Name: Pavan Chawla

Designation: Manager, Public Relations - MAX

Sun Sign: Capricorn, 9 January 1960

Educational Experience:
Arts graduate in Economics, Public Administration and English, and enjoyed my college years thanks to excessive extracurricular activities like dramatics, music and volleyball. Which also yielded a second class in the aggregate, but then in MA-I English Literature, I was third in the merit list in Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Professional Experience
Twelve years of print and electronic media experience, which breaks down to: PR & Journalism: six and a half years Electronic Entertainment Media: five and a half years.

Executive Editor, Zee Entertainment Guide (October 1994 to April 1995) - Worked with Rajat Sharma on The Guide. I managed the content, wrote for, edited and designed the entire magazine. Took the guide to the newsstands in Bombay, New Delhi and Ahmedabad. The Zee Entertainment Guide had a print order of 400,000 copies!!

Four Years with The Times of India Group. Magazine Coordinator, E-Times. (February 1994 to September1994) - Managed content, wrote for, edited and designed this entertainment guide. Was involved along with Bharat Kumar Raut and Arun Arora in the conceptualization, dummies and the final launch of E-Times from Bombay, New Delhi, Calcutta and Bangalore.

Senior Feature Writer & Sub Editor, The Metropolis on Saturday (March 1993 to February 1994). The Metropolis was Bombay's up-market weekly news- and features-based 'paper. My specialization was News and Features, particularly Lifestyle, TV & Film Entertainment, Indian and Western film and popular music, and leisure in general. Worked with Bachi Karkaria, Bharatkumar Raut, Ayaz Memon, Shashi Baliga, and Carole Andrade. I handled both, news and features pages such as the Front Page, Cinema, Leisure and Nostalgia, and the City, Nation and World news pages. Was also the in-house music and food critic.

Feature Writer & Sub Editor, The Independent and The Metropolis (July 1992 to February 1993) - Was part of the team that created and shaped The Metropolis on Saturday.

Sub Editor - The Independent (November 1990 to June 1992) - Pritish Nandy's ad had said in 150 points: "Pritish Nandy will train 12 bright young journalists." Well, I was one of them! Slaved at the News desk, which is where you develop a news sense. Handled all news pages, and contributed extensively to the news and features pages. Worked with Anil Dharker, Pritish Nandy and Nitin Padte.

Freelance contributions - Extensively for Saturday Times, The Illustrated Weekly, Sunday Mid-day, Mid-day, The Independent and other publications. Have been music and food critic for Femina, The Illustrated Weekly, The Independent, The Metropolis on Saturday and E-Times.

Concurrent with my job at the Times, I was news reporter for Vinod Dua's Parakh for a while in 1993, and also had the first Top Ten show of English songs in the country on All India Radio FM way back in 1988. Received great help from Shashi Gopal, Suresh Thomas, Bashir Sheikh, Parag Kamani and Atul Churamani of Magnasound, Vijay Lazarus of Music India, V.T. Ravi and Meena Iyer of HMV, and R.V. Pandit of CBS for this. They'd give me rights to air the songs on AIR without a royalty payment!

In 1993, on the day of the launch of Times FM in India (15 August 1993) one of the shows on air was researched, written and presented by me - a rockumentary on Michael Jackson, with Irshwin Balwani. Those were fun days!

My Programming & Production stint with cable & satellite (C&S) TV was with Sony Entertainment Television, from September 1995 to mid-June 2000, during which time I worked my way from Production Executive to Senior Executive Producer and then Head of the Friday PMU. My job was to creatively and strategically manage shows for content and promotional activity.

Through my tenure, some of the shows I handled became the biggest in C&S in India, and included Aahat and CID. I also worked on several other shows including Kanyadaan, Family No. 1, Mahayagya, Take Five, Tujh Pe Dil Qurbaan, Hum Aapke Hain Countdown, C.A.T.S., The Rasoi Show, India Magic and Cover Story.

