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The alarming L’affaire Tejpal
The media industry as well as the common man was shocked yesterday when Tehelka magazine editor Tarun Tejpal reportedly admitted ‘misconduct’ against a woman journalist and offered to step aside from the post, and the office, for six months as a penance. The journo in question had alleged that Tejpal sexually assaulted her at an event organised by the magazine in Goa earlier this month.
So what’s all the fuss about? We live in times when adults having consensual sex has become quite common at workplaces. From Fatal Attraction to Inkaar, the subject has been captured on celluloid and written about a zillion times. There’s a term coined for it as well, ‘office spouse.’ We hear about such relationships every other day; be it in classrooms or boardrooms.
And the media, much as it may like to pretend otherwise, isn’t too far behind in these matters. Prominent journalists have had consensual relationships which are a known fact among the fraternity but no one really talks about them, openly, at least.
One wouldn’t be wrong if he/she calls media as a cesspool. Just that those who are in the business of washing other people’s dirty linen in public, won’t wash theirs in full public view. That would be just so wrong!
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One wouldn’t be wrong if he/she calls media as a cesspool. Just that those who are in the business of washing other people’s dirty linen in public, won’t wash theirs in full public view. That would be just so wrong! |
Like Tehelka managing editor Shoma Chaudhary side-stepped a news reporter’s query saying, “This is an internal matter”. Wouldn’t others of her ilk have said the same thing if they were in such a mess?
There are many Tejpals striding the passages in media organisations around India. And more and more women are entering the media industry – whether in television news or general entertainment channels or newspapers – especially at the junior level. It is they who become an easy target for the ones sitting in their cozy cabins. Some of the younger lot might “cooperate” to get a helping hand in their careers while others who become victims might choose to keep mum so as to not harm their progress.
It takes a lot of courage for one to step-up and take on the boss. The young Tehelka journalist did so and needs to be patted on her back for not letting the possible repercussions hold her back. But how many of them will do so? That is the worrying part.
But there is a saving grace. Those in senior positions or positions of power should remember: Everyone is under scrutiny and no one — no matter how powerful — can escape from one’s actions in the liberalised social media environment of today. This is borne out by l’affaire Tejpal which has once again brought the much celebrated journalist in focus. But unlike earlier times when he was in the limelight unearthing scandals, this time, he is the scandal. The once media darling is now being crucified by one and all as a beast, and rightly so. Indeed, Tejpal and Tehelka, which made headlines with umpteen sting operations, finds itself being stung by scandal and that too rather badly.
For a magazine known to take a stance, no matter what the consequences, it has come under severe criticism for taking a rather serious issue lightly. “He stepped down. It was not something she’d asked for. It was over and above that”, says Chaudhary matter-of-factly.
Not only is the world shocked to know that Tejpal sexually harassed a junior colleague, who happens to be his daughter’s close friend, his decision to step aside from the editorship of the magazine and from the Tehelka office for six months as ‘atonement’ for what he describes as ‘a bad lapse of judgement, an awful misreading of the situation…’ has been labelled ‘inappropriate and grossly insufficient’ by many.
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Those in senior positions or positions of power should remember: Everyone is under scrutiny and no one — no matter how powerful — can escape from one’s actions in the liberalised social media environment of today. This is borne out by l’affaire Tejpal which has once again brought the much celebrated journalist in focus. |
Apparently, Tejpal, in his letter to Chaudhary, has said he repents his ‘drunken banter’ and offered to step aside from his post and the office for six months to ‘atone for his misconduct’. But does that absolve him from all responsibility? Maybe he hopes his close connections with the Congress president will help him in return of all the snooping he has done on the rival party.
And what do we say to Chaudhary, otherwise known to be at the forefront of all women’s causes, who has in this instance chosen to support Tejpal, requesting Tehelka employees to ‘stand by the institution in this hard time.’
Institution yes… but one whose future hangs in the balance. Will it outlast Tejpal when he is tried and thrown into jail as is being demanded by many on Twitter and on social media? This is probably what was playing in the mind of the victim, which is why she is still considering constitution of a committee by the magazine to go into the issue and take action. Remember, Tejpal allegedly forced himself on the girl in an elevator in a five star hotel more than 10 days ago. With a slew of publications downing shutters, and television channels shedding staff, another magazine folding up will not be good news for the industry, that too because of one man…
While one can’t foresee the future, a niggling question remains: “What was Tejpal thinking (or smoking or guzzling) when a man of his stature did what he calls ‘a bad lapse of judgement’?”
Maybe he doesn’t believe in practicing what he preaches.
MUMBAI: 2025 will be remembered as the year India’s OTT industry stopped chasing scale for its own sake and began reckoning with how audiences actually consume content. Completion rates fell, patience wore thin and the limits of long-form excess became impossible to ignore. In this guest column, Pratap Jain, founder and CEO of ChanaJor, traces how micro-drama moved from the fringes to the centre of viewing behaviour, why short-form fiction emerged as a retention engine rather than a trend, and how platforms that respected time, habit and emotional payoff were the ones that truly grew up in 2025.
If there is one thing 2025 will be remembered for in the Indian OTT industry, it’s this: the industry finally stopped pretending.
Stopped pretending that bigger automatically meant better.
Stopped pretending that viewers had endless time.
Stopped pretending that scale without retention was success.
What began as a quiet reset in 2023 and a cautious correction in 2024 turned into a very visible shift in 2025. Business models matured. Content strategies tightened. And most importantly, platforms started aligning themselves with how Indians actually watch content, not how the industry wished they would.
