Special Report
IMG at crossroads after IFW loss to Percept?
The Indian arm of International Management Group (IMG), the global sports management conglomerate founded by the late Mark McCormack, seemingly stands at the crossroads today.This has been brought to bear even more starkly with the totally unexpected loss of the Lakme India Fashion Week (LIFW) to Shailendra Singh’s Percept D‘Mark.
For many in the industry, the demise of the event that marks the high point of India’s fashion calendar from IMG‘s roster also signals the end of the IMG decade as the dominant force in the sports and events management arena in country. That is an argument that IMG/TWI – South Asia managing director Ravi Krishnan dismisses outright though. Says Krishnan, “It is certainly incorrect to say ‘the demise of the event also signals the end of the IMG decade as the dominant force in the sports and events management arena in the country.‘ It‘s also important that I clarify that whilst LIFW was the highest profile event that IMG conducted, it does not, nor ever has, represented the most significant income stream for us.”
Still, there is no gainsaying that the last decade has witnessed a number of highs and the road the company has traversed in the country illustrates that well. IMG TWI were already the world‘s leading sports marketing company when they arrived in India with the Hero Cup cricket – where television arm TWI broke national broadcaster Doordarshan‘s monopoly of cricket coverage.
In 1994,TWI negotiated on behalf of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) a ground breaking exclusive contract with ESPN Star Sports for all Indian cricket for the next five years. They took the chance to establish an office in India, with an English football producer Peter Hutton moving to India to organize first domestic then international cricket coverage for ESPN.
Parent company IMG arrived in 1995, with American Dick 
Alford – an IMG veteran – in charge alongside Krishnan and an English lawyer Malcolm Thorpe. The next years saw an amazing growth, with TWI dominating the television sports market – producing live football and hockey coverage for Star Sports as well as the cricket for ESPN and IMG setting up a series of international events including the The Sahara Cup cricket, the Gold Flake ATP Open Tennis and the Wills Indian Open golf. The relationship with the BCCI continued to bear fruit as IMG-TWI negotiated the contract for Sahara to take over the team sponsorship of the Indian cricket team, while it found sponsors in Tata for the Indian Tennis Open in Chennai and Royal Challenge for Indian golf to take over the mantle when ITC moved out of sports sponsorship. The company diversified with TWI beginning daily news coverage for Doordarshan Sports and producing music events such as the Zee Cine awards, whilst IMG moved into the Lakme Indian Fashion Week and the Four Square Challenge Rafting. At its peak, IMG TWI employed close to 150 staff with offices in Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore and Chennai.
However, the rollercoaster lost quite a bit of momentum following a succession of departures in the last few years. Alford left for IMG Japan, Thorpe for IMG Hong Kong and Hutton for Ten Sports in Dubai. Incidentally, Thorpe left IMG Hong Kong and moved to Dubai where he joined up again with Hutton working on the Dubai Sports City project as well as his role at Ten Sports.
Golf head Rishi Narain left to set up his own company. Among the other top Indian executives who took the exit route were Navneet Sharma (he went on to set up Total Sports in India), Rahul Johri left to become head of sales at Discovery, while Rukin Kizilbash joined Ten Sports as its head of sales. There was also Jamie Stewart who left with Dhiraj Malhotra to set up the ICC’s commercial office in Delhi as too number of the TWI production staff who joined Hutton in Dubai.
Krishnan, is however, at pains to stress that the exits should not be seen as a problem unique to IMG but rather as a feature that many industries are experiencing as the Indian economy continues its explosive rate of growth. Says Krishnan, “Personnel movements have become a feature in many industries as the Indian economy continues to grow. Even in times when IMG was adding new properties to its portfolio, personnel changes were happening behind the scenes. It‘s simply a business reality in all industries.
“We have never been more confident in the capabilities of our personnel than we are with our existing team and will be adding to this team based on the forthcoming needs as we see appropriate.”
Be that as it may, this period has certainly been less than smooth for IMG. The Indian team sponsorship contract ended as did the representation of the BCCI’s television rights to follow the Sahara Cup cricket being cancelled on an annual basis. The Indian Open Golf has been taken over by Nimbus and the Indian Open Tennis in Chennai lost Tata as a sponsor – with the Tamil Nadu government taking a leading role in the event.