I've also written several shows like Kanyadaan, CATS, Jagjit Singh's Revival concert, Archana Puran Singh's Celebrating India, and co-written with Rishi Talwar, a feature film starring Sanjay Dutt, Shamita Shetty and Chandrachur Singh, called Mohabbat Ho Gayi Hai Tumse. For five years, I was Sony Entertainment Television's male voice for on-air promos.

My journalism experience helped me in handling the election news specials in the Chunav Chunauti series of 10-minute bulletins in 1998 that ran for three days, and were hosted by Vinod Dua and Mark Tully, and produced for us by TV 18 in New Delhi.

Current Job profile and Designation
I'm Manager, Public Relations for MAX, the premier Movies and Events channel from Sony Entertainment Television India Pvt Ltd. I drive PR for every MAX programming and business initiative including MAX corporate in the media marketplace through print and electronic media, targeting all our valued viewers and business associates.

I drive PR for the biggest acquisition in Indian television history - the C&S rights to all the ICC Limited Overs Cricket tournaments for six years all the way to 2007 and an ICC Trophy. I target print, Internet and electronic media regardless of language and location across India. Equally, I also drive PR across the country for MAX's other mega entertainment genre, Hindi Movies.

Television as career choice
I'd already been with The Times of India group for four years, and if anything seemed bigger and more mass than print journalism, it was Television. I got into Sony Entertainment Television a month before it launched in 1995 the opportunity and the challenge were huge as it was the 37th or 38th channel in India then.

The goal was to break through the clutter, get noticed and established as a channel that provided complete family entertainment, and within a couple of years of our launch, we had arrived at the top spot, with the biggest shows in television history!

It's as dynamic as print or any other kind of journalism - you're only as good as your last episode or byline. And more creative too. That hasn't changed. In fact, today, it's even more dynamic, and constantly challenging. I've been fortunate, but I'm proud of two things: the TOI and the Sony Entertainment Television pedigree.

Current Television scenario
Not as cluttered as it was, thankfully, but far more organized and intensely competitive.

Right and wrong about current television scenario
What's right about present day television - I think style, look and feel is up there? but we've lost out on variety in content. With so many daily soaps, somewhere the vibrancy of variety has lost out.

Earlier, there were so many many different talents and genres, but I guess it's all part of evolution and we'll say some day, "Wow, that was some phase, but thank God it's over!"

Five years from now
Retired, in Hawaii, writing, playing the percussion, composing music on my computer, scouring the net, working on my websites, reading W Somerset Maugham's recommended 100 Best Books of all time and watching all the great movies I missed or want to watch again. Just chilling out.

Hobbies
I just mentioned some above? as for the rest, maybe this isn't the right forum.

Idea of enjoyment
There you go again!

Name: Richa Nayyar Job

Profile: Actress

Sun Sign: Gemini, 24 May 1978

Educational Experience
Honours in English from Punjab University (Government College for Girls, Chandigarh).

Post Graduation from National School of Drama, Delhi (1998-2001)

Learnt theater from the Academy Theater, Atlanta, Georgia in the United States for two years.

Film Appreciation Course from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

Professional Experience
I've been doing theater for the last 17-18 years. After my course in FTII, I came to Bombay in 2001.

Serials: I've worked in serial like Sach (Doordarshan), Hakeekat (Sahara), Amaanat, Aap Jo Bole Haan To Haan?Aap Jo Bole Na To Na, Kamal and Astitva (Zee), Sssh?Koi Hai and Sanjeevani (Star Plus), Hakeempur.com (ETV Urdu) and Aasha Ki Kiran (ETV Hindi).

Films: I've done this film called Dharini produced by the Films Division which should release within the next two months. I've also worked in an Indo-French film called Hawaa Aane Do which is in its post-production stages and should release by July this year. Then I've acted in a short film made by FTII called Until the Next Dawn. I also have four corporate films to my credit.

