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NDTV exclusive with Farooq Abdullah
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MUMBAI: In an exclusive interview on NDTV’s One on One, Farooq Abdullah talks to Vir Sanghvi about his desire to be the next President of India, about how he was betrayed by A.B. Vajpayee and the NDA government, about the complex relationship between the Abdullahs and the Nehru-Gandhi family, about his conviction that the Pakistan government is actively involved in terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, and about his reputation as a ladies man.
Watch Vir Sanghvi host ‘One on One’ with the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah, on Saturday, December 2, 2006, at 9.30 pm on NDTV 24X7.  Farooq Abdullah says he would like to be President when the post falls vacant. However, he says he will not lobby for the post or `run after it’, but if it was offered to him then he would `love it’. He says that he was offered the post by A.B. Vajpayee the last time around and believed that he would be the NDA’s candidate for President. But not only did this not happen, nobody told him that he would not be the candidate. He only discovered this, he said, “When the nomination of the other person was filed. That is when I found out that I was not there.” It was because he believed that he would be the next President, he says, that he did not campaign fully in the last assembly elections in Kashmir. “If I had canvassed in the election, then my party would have won,” he declared. Instead, he explained, he went off to South Africa at a crucial time in the campaign. Should he be President of India now, Dr Abdullah said, “I would like to speak my mind to the government of the day.” He claimed that there were many issues that even Dr Abdul Kalam was not able to express a view on. When asked what these issues were, he declined to explain.
Asked about his own reputation as a man who is incapable of concentration, Farooq Abdullah denied that he had `an attention span of 30 seconds’ or ‘ants in his pants’. In his defence, he argued, “If that was true, I would not have lasted so long.”
About the perception that he is a ladies man, Dr Abdullah was categorical. “I am not a gay person. I am not a homosexual,” he said. “I do not do anything under the carpet because God sees everything you do.”
Speaking about how Pakistan is playing host and fuelling terrorist activities, Mr Abdullah said, “I think we would be making our own weapons, we would be having all those grenades, and there would be an advanced state in the country. Unfortunately we are not that advanced to make all these weapons. They are coming across the border. The training camps they have there and have had in the past in many parts of Pakistan. Many of them are still active. In Pakistan, no movement can take place unless the Government allows them. Camps are there, people are trained there. And unless, literally, you come to some sort of a settlement with Pakistan, don’t be under any illusion that you are going to get peace in Kashmir or in the rest of the country.”
Asked whom he would blame for the Kashmir fiasco, Farooq Abdullah said, “Oh, I would blame a number of them. There’s Jagmohan, who was the prime mover of the things. He killed people…He ordered the crackdown on the people there. And I’m sure he’s the one who is responsible for supplying trucks when the Hindus were moved. He may deny it.” |
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Devika Prabhu joins Sony Pictures Networks India as business head – Hindi movies
Former Disney Star executive returns to SPNI to steer the network’s Hindi movie business
MUMBAI: Devika Prabhu is heading back to familiar turf. The veteran media executive has joined Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) as business head – Hindi movies, marking a return to the broadcaster where she began her early leadership journey.
Prabhu announced the move on LinkedIn, calling it both a new beginning and a homecoming. Earlier in her career, she spent several years at SPNI—then Multi Screen Media—working on strategic planning for Sony Entertainment Television.
The appointment brings to SPNI a media strategist with more than 25 years of experience across content, programming, brand strategy and platform growth. Most recently, Prabhu served at Disney Star as vice-president and business head – kids, youth and infotainment TV, where she led the Disney Kids and National Geographic portfolios following the Disney–Fox merger.
During her tenure, she oversaw a Rs 400-crore P&L while pushing digital expansion, partnerships and operational efficiencies. Earlier roles at Disney Star included leadership across programming, acquisitions, marketing and product strategy for multiple networks, including the UTV movie channels and youth brands.
Prabhu’s career has also spanned building cross-platform intellectual property, developing kids and family content ecosystems, and forging international format partnerships. She was closely involved in bringing global formats and franchises to Indian audiences and is widely credited with helping shape India’s anime fandom into a mainstream youth phenomenon.
At SPNI, she will now lead the Hindi movies business at a time when film channels are rethinking their role in a fragmented viewing landscape. With audiences discovering cinema across television, streaming and digital platforms, the challenge is not just programming films but reimagining how they reach viewers.
Prabhu believes movies still hold a unique cultural power, sparking conversations and creating shared moments long after the credits roll.
Now back where part of her journey began, she is set to write the next act, this time from the business seat of Hindi movie television. Lights, camera, strategy.
