Devika Shiivdasani joins JioStar as head of programming, Star Pravah

MUMBAI: The Star network has its storyteller back. Devika Shiivdasani has joined JioStar as senior vice president, creative and content, and head of programming, Star Pravah, from September 2026, working from Mumbai.

For Shiivdasani, it is a return. “Coming back to where it all began for me professionally, StarTV Network, where I learned everything I know today and yet there is so much more to learn once again,” she said in her announcement. She thanked Tarun Katial and Deepak Segal, her first managers and mentors at Star TV, for the support and inspiration over the years, and thanked the JioStar family for welcoming her back. “Looking forward to creating the same magic all over again,” she added.

She arrives from Pocket FM, where she was senior creative director from July 2024 to September 2026. There she led creative and strategic content development for long-format audio storytelling and OTT-ready adaptations, drove genre innovation in fantasy and talent curation, and led a team of senior creative directors, creative producers and writers.

Before that, from August 2020 to May 2024, she was series head (senior vice president) for Hindi originals at Zee5. She spearheaded the development of premium original content for the platform across genres, oversaw the full lifecycle of Hindi original series from concept to release, and directed teams in writing, production, casting and post-production on series including Sunflower and Abhay.

Her longest stretch was at Sony Pictures Networks India, where she spent 11 years and seven months, from February 2009 to August 2020, as vice president, programming (creative director). She spearheaded the development and launch of innovative fiction shows in family entertainment, provided strategic and creative direction across storylines, casting, production and marketing, and coordinated show launches focused on TRP growth and talent identification.

She has been with Star before. From May 2003 to September 2007 she was group creative head at Star India, leading creative direction for fiction programming at Star Plus, with a focus on weekend content. Her work there spanned mythology, thrillers, fantasy, comedy and slice of life. In between, from October 2007 to January 2009, she was group creative head at INX Media, managing fiction content creation during the launch of the 9X channel and developing shows across family drama, youth, romance and comedy.

Her early career was in television production. She was creative head at Balaji Telefilms from June 2002 to April 2003, as creative lead for ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’, overseeing scripting, post-production, cast management and show delivery. She was executive producer at UTV in 2002 and at In-House Productions from February 2001 to January 2002. She began as assistant director and assistant executive producer at DJ’s A Creative Unit in June 2000, supervising ‘Just Mohabbat’ and ‘Love Mein Kabhi Kabhi’.

Shiivdasani describes the thread through her career as finding stories with genuine emotional pull and building the teams and processes that get them to audiences at scale.

The analysis

Three things stand out. First, the homecoming. Shiivdasani has run programming at Sony, Zee5 and Pocket FM, and now returns to the network where she was group creative head in the mid-2000s. She brings fresh perspective from other platforms, along with a knowledge of how Star works.

Second, the range. Her career takes in television fiction, OTT originals and audio storytelling, which means she has worked on shows made for weekly broadcast, for streaming and for the ear. A programming head today needs to understand all three, since audiences move between them.

Third, the process. She says her focus has been on building teams and processes as well as finding stories. Her roles at Sony and Zee5 involved guiding writing, casting, production and marketing teams, and her time at Pocket FM involved leading senior creatives. That suits a programming job at a large network, where slates depend on many people pulling the same way.