Television as career choice
I've always wanted to do theater. My dad (Sewak Nayyar) has his own theater group called 'Yavanika Theater Group' and so I've always been actively involved in theater. Television has been my second priority. But today television is the most popular platform for anyone's claim to fame. I'm not made for films and I don't even think I'm heroine material and I rather do performance oriented roles than dance around trees in movies!!

Current Television scenario
The television scenario today is changing and also revolutionising as new TV programmes with new ideas are coming up. You can't fool the audience anymore by showing them anything. The audience is now fed-up of the saas-bahu sagas. Their viewpoint is broadening and television today provides a better insight to them. And soon the television scenario is going to change even more.

Right and wrong about current Television scenario
It's a very subjective question. Something that I think is right; my mom may think it to be wrong. So one can't really define what is right and wrong about the current television scenario. Personally if you ask me, I don't like the saas-bahu family dramas that are shown on television.

Five years from now
Five years down the line I see myself doing just theater if I don't do anything bigger and better in television or I see myself as a very big star on television.

Hobbies
I love singing, swimming and traveling. It's a different thing that today because of my work commitments I can't travel as much as I did initially.

Idea of enjoyment
I love watching films, not the typical masala films but more on the lines of offbeat cinema and art films. I love the movie made by director Akira Kurosawa called Red Beard. More recently, I've liked Mr. and Mrs. Iyer and Freaky Chakra. I would love to act in movies of this genre.

Name: Roopali Kadyan

Designation: Senior Producer - STAR India

Sun Sign: Taurus

Educational Experience
Rather traumatic but anyway. Till the seventh standard, I was in Delhi. Later on, I was in the International School of Paris for three years.

I did my 12th from Delhi Public School, my Bachelors in French from Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi and finally I did my Mass Communications from Sophia Polytechnic in Mumbai. Couldn't bear it post that!

Professional Experience
I have done various summer jobs and spent most of my later schooling years working through vacations. My dad is an army man and enforces his rules not just on his subordinates but also on me.

I worked for Prahlad Kakkar's Genesis Film Production for a year where I grew as a nocturnal being with insane shoot schedules and also grew hard of hearing with 'Papa Pancho' screaming at the top of his lungs (anyone who knows him will relate to this!!). Jokes apart, what I have learnt from him was primarily the art of detailing, which I haven't forgotten till date.

I have been with Star Plus for almost three years now and have worked on all sorts of software-format shows from Kaun Banega Crorepati, which was at the start of my career, to Kahani Kismet Ki; teenage fiction soaps like Kyon Hota Hai Pyar; kids daily Shaka-laka Boom Boom to events like the Screen Awards. Here's where I get serious!

Job Profile
The basic crux of my work is to create and implement high quality fiction and non-fiction television for mass audiences; to supervise all production and creative input on programmes; and innovate on a weekly basis with respect to storylines and visual presentation of shows.

I also act as the interface between the channel and the production houses for all issues with regard to shows; make key decisions on budgets, casting, production schedules, selection of creative and technical teams; scripting, promotion strategy and off air marketing. Phew!!!!!!!!!!

Television as career choice
Television, is a medium of constant change and reflection of society. Its dynamism and ever evolving nature has always attracted me. The mass reach of television entertainment and its ability to reach out to its audiences country wide cuts across all economic and social sections. It also gives us a direct connection to the mind, and especially in the case of fiction shows, to the heart of the viewer.

The responsibility of providing a high standard has always been challenging and I have loved this challenge. The reward of being able to read the mind of the viewers, to pre-empt their reaction and get it right is what motivates me week after week.

The opportunity to innovate on a weekly/daily basis and to create a product, that is widely accepted as successful in a very subjective field, is what drew me to television.

Current Television scenario
I think Star Plus has got it right! The total domination our channel has in the current television scenario indicates the high level of understanding the team, as a whole, has towards the taste and sensibilities of the viewers.

Star reflects the aspirations, feelings and idea of entertainment that the TV viewing audience in India has today. In a way, this is a complete reflection of our society. It also means that our biggest competitors are our own shows and therefore my biggest competitors sit right beside me!

