News Broadcasting
Rising Times with Aamir Khan on CNN’s Talk Asia
Airtimes: Indian Standard Times
Saturday, August 27, 2005 at 8:30am, 20:00hrs & 22:30hrs
Sunday, August 28, 2005 at 16:00hrs and 20:30hrs (Replay)
This weekend on TALK ASIA, Satinder Bindra goes one-on-one with Aamir Khan; one of the most high profile actors in Hindi cinema.
Khan rose to international prominence with the historical crossover film, “Lagaan”. Now he’s set to make waves with his latest movie, The Rising, a historical piece set at a time when the East India Company shaped events on the continent. The actor believes his latest work is more than just a historical narrative, but a movie about the East India Company still has relevance today.
“I found that today that is exactly what America is doing when it enters places like Afghanistan or Iraq. So the concept of a superpower deciding that it wants to move into someplace, rule it, keep peace-keeping forces supposedly in place, [is] exactly what the East India Company did. So I found that it is a really contemporary topic and the film really discusses the concept of freedom and the right of every man to hold his head as high as the next person. So, it’s a film about the concept of freedom. It happens to be set in 1857 in India, but it applies across the world and it’s applicable to anyone or any person at any place,” Khan said.
But no part of Khan’s life has escaped scrutiny; the break up of his marriage has made entertainment news headlines, a fact that has made his life difficult, but not unbearable. “I feel that the press has a job to do. They are supposed to be giving news to people, as far as celebrities are concerned, their personal lives make news. People want to know what is happening, and I would expect the press to report that,” he said.
Khan also shares how his life might have taken a different turn if he had pursued his teenage interest. “I used to play competitive tennis on an amateur level of course; well actually it could probably be called professional because we used to get paid…. At that time I used to fleetingly think of or dream of reaching Wimbledon one day… At that time I guess my parents who got a little worried about, I used to play about three to four hours of tennis a day and they wanted me to concentrate on studies, on my school, and on my education. So, one fine day they said enough of tennis, what are you going to make of your life,” he said.
AIRTIMES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE
Raman Swain
Executive – Public Relations
Public Relations and Communications
Turner International India Pvt. Ltd.
Tel: 91 – 11 – 51699129
Fax: 91-11- 26475205/6
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.