What is the current status? Krishnan points out, “Two of the key properties in India are the Chennai Open and Scorpio Speedster search for a fast bowler (where Channel 7 have recently taken over from ESPN as the broadcaster) as well as various TV productions such as the ongoing Sunfeast Open, the historic Indo-Pakistan series among others. There are several large-scale properties both, on the events and on the television side that have been in the pipeline, most of which will come to fruition in 2006. These will more than compensate for any revenue loss from LIFW.”
Indiantelevision.com also raised the issue of how the new management that is running IMG globally is viewing these recent developments in India. It needs noting that it was in early October 2004 that investment company Forstmann Little & Co bought IMG in a $750 million purchase that was completed this year. The buyout followed the
the death of the legendary Mark McCormack in mid-2004. Krishnan opined, “The Forstmann Little management has brought new thinking to our business and are very focused on India. They see much potential in a variety of our core businesses and in a variety of new areas where we can leverage our global strengths. Plans are afoot, but none that we can talk about right now.”
Basically though, while LIFW was a big event, it is in television sports properties where the real money lies. Queried over what is being done to ramp up on that front, Krishnan says, “You are certainly right that television represents a key area of growth in the sports and entertainment industry. We too recognize this. In this context, one thing we have seen in the West is the demise of several companies in our business e.g. ISL, Sports World, and several others who paid exorbitant guarantees to compete in the sports and entertainment space and then realized both to their own detriment and to those that unwisely accepted these unsustainable sums, that they were indeed, unsustainable. It’s a lesson for all rights holders that sometimes the too-good-to-be-true deal is indeed too good to be true.”
Point taken. But that still begs the question. How is IMG going to get back up on the radar in the television scheme of things without drawing back some of the professional expertise that has gradually seeped out of the IMG system in India?
MUMBAI: Some friendships are made in heaven; others are coded in Mumbai. Hamara Vinayak, the first-ever digital original from Siddharth Kumar Tewary’s Swastik Stories, turns the divine into the delightful, serving up a story that’s equal parts start-up hustle and spiritual hustle.
Some tech start-ups chase unicorns. This one already has a god on board. Hamara Vinayak takes the leap from temple bells to notification pings and it does so with heart, humour and a healthy dose of the divine.
At its core, the show asks a simple but audacious question: what if God wasn’t up there, but right beside you, maybe even debugging your life over a cup of chai?
The show’s tagline, “God isn’t distant… He’s your closest friend” perfectly captures its quirky soul. Across its first two episodes, screened exclusively for media in Mumbai, the series proves that enlightenment can come with a good punchline.
The series follows a group of ambitious young entrepreneurs running a Mumbai-based tech start-up that lets people around the world book exclusive virtual poojas at India’s most revered shrines. But as their app grows, so do their ethical grey zones. Into this chaos walks Vinayak, played with soulful serenity and sly wit by the charming Namit Das, a young man whose calm smile hides something celestial.
He’s got the peaceful look of a saint but the wit of someone who could out-think your favourite stand-up comic. Around him spins a crew of dream-driven youngsters – Luv Vispute, Arnav Bhasin, Vaidehi Nair and Saloni Daini who run a Mumbai-based tech start-up offering devotees across the world the chance to book “exclusive” poojas at India’s most sacred shrines. It’s a business plan that blends belief and broadband – and, as the story unfolds, also tests the moral compass of its ambitious founders.
“The first time I read the script, I found the character very pretty,” Namit joked at the post-screening interaction. “It’s a beautiful thought that God isn’t distant, he’s your closest friend. And playing Vinayak, you feel that calm but also his cleverness. He’s the friend who makes you think.”
The reactions to the series ranged from smiles to sighs of wonder. Viewers were charmed by the show’s sincerity and sparkle, a quality that stems from its creator’s belief that faith can be funny without being frivolous.
Among the cast, Luv Vispute shines brightest, his comic timing adding sparkle to the show’s more reflective beats. But what keeps Hamara Vinayak engaging is the easy rhythm of its writing – one moment touching, the next teasing, always gently reminding us that spirituality doesn’t have to be solemn.
