News Broadcasting
Karan Johar revs it up in Cannes
CANNES: What has Dharma Productions boss Karan Johar been up to? According to sources in Cannes, he has been having meetings with several distributors and directors the world over. He came into the Palais des Festivals for a very short while yesterday. What’s more actor Preity Zinta has been accompanying him to many a premieres and screenings.
What is really striking is the popularity that Karan Johar has in this part of the world. Sample this, a young girl came up to this scribe on the croisette outside the India pavilion in the International Village, asking where Karan Johar and Preity Zinta were? She said she had watched all his movies. “Mujhe bahoot acchi lagti hain dono,” she said. She had been waiting outside the pavilion for three hours and she said would continue waiting until she met up with the duo.
This morning Johar made a lighting visit to the India pavilion in the International Village along with producer-director Sunil Darshan and UK-based TipTop Films Sunil Shah. He also spent some time talking with Ian Smith the maker of the film The City of Joy.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
