Tarun Katial, Executive VP, Programming and Response, SET India

Tarun Katial joined Sony Entertainment Television after several commendable stints at Saatchi & Saatchi, Nexus Lowe, Ogilvy & Mather and STAR India. An ardent experimenter in content planning, Katial calls himself a no-compromise man when it comes to content or production quality.

Speaking to Malini Menon of exchange4media, Katial shares how SET sets its own game plans without getting swayed by cheap imitations.

Q. How has Sony’s content been different from that of others?

Sony has always been the first in experimenting with content. Whether it is being the first to get an ugly duckling on the tube when the channels had sexy mangalsutra-clad ladies or whether it is about ‘Kkusum’, a simple Maharashtrian working girl’s story or ‘Yeh Meri Life Hai’, which portrays a vernacular kid’s solid struggle. So, we have done things first. Then we did ‘Boogie Woogie’, which is probably the first dance talent show that we have had in this country. So now we plan to give our audience something really new with the ‘Indian Idol’.

Q. Other than soaps and talent shows, what are the offerings that Sony has in its bouquet?

Primarily, we are into entertainment. So anything that falls within the parameter of entertainment, we are ready to experiment with that. We do docu-dramas. In fact, Sony is the only channel that has been experimenting with shows such as ‘Missing’, ‘Bhawar’ and today’s ‘Crime Patrol’. So we are the only general entertainment channel to have done docu-dramas. We have done thrillers that have been highly successful and we have observed that programmes like ‘Crime Patrol’ have very high TRPs. ‘Bhawar’, of course has had its life, but ‘Crime Patrol’ has been doing well, especially since we have involved cities like Delhi and Kolkata. So this is our campaign against crime and there are several criminals who have been caught because of this show.

Q. How have you positioned your new show ‘Indian Idol’?

‘Sab Kuch Bhula De’ – this is the positioning for this show. This show would involve you so much that you would forget everything else. This show is so thoroughly viewer interactive that everybody in all age groups will be sitting at home and will forget about everything else surrounding their life. If you look at how this show has been rated worldwide, then I have heard tales of people getting deeply involved in a show like this and logging onto the website to check who’s won the title. This is because these characters become such an integral part of your life that you tend to forget about everything else when they are on air.

Q. How did you select the judges for the show?

We needed three judges. We needed somebody who would judge the personality, the X-factor and the magic. Who better than Farah to do this considering that she has been working with so many well-known actors and actresses? She has been extremely successful with ‘Main Hoon Na’ and we felt she was the appropriate judge. Then we needed somebody who’s been around in the music industry, could identify the potential singers and make them sing to his composition. So Anu Malik was the most suitable to take over this responsibility. Then we wanted a third judge who has witnessed stardom and been an idol himself. And who better than Sonu Nigam to fit this image!

Q. Your hot show remains ‘Jassi’. There have been Jassi stamps and designer wear tie-ups. So is this a new strategy that Sony is adopting?

We are innovative and want to get the concept of reality-meets-fiction through our audience. In future too, we plan a lot of reality-meets-fiction opportunities. Now, we have done promotions in three cities — Chandigarh, Indore and Ahmedabad, where we were giving an opportunity to our viewers to get into the ‘reality-meets-fiction’ mode.

Q. What is that one new programme that you have for your viewers other than the Indian Idol?

You must give us the credit for being the number one innovative channel in the country. Whether it is with soaps like ‘Yeh Meri Life Hai’, which is a struggle of a college girl amid rich kids or ‘Jassi’ which is an ugly duckling’s story or ‘Kkusum’ which is the story of a working woman, we have gone far beyond the kitchen politics and family dramas that everybody else is showcasing.

Q. What are the parameters that decide the content for Sony programmes?

We primarily try to gauge how interesting, entertaining, involving and interactive a programme can be with the viewer. In terms of sponsorship, there will be product indications that are not intrusive. But the factors that would primarily judge quality would be the ones mentioned above. In terms of production quality we have the best production houses working for us. Miditech, which is the best production house in terms of reality, is with us. Miditech has done reality shows not only in India but also for some frontline international channels. Then we have Optymistix, which has done the best format shows. So we have the best of people working for us.

Q. Do you think competition influences content?

No, I don’t think that’s happening here. In fact, everybody else has taken a leaf out of our book. Whether it is reality shows or talent shows, we see people imitating our strategies. Star Plus pulled off its programmes at 8 pm and introduced daily shows just because we did so. We have our own gameplan while others do what they want to. So we don’t imitate others’ strategies.

Q. Isn’t it a take off from the American Idol?

It is not an adaptation of the American Idol. American Idol, in fact, is an adaptation of the Pop Idol of the UK. So it’s more in line with a UK show. The US show happened a couple of years after the UK one.

Q. You are aggressively promoting this show. What are your expectations?

Obviously we are expecting the show to do well and find returns on the investments. It is an intrinsically viewer interactive format, which means that you fall in love with characters from the word go. So we are sure that this show will certainly pull in a lot of advertisers.

Q. What’s in store in terms of content in times to come?

You will see a lot more of reality on the tube. You will see a lot of stunt programming, spike programming on the tube. The content is going to be more differentiated and we will take the lead and be the first off the block. So it’s certainly not going to go backward. We plan our content so as to connect more and more with our viewers, so that the brand is valued every day.