Right and wrong about current Television scenario
It's a very subjective question. What works is right and what doesn't is wrong. All we need to do is innovate on the formats front. I would have test periods for everything so that at the end of it I can have an idea of what works and what doesn't.

Five years from now
Considering the high level of burn out in my field, I see myself on a white beach with top sunlight and waves conducive to boogie boarding with my loyalists Kurusawa, Cleopatra and Ginger (my dogs)!

Hobbies
Watching movies (language no bar), watching Roswell on Star World, going out as much as the job permits, dumping pups in my parents home. (I love dogs and they love breeding!!)

Sun Sign
I'm a Taurean but I hate cooking.

Idea of enjoyment
On a white beach with top sunlight and waves conducive to boogie along with my loyalists Kurusawa, Cleopatra and Ginger (these are my dogs)! In five years I will be doing what I enjoy most.

Name: Ranjeev Verma

Designation: Actor

Sun Sign: Leo, 30 July

Educational Experience
Science graduate

Professional Experience

TV serials : I have done a lot of films and television serials in my career spanning nearly a decade. Presently, I'm working on serials like Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand which airs on Star Plus and Mulk which airs on Zee TV where I play a Sardarji character. I'm also working on a new serial called Lakeerein produced by Shobhna Desai which will start airing on Star Plus in April.

Feature films : I've also done some movies, one of them being Yeh Dil Aashiqana produced by Aruna Irani. Presently, I'm working on another of Arunaji's movies called Ajnabee Ho Gaye Hum. I am also very excited about my character in the movie Aanch, where I play Nana Patekar's son. It is a negative role and one I'm looking forward to.

Television as career choice
I always thought that I was a good actor and could be successful in this field. I haven't undergone any professional training in acting but have done some theatre and plays. I have learnt from my experience in the last ten years or so that I have been this field.

Current Television scenario
The whole industry is going through a very bad phase. There is a lot of competition and expectations are very high. Currently, Zee, Sony and Star TV are doing well.The producers are also doing well.

But there needs to be some decorum in the way people work. Things seem to be messed up everywhere in the industry. But I'm sure good times are not far away.

Right and wrong about current Television scenario
There are many television channels at present and hence there is a lot of scope for new talents. A whole lot of people can get work and prove themselves as good actors. Earlier, actors only had the feature film medium to showcase their abilities. But it is not the case now with so many serials coming up on the numerous channels we have today.

Of course, the money is divided due to the monopoly of some people on the top. It's not that there is no money in this field but the money does not come to you at the end of the day or it comes very late.

I'd like to mention a particular experience here. Six months ago I shot for Ketan Mehta's Production Chacha Chowdhary which airs on Sahara TV. I was promised that I would get my remuneration as soon I finish shooting for the serial. Till today I haven't got my dues.

So this is how the state is today in the industry. It's only if these things are brought out in the open, will people know about the real situation and steps can be taken so that actors don't suffer.

Five years from now
Five years from now I can't really say where I'll be, but I hope to see myself doing a lot of different roles and be recognized as a good actor for the kind of work I did.

Hobbies
I love reading and watching TV. I like to spend as much time with my family as and when I can.

Idea of enjoyment
My idea of enjoyment is earning good money from the profession I am in and then spending it on my family and myself.

Name: Srikanth Raman

Designation: Associate Business

Director - CARAT - India Sun Sign: Libra

Educational Experience
B.Com (Mumbai University), MMS (Marketing) Mumbai University, 1991.

Professional Experience
One and a half years in Enterprise advertising as a Media Planning Trainee.

Two and a half years in Nexus Equity Communications, joined as a Media Planner; left as a Media Supervisor.

Seven years in Mudra Mumbai, joined as a Media Manager and left as a Media Director, Mumbai.

Currently with Carat India, since December 2002 as an Associate Business Director.

Job Profile
My basic job profile is essentially directing and controlling strategic planning and buying decisions for a key client.

The profile also includes initiating primary research to understand the buying behaviours of the target consumers. And periodically raising the bar in terms of service provided to our clients, ranging from better quality of Media solutions to more efficient ways of stretching the advertising rupee.