At the centre of this shift was micro-drama—not as a trend, but as a behavioural inevitability.
When OTT finally understood the time problem
For years, long episodes were treated as a marker of seriousness. A 45–60 minute runtime was almost a badge of credibility. Shorter formats were pushed to the margins, labelled as “snack content” or “mobile-only.”
That belief quietly collapsed in 2025.
What platform data showed very clearly was not a drop in interest—but a drop in patience. Viewers weren’t rejecting stories. They were rejecting commitment.
Across platforms, the same patterns appeared:
* First-episode drop-offs on long-form shows kept increasing
* Completion rates continued to slide
* Viewers were sampling more titles but finishing fewer
At the same time, shows with episodes in the six to 10 minute range started showing the opposite behaviour: higher completion, higher repeat viewing, and stronger daily habit formation.
Micro-drama didn’t win because it was short. It won because it respected time.
Micro-Drama didn’t arrive loudly. It took over quietly.
There was no single moment when micro-drama “launched” in India. It crept in through dashboards and retention charts.
By mid-2025, it was clear that viewers were happy watching four, five, sometimes six short episodes in one sitting—even when they wouldn’t finish a single long episode. Romance, relationship drama, slice-of-life conflict, and grounded comedy worked especially well.
This wasn’t disposable content. It was compressed storytelling.
In shorter formats, there was no room for indulgence. Every episode had to move the story forward. Weak writing was punished faster. Strong writing was rewarded immediately.
Micro-drama raised the bar instead of lowering it.
Where ChanaJor naturally fit into this shift
ChanaJor didn’t pivot to micro-drama in 2025 because the market demanded it. In many ways, the platform was already built around the same viewing behaviour.
From the beginning, ChanaJor focused on short-to-mid-length fictional stories that felt close to everyday Indian life—hostels, rented flats, office romances, small-town relationships, young people figuring things out. Stories that didn’t need heavy context or cinematic scale to connect.
What worked in ChanaJor’s favour in 2025 was clarity:
* A clearly defined audience
* Tight episode lengths
* Storytelling that prioritised emotion and pace over spectacle
While several platforms rushed to copy global micro-drama formats, ChanaJor stayed rooted in familiar Indian settings and conflicts. That familiarity mattered. Viewers didn’t have to “enter” the world of the show—it already felt like theirs.
Why audiences started responding differently
One of the biggest misconceptions going into 2025 was that audiences wanted shorter content because their attention spans had reduced. That wasn’t entirely true.
What viewers actually wanted was meaningful payoff per minute.
On platforms like ChanaJor, episodes didn’t waste time setting the mood for ten minutes. Conflicts arrived early. Characters were recognisable within moments. Emotional hooks landed fast.
A typical consumption pattern looked like real life:
* One episode during a break
* Two more before sleeping
* A few the next day
This is how viewing habits are built—not through marketing spends, but through comfort and consistency.
Viewers came back not because every show was a blockbuster, but because they knew what kind of experience to expect.
2025 was also the year OTT faced business reality
The other big change in 2025 was on the business side. Subscriber growth slowed. Discounts stopped hiding churn. Customer acquisition costs rose.
Platforms were forced to ask harder questions:
* Are viewers finishing what they start?
* Are they returning without reminders?
* Is this content worth what we’re spending on it?
This is where micro-drama began outperforming expectations. A well-written short series could deliver sustained engagement without massive budgets. It didn’t peak for one weekend and disappear—it stayed alive through repeat viewing.
Platforms like ChanaJor benefited because they weren’t chasing inflated launch numbers. The focus was on consistency and retention, not noise.
Failures Became Visible Faster
2025 also exposed weaknesses brutally.
Several platforms assumed micro-drama was a shortcut—short episodes, quick shoots, instant traction. What they discovered was that bad writing fails faster in short formats than in long ones.
Viewers dropped off within minutes. Episodes were abandoned mid-way. Weak stories had nowhere to hide.
Micro-drama didn’t forgive laziness. It amplified it.
The platforms that survived were the ones that treated short storytelling with the same seriousness as long-form—sometimes more.
OTT Stopped Chasing Prestige and Started Chasing Habit
Perhaps the most important shift in 2025 wasn’t technical or creative—it was psychological.
OTT stopped trying to look like cinema. It stopped chasing validation through scale and awards alone. It began behaving like what it actually is in people’s lives: a daily companion.
Platforms like ChanaJor found their space here because that mindset was already baked in. The goal wasn’t to dominate a weekend launch. It was to quietly become part of someone’s everyday viewing routine.
That shift changed everything—from release strategies to how success was measured.
What 2025 Ultimately Taught the Industry
By the end of the year, three truths were impossible to ignore:
* Time is the most valuable thing a viewer gives you
* Retention matters more than reach
* Format must follow behaviour, not ego
Micro-drama didn’t take over because it was fashionable. It took over because it fit real life.
Looking Ahead
Micro-drama is not replacing long-form storytelling. It is redefining the baseline of engagement.
Longer shows will survive—but only when they earn their length. Short-form fiction will continue to evolve, becoming sharper, more emotionally confident, and better written.
Platforms like ChanaJor have shown that it’s possible to grow without shouting—by understanding the audience, respecting their time, and telling stories that feel real.
2025 wasn’t the year OTT became smaller. It was the year it became smarter.
Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect our own.
