I like being a part of the Rajshri Productions family - Vishesh Suri

Tellychakkar.com gets our readers a heart-to-heart chat with yet another personality for our ‘Behind the Lens’ segment, a guy who has gained name and fame by being part of Rajshri Productions for seven years now. We introduce to you Vishesh Suri, who started his career as an Assistant Director, and currently holds the position of the General Manager at Rajshri Productions Pvt. Ltd. Here is Vishesh Suri in conversation with Tellychakkar.com... Tell us about your journey in the industry? I started as an Assistant to Director Ravi Rai, but soon I had to shift to the edit department as the production house did not have anyone at the edit. So I worked as an editor on their shows like Thoda Hai Thode Ki Zaroorat Hai (Sony) and Teacher (Zee TV). I also worked on some of their regional shows post which I moved to Cinevistaas as an Executive Producer (EP). I worked there for almost a year when Rajshri Productions happened. In Rajshri my career started as an EP on Pyaar Ke Do Naam Ek Radha Ek Shyam. In between that I also joined the programming team of Star Plus where I worked for almost a year and a half and then I got back to Rajshri. Here I grew from an EP to Supervising Producer (SP) to GM now. The credit of my growth goes completely to Kavita Barjatya as she had faith in me. So did you always want to get into this field? When I graduated in commerce from L.S. Raheja College, Mumbai, the first question my father, Vijay Suri who is a well known Business Manager to a lot of celebrities, asked me was about my profession. And I told him that I wanted to get into direction as that was my true calling. But my family wanted me to get into acting. In fact, even today a lot of my friends question me as to why I am behind the camera. And I have the same answer to all, that is, I like being behind the scenes. So you already had someone from the industry when you entered the entertainment field… Yes, my father Vijay Suri has been in the industry for 60 years now. And my brother Dishant Suri is the Business Head with Hema Malini Productions. What are your responsibilities as a General Manager? From the script level to the delivery of the dialogues, we have a team that handles everything. As a GM I have a Supervising Producer (SP), Executive Producer (EP) and Scheduler for both my ongoing shows (Jhilmil Sitaron Ka Aangan Hoga/Pyaar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyaara Pyaara). So they handle things as far as the story is concerned. I do not have to look into it though I do attend the story meeting. Basically my job is to approve budgets and also finalize the actors. I also look into major issues that the EPs and SPs fail to solve. Fortunately enough we do not have such issues in Rajshri. You have been in the industry for almost a decade now. What is it that has changed in these years? Now TV is all about money. There was a time when we would make shows to entertain the audiences, but now with too much of channel interference things get difficult. However, there are shows that are working well under pressure too. As far as Rajshri is concerned Sooraj Barjatya looks into the story. So there is no need for the channel to get involved. Hence we never face such issues. Do the TRPs bother you as a GM? I don’t believe in TRPs but yes I do go through it every Wednesday as one has to be aware of things happening around. But as far as the TRPs connected to our shows are concerned, I feel they do not matter. We have had long running shows like Woh Rehne Wali Mehlon Ki and Yahaan Main Ghar Ghar Kheli. Rajshri has always had family oriented shows. Don’t you think it’s time to experiment? Rajshri shows have their own audience who like them. Hence, I do not think there is a need for change. I have a lot of friends who criticize these shows while there are others who praise it. Till the time we get appreciated for our efforts, we will go on with it. You’re currently at the top level of the production graph. Have you ever come across issues faced at the ground level? At Rajshri we do not have any issues. I have been with them for a long time now and I do not know about the problems faced by other production houses. How do you tackle the competition around? Rajshri Productions does not have competition around. Shashi Sumeet Mittal have the maximum number of shows on tube currently but they were writers with Rajshri. So there isn’t a question of competition. What do you plan to do next? I have not planned anything. I am happy working for Rajshri at the moment as it is one of the best production houses. And nobody works around the clock here as it’s organized. I like being a part of the Rajshri family.