Monday, September 03, 2012

"I AM A VERY STRONG SELF-CRITIC"

Some say he can handle numbers pretty well; others argue he’s more of a creative guy. Some say he’s a cut-throat businessman, others reiterate his only passion is work. To the media world, he’s a true recluse, refusing any and every media exposure. He rarely talks, leave alone provide insightful descriptions on his follies, mistakes and achievements. Ronnie Screwvala, UTV founder, in exclusive conversation with B&E’s Shephali Bhatt



B&E: What geared you to be in the business of media and entertainment?
Ronnie Screwvala (RS): I think it is one of the few industries where you are looking at the creative aspect and the business aspect. In Media and Entertainment, if you can find the rare combination of creativity and commerce, it is a strong formula for success, whereas in other businesses that are non-creative, you can have a strong commercial background; you do not have to be marketing clever. Here if you have that and if the combination works it is much more fun.

B&E: From the first cable TV venture in Mumbai, you have grown to sign deals with global biggies like Walt Disney, Fox Searchlight, Sony & Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment. Where do you see all this leading to?
RS: The Indian market has positioned itself as one of the most interesting markets in the media and entertainment field in the world… I think everyone thought so five years back, but now it is more so because of the rest of the world, if you look at it in terms of comparison. It’s not just that everyone would like to view India as the destination but more so that the rest of the world is actually slowing down. If you look at the west, its growth in media and entertainment has come down to zero or is absolutely flat. If you look at Japan it is an insulated market; if you look at China, it is a closed market; if you look at South –East Asia, there is no real scale level play. So it is not that India has to be one of the quarter calls, it seems to be the most critical quarter call, maybe with the sole exception of South American countries. So, for media companies in India today, it is important to look at the home market and the diasporas’ market overseas.

B&E: How strong is your industry in the diaspora market?
RS: I think we in media and entertainment industry have substantially ignored the 30-35 million diaspora market of South Asians and that is something that also needs to be looked at. We should look at the 1 billion people here and 35 million outside. The latter is a unique market because it is the second largest migrant population of the world after the Chinese; so that is large and comes with a higher propensity to spend and consume. So even if it is 1 billion versus the 35 million, it could be ten times of 35, it could represent an equivalent of 300 million just by their spending power.

B&E: Then how do you explain all those international tie-ups that you have been entering into?
RS: I believe that our tie ups with international companies are more because that is where we believe that we can work together to see how we can meet this diaspora, rather than going out and frittering our energies to build an international story. I think India in itself is a strong international story and that is where our focus lies right now. So if we have done deals with FOX and Overbrook Entertainment in the recent past, they were just deals done by our movies division. So it wasn’t really part of an overall organization thrust.


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