GECs
Ramanand Sagar next epic serial Jai Maa Durga
MUMBAI: Dr Ramanand Sagar, creator of the mega mythological serials Ramayan and Shri Krishna, is planning to weave his magic again. This time it will be around female goddess Durga.
Sagar will make an official announcement of his new venture, Jai Maa Durga, tomorrow night during the grande finale of the Indian Telly Awards 2004, the annual high point of the television industry’s events calendar. Sagar will be honoured with the Lifetime Contribution to Indian Television Award 2004 on the night.
Jai Maa Durga will comprise a total of 52 one-hour episodes. “It will be produced, written and directed by Ramanand Sagar,” says Sagar Arts marketing director Prem Sagar.
Currently. Sagar’s show Sankshipt Ramayan is airing on Star Plus. “He was interested to make three sequels – Ramayan, Shri Krishna and Jai Maa Durga. The project was originally planned years back with Hema Malini as the star cast. But Sagar has the habit of taking up a single project at a time. We had Shri Krishna running for years. So we didn’t get into doing Jai Maa Durga. It was then that Malini did Jai Mata Di. We will have new faces acting in the show,” says Prem Sagar.
Can the 87-year-old Sagar still touch audiences with his new epic serial? “Sankshipt Ramayan is doing well. He is a master in mythologies. There is no reason why he shouldn’t succeed this time as well,” says Prem Sagar.
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.
