MAM
Anupama Chopra’s digital entertainment platform ‘Film Companion’ turns five today
MUMBAI: Five years back, the entertainment universe got a new platform which took over all spheres to provide us a wholesome deal of narratives and perspectives. Film Companion is a pan-Indian platform for entertainment journalism which offers a 360-degree coverage on everything that’s trending in pop culture. Helmed under the aiges of Anupama Chopra, the main focus of the platform is films ranging across the world of Bollywood, Hollywood, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi and Bengali.
With an aim at keeping the audience up to date with the what’s happening around, Film Companion carries reviews, interviews, features and masterclasses around cinema while also, covering television, short films, web series, stand-up comedy, cinema-related books and music- which has been a treat to the audience over these five years!
Expressing her journey through the five years, Anupama Chopra shares, “Film Companion has been a great adventure. The dream was to create a pan-Indian entertainment platform. It’s been a joy to toil in the trenches with my wonderful colleagues. I have learned so much from all of them. I genuinely think that barriers between the many exciting film industries in India are disappearing. And we at Film Companion are here to celebrate all industries and all cinemas.”
Holding a massive influence across social media with the pop culture relevance, Film Companion has over 8 lakh subscribers across two YouTube channels – Film Companion and Film Companion South (headed by National-Award winning journalist Baradwaj Rangan). Over the years, many of the interviews under the banner have triggered larger conversations about the industry bringing a narrative shift towards a more inclusive and entertaining time.
Some of FC’s most talked-about interviews are Roundtable with leading stand-up comics on gender equality and competition in the industry. Secondly, the story of Mumbai watchman Savi Sidhu’s tryst with movies along with a roundtable with film producers on the content crisis in Bollywood as a separate evening.
Also, very recently, the interview with Sandeep Reddy Vanga post-release of Kabir Singh was another hit amongst the audience.
Film Companion is led by founder and editor Anupama Chopra, who has over 25 years of experience in entertainment journalism which continues to be the driving force behind the successful five years and the times to come!
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Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
