MAM
Nilesh Naik joins Rediffusion as executive creative director
Mumbai: Rediffusion announced that Nilesh Naik has joined its Mumbai office as executive creative director.
With over 19 years of work experience, Naik has worked with several top agencies including Publicis, Euro RSCG, Bates, Dentsu, Percept and FCB in India, and The Classic Partnership, Grey Worldwide and GTB in the UAE, in Dubai.
“We have been strengthening our team at Rediffusion to keep pace with all the new businesses that we have been winning over the past few months. And of course, there has been a tremendous surge in projects and assignments from existing clients,” said Rediffusion Mumbai head and EVP Kalyani Srivastava. “Nilesh will be tasked with shouldering some of the increased responsibilities and I am sure he will come out aces.”
Naik was ranked among top 10 creative directors in the MENA region in 2019. He is the recipient of several awards that include the Cannes Lions, Adfest, OneShow and Dubai Lynx and his work has been featured in Lurzer’s International Archive.
“Nilesh brings mature, well-rounded and multi-domain experience to Rediffusion Mumbai. He is a wordsmith who expresses himself elegantly and impactfully,” said Rediffusion Mumbai head of creative Pramod Sharma. “We are looking forward to some great work from Nilesh in the days to come.”
“Rediffusion has created some of the most memorable campaigns in Indian advertising and it feels great to be part of such a fabulous team,” stated Nilesh Naik on his new role. “Here creativity is the only currency and I’m looking forward to creating fantastic work that gets noticed, establishes a deep connection with the audience and does wonders to clients’ businesses.”
MAM
Talking heads: TV9’s chief takes the host’s chair with style — but could do with a laugh
Barun Das has swapped the boardroom for the studio and is pulling off a polished interview show — mostly
MUMBAI: There is something quietly audacious about a media chief who decides that running a television empire is not quite enough and plants himself in front of the camera for a good chinwag with the great and the good. Barun Das, chief executive of TV9 Network, has done precisely that, and for the most part, he carries it off with considerable aplomb.
Duologue with Barun Das, now in its fourth season on JioHotstar, is exactly what it says on the tin: two people, two chairs, no frills. In the earlier seasons, Das has sat across from a rather stellar roster, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Aparna Sen, Viswanathan Anand, Kiran Rao, among many other renowned names. And in the fourth instalment he has had guests of the likes of Aamir Khan, Sourav Ganguly, Bianca Balti (Italian super model and cancer survivor), Lothar Matthäus (German football World Cup-winning captain). Throughout, he has coaxed from them nuggets that their publicists would probably rather keep under wraps. Cricket, relationships, spirituality, acting, health, behind-the-scenes machinations that plague politics, intellect, nepotism, nothing is entirely off the table.
Das’s greatest asset is his manner. Unhurried, well-dressed and disarmingly calm, he has the rare gift of making his guests feel so thoroughly at ease that they occasionally forget they are being filmed for television. The questions arrive softly, like a spinner tossing up a googly rather than a fast bowler hurling bouncers, and more often than not, they draw out a telling answer. He has no cue cards or teleprompter to help him along, which is probably a rarity for a host. Some credit must go to the research team operating quietly in the wings, who evidently do their homework so that Das does not have to fumble for his.
Where Duologue stumbles, however, is in its almost determined refusal to lighten up. Each 45-minute episode carries the solemn weight of a budget speech. A dash of wit, a moment of mischief, the odd belly laugh, none of it makes an appearance. Serious conversation has its place, but even the most earnest of interviewers, think David Frost at his best, knew when to let the air out of the room.
Das has built something worth watching. He simply needs to remind himself, and his guests, that a smile never hurt anyone.
Rating: 4.25 out of 5.
Available on JioHotstar.
