GECs
Chicago-based Shirley Rodrigues wins Zee TV’s ‘Super Moms North America’
NEW DELHI: Shirley Rodrigues, a 33 year-old mother from Chicago and a former Bollywood choreographer, was recently declared winner of Zee TV’s ‘Dance India Dance Super Moms’ North American edition.
Amirita Mudhar of Maryland was placed second, while Sunita Malhotra of Massachusetts won third place.
Rodrigues, an instructor at the Chicago branch of Arya Dance Academy, has worked as a professional performer and an assistant choreographer for the past 15 years in the Bollywood industry. During her stint in Bollywood, she has performed with and trained several Bollywood actresses including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra, and Sushmita Sen.
53 participants had been shortlisted in November after the mega auditions that commenced last September.
The top 12 dancers were then flown to Mumbai, where the semi-finals and the grand finale were held at the Mahalakshmi Studios in December. The finale was shown on Zee TV last month.
“I feel so blessed and content after winning the title,” Rodrigues said. “It was one of the greatest moments in life,” she added. Rodrigues said she was proud of both of the dances she did on stage, and was able to show the judges a variety of her skills. “At the end of the day, all of us karasupermoms have a 24-hour job,” she said. “You have to make time to be a part of a competition, and you need to really work hard and really make that time out of somewhere.”
The finale was judged by former Miss America Nina Davuluri and Rupal Patel – founder Arya Dance Academy.
GECs
ZEEL overhauls sales structure to chase growth across TV and digital platforms
New structure sharpens digital push as viewing habits fragment fast
MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. is reshuffling its sales playbook as it looks to keep pace with a fast-changing media landscape, where audiences are scattered, screens are multiplying and advertisers are following the data.
According to media reports, the rejig is anchored in the company’s push to build a more integrated, data-led monetisation engine, one that can straddle both traditional television and fast-growing digital platforms with equal ease.
At the heart of the move is a reworked sales architecture designed to deliver cross-platform solutions. With connected TV gaining ground and digital consumption surging, ZEEL is aligning its teams to move quicker, think broader and sell smarter.
The restructuring is being led by chief operating officer, advertisement revenue, Sandeep Mehrotra, at a time when the company says it is seeing tremendous growth. The idea is simple: match the right talent to the right opportunity in a market that is anything but static.
As part of the overhaul, several long-serving executives have been elevated to chief sales officer roles across regions and content clusters. Sanjoy Chatterjee will head the east market, while Gunjarav Nayak takes charge of the west along with high-margin verticals such as hmg, brand works, intellectual properties and digital sales. Rajnish Gupta will oversee bengaluru and chennai markets alongside the kannada and tamil clusters.
In other key moves, Divjyot Dhanda will lead hyderabad and kochi markets and manage zee tv, zee keralam and the telugu cluster. Roshan Vasu Kotian will supervise a diverse portfolio including Zee Marathi, &tv, Zee Punjabi, Zee Anmol, Big Magic and Zee Biskope.
The company is also strengthening its bench, appointing national sales heads across retail, regional clusters, digital and brand solutions. Ankur Kapila’s appointment to lead digital sales signals a sharper push into a segment that continues to outpace traditional formats.
Behind the scenes, dedicated strategy and operations roles have been carved out for both linear and digital businesses. Nitin Shetty, Rajkiran Shrivastav and Priya Nambiar will take on key responsibilities to ensure the new structure runs with precision.
The broader aim is clear. ZEEL wants a bigger slice of advertising budgets that are steadily drifting towards digital and connected TV ecosystems. By integrating its offerings, the company hopes to deepen client relationships while unlocking new revenue streams.
The new structure takes effect immediately, with Mehrotra continuing to report to chief executive officer Punit Goenka and steer the company’s advertising revenue strategy. Senior executive Laxmi Shetty will support the transition, with her revised role expected to be announced soon.
In a market where content is everywhere but attention is scarce, ZEEL’s latest move is less about rearranging the org chart and more about staying in the game.