Advertising as career choice
Advertising, particularly media planning, at that point of time, seemed an ideal mix of quantitative skills blended with a certain amount of creative freedom.

For a new management graduate, who had all the ideals of making a mark in the marketing and advertising fraternity, media planning provided ample opportunities to make a difference to the client's business and therefore his bottomline.

Current Advertising scenario
It is unbelievably exciting! Due to the plethora of options that are there on the table, it has become unbelievably tough too. Reconditioning in set systems, thoughts and principles are the need of the day. One has to reinvent oneself almost on a month to month basis.

The clients, realising the importance of the investments made in Media/Communication, have increased their attention span in terms of involvement. And the increased involvement has made them more demanding. This means that one is constantly racing to be on one's toes. The experience makes an individual much richer, in terms of knowledge and information acquirement.

Right and wrong about current advertising scenario
Too many doomsday predictions are being made about this wonderful business of communicating to the consumer in a language and a manner that she understands and empathises with. Too many complications are being thrown in the ring, regarding a simple function of reaching out to the consumer when and wherever she is accessible.

Every industry is going through a churn and the same is happening here? but one has to meet challenges with a note of optimism. So nothing is wrong with this business, everything is right, and it can only get better.

Five years from now
Given such dynamism and emergence of new set of 'grammar' almost on an annual basis (from satellite channels to Internet to CAS to Convergence amongst others) any crystal ball gazing is fraught with ignorance. But wherever I am, I want to be in the thick of the action.

Hobbies
I love listening to music (from hard rock to grunge to Hindi film music of the 60's and 70's to AR Rehman and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan) and movies (partial to Hindi masala and Hollywood movies of the gangster genre and romantic comedies)

Idea of enjoyment
Doing what you like everyday? and going home to people who enjoy being with you everyday! Enjoyment should be a continuous emotional experience, and not an escape.

What is this Ego and why is there so much of it everywhere?' is what Get the Ego Advantage examines?

Our ego is like an invisible but tangible bubble which we project around ourselves, based on our own impression of our abilities and worth. This book shows how our abilities and sense of worth combine in the ego to determine our actions and interactions.

Suffering toxic emotions while nursing ego-wounds, reacting, and regretting can all be prevented. Get the Ego Advantage! Outlines a simple approach that can easily be applied to real-life situations to help us understand the puzzling reactions we come across in other people. It also explores ego clashes in professional life, ways to balance individual and team identity, leadership, and issues such as rigid attitudes, prejudice, and alienation. The author provides illuminating insights into complex concepts like self-esteem, true love, parental love, arrogance, and narcissism.

With Abu, an original cartoon character, to guide through the book, it will be an entertaining as well as useful read for both the general and the professional reader.

 Description:

Anjana Sen, an Emotional Intelligence (EI) consultant and a medical physician who has authored this extremely interesting book, helps us to understand our reactions and feelings in the constant interplay of ego in our personal and  professional lives. She has likened the ego to a suit, which each personality wears much like a skin and describes the  ego as an invisible but very tangible bubble, which we project around ourselves like a hologram based upon our own impression of our abilities and worth.

 The author also provides insights into the convoluted concepts of:

 - Self esteem;

 - True love and parental love

 - Arrogance;

 - Happiness has now become a thing constructed. It is no longer intrinsic.

 "Self-esteem is not everything, but without it there is nothing." That is the essence of this short 14-chapter book, replete with illustrations by the author.

People in positions of power and responsibility particularly need to hone their EI skills. Says Sen: "As you go higher in the ladder, you need emotional competencies much more than technical competencies. Society is equipping people to get jobs; we are not equipping them to keep jobs."

Science of it

"Ego is wrongly interpreted as arrogance. Instead, Ego is inside us. When we bring it to consciousness, it is self esteem."

Even though it is based on science, Emotional Quotient (EQ) itself cannot be measured, though there are many instruments to measure it.

By Nidhi Jain