MAM
Samsung India announces top level organisational rejig
Mumbai: Samsung on Wednesday announced key organisational changes in India to generate more synergies amongst its various businesses as the company further expands its footprint in the country.
Three new teams are being created to improve operational synergies and consumer experiences. In that direction, the company has appointed CH Choi as the new division leader for the consumer electronics business, while Jinsock Lee will be the division leader for the network business and will be based in Mumbai. Jongbum Park will continue to be the division leader for the mobile business.
Mohandeep Singh will be new head – sales, marketing and operations for the consumer electronics business, while Raju Pullan will be the new head – sales and retail for the mobile business. Aditya Babbar will lead product marketing for the mobile business.
The managing director of Samsung R&D Institute Bangalore Dipesh Shah will also head a newly created India Customer Experience (ICX) and business strategy team to create multiple device experience for Indian consumers.
The new direct-to-customer team will be headed by Sumit Walia. Walia will also lead the corporate marketing team. A new enterprise business team will be headed by Akash Saxenaa.
Asim Warsi will be pursuing a different professional path and in that, he will continue to be engaged with Samsung India, said the company.
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.
