Essel Group marks 100 years as Zee’s creative family reunites in Mumbai

MUMBAI: It was a night of nostalgia, applause and more than a few curtain calls. As the Essel Group celebrated its centenary in Mumbai on 1 August, the stars who helped script Zee’s extraordinary rise gathered under one roof to honour the legacy that reshaped India’s media and entertainment landscape. The evening wasn’t just a celebration of 100 years of enterprise—it was a salute to the vision that gave India its first private satellite television channel and, eventually, one of its most recognised media brands.

Hosted by Aparshakti Khurana, the gala reunited members of the creative fraternity who have been part of Zee’s journey since the launch of Zee TV in 1992. Essel group chairman Dr Subhash Chandra led the celebrations, reflecting on a journey that has continually challenged conventions and rewritten the rules of Indian broadcasting.

Joining the celebrations were Ravi Dubey, Sargun Mehta, Shaan, Shreyas Talpade, Arjun Bijlani, Bosco Martis, Rakesh Bedi, Darshan Jariwala, Mahesh Thakur, Jayati Bhatia, Niharika Chouksey, Shubhangi Atre, Abhishek Sharma, Ragini Khanna, Dheeraj Dhoopar and Rajshree Thakur, among several other personalities from the worlds of television, films and music.

The evening blended performances, tributes and memories as the industry looked back on Zee’s transformation from a pioneering broadcaster into one of India’s leading entertainment networks—and looked ahead to the next chapter.

Among those sharing their thoughts was Arjun Bijlani, who said he felt fortunate to have worked with the Zee Group. He added that WION was his preferred news channel and said he had been pleasantly surprised when he discovered it was part of the Zee network.

But every great brand has a backstory.

According to a report on WION, Dr Chandra had revealed during the Essel Group’s centenary town hall on 21 May that the company’s now-iconic name was never the product of a branding agency or a marathon brainstorming session. Instead, it emerged from a practical shortcut.

In its early years, the business operated as Ramgopal Indraprastha Messers before becoming Subhash Chandra Laxmi Narain in 1969. During routine dealings with the Food Corporation of India, the lengthy company name was routinely shortened to “SL” on gate passes, transport records and internal paperwork.

“People started saying this is the vehicle from SL group,” Dr Chandra recalled during the town hall.

As the business expanded, however, the abbreviation no longer suited a company with growing national ambitions. Looking for a sharper corporate identity, Dr Chandra simply transformed “SL” into “Essel”—a small linguistic leap that would become one of India’s most recognisable business brands.

It’s a story that neatly mirrors the Group’s own journey. From two letters on a gate pass to three decades of Zee transforming Indian television, the Essel story has always been about turning simple ideas into industry-defining milestones.