Raghav Bahl - the original media baron!

Sad to see Raghav Bahl sign off from the group he built from scratch. While Prannoy Roy was part of our growing interest in media, Raghav Bahl made the progressive jumps in media's leaps in technology. He was a chatty host for a programme called "Newstrack" produced by India Today magazine. My parents and I used to wait for editions of "Newstrack" every fortnight - it had the most comprehensive coverage of the newsmakers of that time and of course, the most candid interviews. I still remember Amitabh Bachchan's best interview till date was from "Newstrack".

As a lead anchor, Raghav Bahl was an original - chatty, witty, intelligent and full of beaming smiles - always talking in an accent that even Chaiwaalahs and butlers will understand. The program was such a smash hit that video parlours were ordering multiple copies and there used to be commotion to watch it first in households. It was a watch-per-your-convenience alternative to the other interesting programme of the 1980s - "The World this Week". Raghav Bahl then ventured into TV 18 - that made history by tying up with CNBC.

Those were the days of only three pink papers and one white paper -and the idea of a business channel itself was revolutionary. Raghav Bahl did it again with unconventional guys leading the commentaries and anchorage - Paronjoy Guha Thakurta and Senthil Chengalvaranarayan were the prime poster-boys. Paronjoy still asks questions longer than what anybody can give answers to and Senthil - he still looks like a boy who just topped the IIT entrance but stammering to speak fluent English. Over the years, the network grew. I still remember the wealth-creation opportunity Raghav Bahl gave us in 1999-2000. I was working in HDFC Bank heading the Loans Against Securities division. TV18 came out with an IPO and I had a brief to do IPO-financing to investors. The IPO season itself was getting dizzy with the successes of Polaris, Glenmark and Hughes Software. It was the middle of the dotcom era where TMT (Technology, Media and Telecom)  stocks were the darlings of the market. Previously, Polaris Software created a record for post-listing performance. But TV18  - how do you value it? How can you be so sure? I put my my money where my mouth is - I beseeched my parents also to put multiple applications. I persuaded all my customers at HDFC Bank to plonk their savings into TV18 IPO. Total applications  collected 2150 from Hyderabad. The IPO listed like a Godzilla - it soared 700 per cent upwards. Raghav Bahl created a jackpot for investors. Very few could retain the shares even for few years after the IPO because it was running up and away, defying gravity. The dotcom burst finally, stock tumbled but the group still bludgeoned in its many manifestations and forays into new businesses - moneycontrol.com, film distribution, financial literacy books, etc.

Nobody in contemporary Indian mediascape has harnessed the power of media in all its unleashing of the many Avatars - Raghav Bahl rode all of them. He was there in every wave of the media business from VHS cassettes to Digitalisation of cables. He  created a great team, led from the front, raised equity from the market,  shared his wealth with the public and the employees and always happy to step back (even giving up controlling stake) when a stronger partner stepped in - like Viacom. Network18 hit the lows too - when credibility suffered as the CNBC channel in India nose-dived, the ownership of the channel fell into the cartels of stock brokers, and now lies in the hands of India's most hated businessman. Whatever Raghav Bahl achieved so far, warts and all, he deserves a special mention in the history of Indian media. He proved again and again with his foresight and enterprise that he can bounce back.  Raghav Bahl, in my mind, is the holy trinity of Indian media that every student of its history will admire - the other two being, Prannoy Roy and Ronnie Screwala.

Paan Singh Tomar - Movie Review

“Pan Singh Tomar” is an audacious winner from Ronnie Screwala about an ill-forgotten hero from the 50s who becomes a runner of Indian Army pride, then national pride and almost of Asiatic fame. Then he retires prematurely, becomes a farmer and in a fit of family feud becomes a dacoit of dreaded proportions in Chambal Valley. The script sizzles from the start as director Timangshu Dhulia reconstruc...ts from the lesser-known pages of sports history, some memorable sequences in the runup to being a runner first, dacoit next in the second half. He brings out the authenticity of the era, the irony of the sportspersons (who don’t get to wear spiked shoes mostly), the psychology behind achievement, the deception and the treachery in games and later, dejection and resentment - when society discards the man behind the medals. Pan Singh eventually turns from an excellent sprinter who still had great civil potential into becoming one of criminal portents.
Even though the dialect is desi Hindi drawn from the hinterlands, the subtitles smoothen the viewing easily. The story moves at remarkable speed and every frame stands out for grandness of execution and class usually seen for top actors’ films. Irfan Khan gets a script that allows him to portray a wide range of emotions without missing ever, ever to make a point in his slurring, wry humored voice. His entry is grand and so is the exit in the end as he fights the police. There are many points in the film that make you whistle, clap, cry, laugh out and even stand up to give an ovation. It’s a rare cinematic experience to see a film so honest, well-scripted, entertaining and crafty enough to make you want to own a DVD asap.
Because the director fitted about 200-250 visually and audibly arresting shots into credible scenes and because of a narrative style that’s neither too filmy nor too documentary-like, you get an immersive experience that seems just a bit extended in the second half. I love the vision of Ronnie Screwala in encouraging bold cinema – cinema that’s rooted in lost fictions of history that brings out an aspect of a sportsperson that’s ironic – there’s a thin line between security and insecurity in a sportsperson’s life which the society never recognizes. Watching the movie in fourth week in a multiplex at midnight eve gave me joy to see full-house for a hero who deserves wider audience – Irfan Khan. Now that UTV Motion Pictures has sold off fully to Walt Disney, Ronnie should do what Walt Disney does in the US – get many characters like these out of the closet into the celluloid. Good cinema doesn't need advertisement, you get wind of it anyhow.