Channel surfer

There is a no-fuss air that surrounds Zarina Mehta as she enters the UTV office at Worli, Mumbai. She may dismiss fashion, but epitomises panache with her staple, crisp shirt tucked into blue jeans, her Salvatore Ferragamo bag and Fendi belt.

Minimalist but classy is her motto, whether at her spanking white-walled home or faultless modernistic office—she never experiments with her wardrobe, and when she shops, which is seldom, she picks up shirts or shoes in doubles or triples.

Her intonated voice rings with authority, a throwback to her early days in theatre. After 20 years in the field, 46-year-old Mehta, founder member of the UTV group, a Rs 400-crore integrated media company, can look back on several firsts— the first daily soap Shanti, the first game show Snakes and Ladders and the first game show for children, Gol Gol Gullam.

Starting with Rs 37,000 to found the production house, Mehta along with husband Ronnie Screwvala and friend Deven Khote, played a crucial role in the growth of UTV, as also the television business.

“Ronnie is the boss. He looks after everything at UTV. Deven looks after USL and I look after Bindass. We share an excellent work relationship,” she says.

Television is her passion and her forte is the ability to recognise a good idea, which needn’t be hers, and build it to its full capacity. She started out during the days of Doordarshan, a time when they had sanction for 10-odd serials on Doordarshan.

Work was sparse between 1986 and 1992. “But we had a great time and did some great work like The Mathemagic Show (a game show I researched for one year) and Lifeline (a serial on doctors which was done on 16 mm, unheard of at that time).

We had huge budgets too,” she says. The advent of Zee in 1992 marked a turning point for television. From those 10-odd shows they ended up with 200 including Snakes and Ladders, Junglee Toofan Tyre Puncture and Chakravyuha. With Zee opening the floodgates for television programming, there was no shortage of work.

It was around this time that Mehta became part of Shanti, the first daily soap on Doordarshan to hit Indian television. “Sam Balsara of CMD, Madison Communications, approached us with the idea of doing a daily show. We didn’t know how to get started. So we got Adi Pocha from Lintas to write the script.

The story of a girl who returns to take revenge on her mother’s rapist was very progressive for its time. Mandira Bedi was chosen. She was very raw then. They were great years, when we did over 1,000 shows in three years.” Shanti did other things too.

It was the first programme to be syndicated. “It was aired in Sri Lanka during prime time. When Mandira went to Sri Lanka, she was on the front page of every Lankan daily for all of those seven days,” she says.

In 1996, Sony and Star entered the market and Mehta became involved with shows like Saaya and Hip Hip Hooray. “We always wanted to try and do something new.

Competition was hotting up and till 2002 we even tied up with Balaji. “But in 2002, we felt the need to control our destiny in the sense of scripts and execution.

"We decided to let go of television and thought it was time to change focus, and got into feature films.” But Mehta is quick to point out that she is not involved with films at all, barring reading scripts. By the time 2004 rolled around, Mehta had tired of television and decided to quit. “I had stopped learning. I was churning out serials. In January 2005, I decided to take a sabbatical and for 20 days joined a Shiamak Davar dance course, read and went for Vipassana,” she says.

But there were other things in store. She got a request from Screwvala to join Hungama and was soon back in the hub of activity, first as programming head and then as COO.

“I got to learn from scratch how to put a channel together. Marketing, sales, PR and the other facets were new. But I took it upon myself to learn,” she says.

And when it wasn’t working, Mehta took it upon herself to do a brand test to get a sense of what the consumers were saying about the channel.

But there was more bad news in store. Even though the children’s market had opened up, advertising wasn’t growing. “We didn’t have deep pockets. Disney was keen to buy it, which suited us fine. Disney is for older girls and Hungama for younger boys. I think I would not have sold it to anyone else.”

Hungama was sold in 2006 and it was a painful separation for her. “But I also learnt the ability to let go. Now I watch Hungama from a distance and feel happy at its success,” she says.

