and are shot on visually stimulating backgrounds.
Do you feel your company is in a position to take up a
daily soap if an opportunity comes your way?
We have been discussing a daily soap and a daily sitcom.
These are based in India and the USA. In fact, we were prepared
to make Dollar Bahu thrice a week. This is possible
once channels make a serious commitment like in the West where
projects have a definite life for the season.
What is your company's vision? Which are the programming
genres you would like to venture in?
CinéMaya's mission is to create quality content that can
compete with international media at the highest level, thematically,
aesthetically and technically. A fast growing, vertically-integrated
minority owned company, CinéMaya has a diverse range of interests
including: Television, Publication, Advertising, Events, Radio.
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I
believe TV can create an audience if a planned and sustained
effort is made involving professionals.
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What do you think of the present programming variety on
Indian channels?
In fact, Indian television is in its infancy even after
a decade. It started off with no identity for any channel,
and then a period came when you could almost recognise the
channel by watching a programme due to subject and treatment.
One would have hoped a serious uplift in programming standards.
But we went backwards. Everyone was trying to do what worked
for others without looking internally on what was one's strength
and weakness. Whether it was game show or subjects for a soap
or mythological. I believe TV can create an audience if a
planned and sustained effort is made involving professionals.
Essentially, the programming variety is static except for
some innovations.
Are you satisfied with the response your programmes have
got?
There was a time when it was tough convincing even CEOs
that Indian TV programmes could be made based in India and
the US and that too almost around Indian budgets. And keeping
that in mind, if I do a retrospective analysis, it is very
good.
What's next in line from you?
We have been shortlisted for fiction and non-fiction
programming. These include a soap and a sitcom based in the
US, two daily soaps in India, news and current affairs programmes
and a weekly entertaining profile show. We are also scheduled
to launch a unique annual event that will be a corporate branding
event and will help in India's image on the international
level. This will be held in India.
Stills
from Dollar Bahu courtesy Screen
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