Luv spoke fondly of his long association with Swastik. “Since my first show was with Swastik, this feels like home,” he said. “Every project with them is positive, feel-good, and this one just had such a different vibe. I truly feel blessed.”
Saloni Daini, who brings infectious warmth to her role, added that she signed up the moment she heard the show was about “Bappa.”
“We shot during the Ganpati festival,” she recalled. “The energy on set was incredible festive, faithful, and full of laughter. It’s such a relatable story for our generation: chaos, friendship, love, kindness, and faith all mixed together.”
Vaidehi Nair and Arnav Bhasin complete the ensemble, each representing different shades of ambition and morality in the start-up’s journey. Their camaraderie is easy and believable, a testament to how much the cast connected off-screen as well.
This clever fusion of mythology and modernity plays to India’s two enduring loves, entertainment and faith. Mythology has long been the comfort zone of Indian storytellers, from the televised epics of the 1980s to the glossy remakes that still command prime-time TRPs. For decades, gods have been our most bankable heroes. But Hamara Vinayak tweaks the formula not by preaching, but by laughing with its characters, and sometimes, at their confusion about where divinity ends and data begins.
Creator Siddharth Kumar Tewary, long hailed as Indian television’s myth-maker for shows like Mahabharat, Radha Krishn and Porus, explained the show’s intent with characteristic clarity, “This is our first story where we are talking directly to the audience, not through a platform,” he said. “We wanted to connect young people with our culture to say that God isn’t someone you only worship; He’s your friend, walking beside you, even when you take the wrong path. The story may be simple, but the thought is big.”
That blend of philosophy and playfulness runs through the show. “We had to keep asking ourselves why we’re doing this,” Tewary added. “It’s tricky to make something positive and spiritual for the OTT audience, they’ve changed, they want nuance, not sermons. But when the purpose is clear, everything else aligns.”
For the creator of some of Indian TV’s most lavish spectacles, Hamara Vinayak marks a refreshing tonal shift. Here, Tewary trades celestial kingdoms for co-working spaces and cosmic battles for office banter. Yet his signature remains: an eye for allegory, a love for faith-infused storytelling, and an understanding that belief is most powerful when it feels personal.
Hamara Vinayak, after all, feels less like a sermon and more like a conversation over chai about what success means, what faith costs, and why even the gods might be rooting for a start-up’s Series A round.
As Namit Das reflected during the Q&A, “Life gives us many magical, divine moments we just forget to notice them. Sometimes even through a phone screen, you see something that redirects you. That’s a Vinayak moment.”
The series also mirrors a larger cultural pivot. As audiences migrate from television to OTT, myth-inspired tales are finding new form and flexibility online. The digital screen lets creators like Tewary reinvent the genre, giving ancient ideas a modern interface, without losing the emotional charge that’s made mythology India’s storytelling backbone for decades.
In a country where faith trends faster than any hashtag, Hamara Vinayak feels both familiar and refreshingly new, a comedy that’s blessed with heart, humour and just enough philosophy to keep the binge holy.
For a country where mythology remains the oldest streaming service, Tewary’s move from TV to OTT feels both natural and necessary. Indian storytellers have always turned to gods for drama, guidance and TRPs from Ramayan and Mahabharat on Doordarshan to glossy mytho-dramas on prime time. But digital platforms allow creators to remix reverence with realism, and in Hamara Vinayak, faith gets an interface upgrade.
The result is a show that feels like a warm chat with destiny, part comedy, part contemplation. And in an age of cynicism, that’s no small miracle.
As Tewary put it, smiling at his cast, “The message had to be positive. We just wanted to remind people that even in chaos, God hasn’t unfriended you.”
With 5 episodes planned, Hamara Vinayak promises to keep walking that fine line between laughter and light. It’s mythology with memes, devotion with dialogue, and a digital-age reminder that even the cloud has a silver lining or perhaps, a divine one.
If the first two episodes are any sign, the show doesn’t just bridge heaven and earth, it gives both a Wi-Fi connection.
