We should concentrate more on love stories - Creative Director Sachin Mohite

Sachin Mohite, currently the Creative Director of Saregama India Ltd, has thirteen years of experience with the Indian television industry. He started off his career with the TV industry in 1997 as an Assistant Director by working on the iconic show Tara which was produced by Raman Kumar. He has worked as Creative Director on shows like Balaji’s Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii (Star Plus) and Kasamh Se (Zee TV); Rajshri’s Hum Saath-Saath Hain (the first sitcom on Star Plus); Cinevistaas’ Kohinoor (Sahara One); Veer (Disney Channel), Endemol’s Jamegi Jodi.com (9X), Miditech’s hhoona Hai Aasmaan (Star One) and Parrivaar (Zee TV); Saregama’s Prayaschit-Gunaho ke Zakhm (Sony TV), Police Files (Big Magic) and Pyar Ek Dehshat (Big Magic). He is currently making Savdhan India on Life OK. He gave Tellychakkar.com an interview on his current and previous shows and future plans for the Behind the Lens Section. Read on… What has it been like to work on Savdhan India? It is an amazing experience as after all in the show real life experiences are narrated. I can hardly imagine what the crime victims must have gone through in real life. It is quite a challenge to create the same on screen. It is like a 45 minute film which has a proper beginning, middle and end. Our show, as you know addresses both social issues and crimes. Of all the shows that you have made which one are you the proudest of? It is undoubtedly Prayaschit-Gunaho ke Zakhm. This show was like my baby. It was conceptualised by me and some creative people. Initially we thought that it was an impossible show to be made as it involved getting real criminals to speak on camera. We thought that this may be possible abroad but never in India. Nevertheless we took the challenge and delivered the show successfully. The kind of people whom I have met in the journey of the series was amazing. I have met hardcore criminals who have committed ruthless murders. Some of them have killed about two score people and then have reformed to lead normal lives after coming out of jail. They have even married and gone on to have kids. Indeed, the series was like an addiction for me. I simply didn’t know as to when a criminal would meet me. So I used to keep my bags packed and ready. If I knew that some criminal in Dehra Dun was planning to come on television, I would immediately take a flight to meet him. There have been times when I have been waiting for the criminal to come on camera but he ultimately backed out. In the last moment some would get jitters to appear on screen. They felt nervous that they would get exposed in front of the whole country. Yet, I had to deliver as you can’t have a black screen coming on Friday when the show was to be telecast. So, we had to be very proactive. We had to find the next criminal who would narrate the next story. Is there any show that you regret making? I made a show called Kohinoor. It was an amazing concept about the Kohinoor diamond that is now in England which actually belongs to India. That is the route we had followed in the show. If I had made it today it would be a completely different story. I really regret making that show. What kind of show will you never make? I will never make action shows. Everyone including me has after all an inherent USP. I can make soaps, comedies, reality shows and drama. Also, I don’t think that action shows work in India. The Indian TV viewers don’t like complicated stuff. Action is complicated. For them emotions work a lot. Emotions in any form be it comedy or drama works well for them. Action is a more manly thing and Indian men don’t watch too much of Hindi GECs. To watch action shows they may tune in to AXN or Star World instead. Ever since you have been in the TV industry, how do you think the industry has changed? Earlier the channel wasn’t really involved that much on creative matters. The producer was the king. In any field just one person’s vision generally works better than the vision of many people. Then people from the channel started giving their thoughts and ideas. Just from being mere Executive Producers they became ‘creative’ people. That created a rift. At that time the crop of people that came in weren’t that knowledgeable. Now things are changing for the better. My experience with Sony TV for Prayaschit-Gunaho ke Zakhm was amazing. The inputs from the channel side were great. Their viewpoint was just as good as ours. Life OK’s business head Ajit Thakur is an amazingly creative personality. The Creative Supervisor Anshuman Sinha, Bani Dhillon, Rohini Anand and Priti Tripathi are talented people. We like to interact with them and take their invaluable feedback. They often come up with a very different point of view. That is what is currently working for us. Very creative people are working with the channel nowadays. I want good creative people sitting on both sides of the table (as producers and from the channel) to continue. Then the product will be superb. How can the TV industry improve? We have so many shows which are female centric but hardly anything for teenagers and the youth. The youth of today have little patience. They will download entertainment programmes from the net and watch it on their mobile phones. A woman can sit and watch a 25 minute episode which a youth can’t. So, we should also have programmes which attract the youth. That is what Life OK is trying to do. We should diversify from just women centric shows. Love stories are something which work, so we should have more genres than just showing the story of a hapless woman. We should concentrate more on love stories. What about your future career plans? There are two options. I may get into films. Or I may become a producer myself. Having a lot of experience myself, I may be creating my own shows.