Aravamudhan K wins lifetime achievement award for public policy work

Some careers are built in the spotlight; others are built making sure the spotlight stays legally switched on. Aravamudhan K, known across the broadcast industry simply as ‘Aru’, has spent the better part of thirty years doing the latter, and last week the industry finally handed him the recognition to match, a lifetime achievement award at the 12th BCS Ratna Awards.

It is a fitting honour for a man whose career reads like a potted history of Indian broadcasting itself. Aravamudhan began in content creation in 1993 with production house Video Magazine, working on Eyewitness, before freelancing on election coverage for Doordarshan and moving through Home TV, SAB TV, UTV and ITV. From there he found his true calling in the regulatory and policy side of the business, joining Media Content and Communication Services, Star India’s media arm, in 2006. A year later he moved to Star India itself, taking on regulatory approvals, compliance, communications and government relations, a portfolio he would go on to hold and expand for the next decade and a half.

His trajectory through the Star and Disney ecosystem tells its own story of consolidation in Indian media. He rose through the ranks at Star India and Disney Star, eventually serving as executive director, government relations, before crossing over to Viacom18 to lead its public policy function in the run-up to the Viacom18-Disney Star merger. When the dust settled and JioStar emerged from that merger, Aravamudhan was there too, first as head of public policy, then elevated to executive vice-president, legal and regulatory, in November 2025.

The recognition extends beyond the awards circuit. In December 2025, the Asia Video Industry Association elected him to its board of directors, cementing his standing as one of the sector’s more influential voices on regulatory matters, one who has spent years working closely with policymakers, regulators and industry bodies shaping the rules the broadcasting business runs on.

Accepting the award, Aravamudhan struck a characteristically steady note, describing JioStar as a valuable partner of the cable fraternity and reaffirming its commitment to the growth of linear broadcasting, a business under real pressure from streaming but one he clearly still believes has plenty of road left.

For an industry that often celebrates content creators and dealmakers louder than it does the people who keep the regulatory machinery running, this award feels like a well-deserved course correction, recognising three decades of quiet, consequential work behind the scenes of Indian television.