MUMBAI: In a surprise move, Star India has appointed Amit Chopra as the network sales head to replace Kevin Vaz, who was helming the position since November 2009.

Chopra?s mandate will be to leverage the skills of the sales team at Star India to fuel aggressive growth in the business.

The realignment will see Kevin Vaz move to lead the English channels? cluster of Star India. Kevin will also continue to steer Star Jalsha and Jalsha Movies as their General Manager and Business Head.

Interestingly, Star had appointed Chopra in December last year to steer the group?s sports strategy. The India operations of ESPN Star Sports (ESS) have come under Star post its complete takeover by News Corp.

Before joining Star, Chopra was the CEO of Hindustan Media Ventures Limited (HMVL). An Engineer from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, Chopra has spent 12 years in FMCG in Hindustan Unilever in a variety of marketing and sales assignments.

It also needs to be noted that the English channels cluster of Star was headed by Saurabh Yagnik, who quit the company in November last year to join Multi Screen Media?s (MSM) English movie channel Pix.

Vaz, who joined Star in 1996 as an ad sales executive, rose through the ranks to become the network ad sales head of the company. The soft spoken ad sales executive has been with the company for almost 17 years now.

MUMBAI: In order to expand its reach and brand beyond television, Star India has released its Life OK?s mythological saga ?Devon Ke Dev... Mahadev? on DVD.

The company has tied up with Ultra for this purpose.

Star India CEO Uday Shankar said, ?A nation and its people derive their collective identity and pride from stories passed on to it from earlier generations. It is our job not only to keep those stories alive but to tell them well in order to inspire a future generation. Like OK had its task cut out from the very first day and it has lived up to that challenge remarkably well by weaving gripping and inspirational stories with new approaches in production and technology.?

While 300 episodes was a big achievement for show, it is just the beginning of the story for the mythological saga and for Life OK. ?30 years ago you had Ramayana and Mahabharata which were fantastic. They fostered creativity. However later on, mythological shows were done the same way. They became old fashioned in look. That is why they did not have much success. When we started on ? Devon Ke Dev Mahadev?, we knew that the way in which the story was told would have to change. We wanted to take the show beyond the Amar Chita Katha level. We have created new parameter of creativity. At the same time we did not compromise on the quality of entertainment,? Shankar said.

Life OK, which completed one year in December 2012, is among the top five channels, Shankar added. "The aim is to make it a top three player."

Life OK GM Ajit Thakur said that the success of Life OK went beyond ratings. ?While we have done well in terms of ratings, we have also dwelt on issues including crime, domestic violence, terror and religion. We have done things both on the air and on the ground. We want to be the home of big. new stories. While our show has finished 300 episodes, we still have lots of stories to tell within that show. We made an earnest attempt to make it as contemporary as possible by highliting Lord Shiva‘s views on pertinent issues such as pollution and gender equality. This distinction has been pivotal to the resounding success of the show. At the same time while mythology is a platform that will be showcased on Life OK, it is not the only thing?.

Life OK is doing a social awareness campaign to clean up the Ganga. ?We did 15 days of activity last month. In this manner Life OK has gone beyond just being a TV brand,? Thakur said.

Ultra Group CMD Sushilkumar Agrawal said that his company aims to bring content that blends entertainment with cultural and educational values. "This philosophy drew us to join hands with Life OK and launch ‘Devon Ke Dev Mahadev‘ on DVD. This show is not just an epic but an amalgamation of Indian culture, tradition and values that will continue to be passed on to forthcoming generations."

MUMBAI: Star India?s English movie channel Star Movies will air the Oscar Awards live on 25 February at 6 am with a repeat at 8 pm. The broadcaster will be celebrating this month as the month of the Oscars.

There will be a programming initiative, ?Hollywood Premiere Oscar Special?, as the channel premieres four Oscar nominated titles - ?The Artist?, ?The Descendants?, ?The Kids are Alright? and ?War Horse?, every Saturday night at 9 pm.

There is also a month long ?Oscar Fever? festival where every night at 7 pm films that won or were nominated for Oscar Awards air like ?Titanic?, ?Black Swan?, ?Brokeback Mountain?, ?127 Hours? and ?Jaws?.

Commenting on the Oscars, Star India Senior Vice-President English Programming Rasika Tyagi says, "Star Movies has been the Home Of The Oscars in India, for over a decade. In addition to telecasting the event live on 25th February, our Hollywood Premieres slot will showcase Oscar winning titles like The Artist, The Descendants and War Horse every Saturday night at 9 pm though February. Star Movies? viewers can also watch 30 Oscar winning films on weekdays at 7 pm with our Oscar Fever festival."

To take the Oscar Award Ceremony beyond the event itself, the broadcaster has launched an Oscar Microsite that provides all that is needed to know about Oscar nominees and buzz around the globe. Along with the microsite the channel is running a Predict and Win contest that provides the participant an opportunity to visit the Oscars Live in Los Angeles next year.