How to make your career work for you

Failure and success should be treated in the same way. The worst thing is to fear failure and crave for success. Keep learning on the job. Every day is a discovery. Value your team. Ensure that they are constantly inspired and don’t forget to listen to them too. Tackle a problem by acknowledging and recognising it. Try and do what you love. Because that’s when you will always be brilliant at whatever it is that you do.

“Initially if things didn’t fall into place I would be at my wits’ end. Today, I have learnt to first acknowledge and understand the problem. Then I come up with a series of corrective measures,” she says.

At that time, Disney offered her a job that she accepted only to decline later. “I thought it was for the best. I don’t think I could work for anybody else,” she says. But she continued to help them amalgamate the brand. “On August 17, 2006, I came from Disney to the UTV office and was technically jobless. I asked myself what could I do with myself. Then, I went into my office and started writing.”

From there blossomed the youth channel Bindass that was launched recently. Mehta is the CEO and is used to taking such risks.

“Failure motivates me, if these ups and downs cease, I don’t think there will be any driving force to push me forward,” she says.

“I don’t take myself seriously either when I’m successful or when I fail. And in film and television, one’s failure and success is made so public. If you want to be happy, you have to tell yourself to take it in your stride.”

Always on my bookshelf

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. I re-read it recently for the ninth time. It reminds me of a Don Quixote story on the ability of an ordinary person to change the world. Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore. The surreal, dream-like stories bend your mind. Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. Probably the most beautiful love story told. Amy Tan’s A Hundred Secret Senses. I love stories about female bonding. Orson Scott Card’s Ender Series. Again a Don Quixote story about an unlikely hero but set in the future.

Today, she commands a team of 70, with offices in Chennai, Delhi and Bangalore.This grit and determination, Mehta says, stems from her schooling at Mumbai’s JB Petit school that helped make her the person she is. Born into a Parsi family, Mehta is the daughter of retired Brigadier F.S.B. Mehta.

“We were in Washington D.C., USA, for three years. It was a terrible time for me. I was shy and got bullied. American education is open, with very little emphasis on academics. Through those three years in school, I sat at the last bench and painted,” she said.

On returning to India, her parents realised Mehta could neither read nor write. But things changed when she joined the JB Petit school. “I worked hard and from no reading became an avid reader. I think my brain was ready and raring to go. Maybe these were the advantages of growing up with no pressure. Under the guidance of the principal Shirin Darasha, I developed the habit of asking questions.”

It was here that she got involved with theatre and worked with the late theatre veteran Pearl Padamsee.

If school helped groom her, life at St. Xavier’s College was all about going through motions. But it was theatre that helped her.

“In college, the non waste of time was when I did theatre,” she says. She was 16 and had taken her Class 10 exams, when she joined Padamsee to assist her and went on to do plays like Children of a Lesser God and Whose Life is it Anyway?

She was also involved with public speaking. “Every time I went on stage my knees wobbled, and I would ask myself why I was putting myself through this. But once on stage, there was no stage fright,” she says.

Theatre was also how she worked with Khote and Screwvala on Children of a Lesser God, and later forged a partnership that culminated in UTV. “I was so confused through college, and joined Xavier’s Institute of Communication to do advertising. The only thing I learnt was not to get into advertising. While going through motions, Deven called me and told me to come for an editing job.” So, Mehta reached Western Outdoors at 7 am, to work on a show called Mashoor Mahal.

“I went into the edit room not knowing anything,” she says. Mehta had to edit Raman Kumar’s dialogue. “The entire day went by and when I looked at my watch it was seven, the next morning. I had been there the whole day. My mother was frantic and told me to quit, but I knew I loved what I was doing,” she says.

And even after more than 20 years in this profession, her passion continues with the passing of every year. She is known in the industry for being a team player. “I ensure that the brand stays true to itself, and manage my team,” she says. And when it comes to advice, Mehta says she doesn’t listen to everyone, “but the viewer and my team. I never give advice to anyone except Ronnie”.

Zarina Mehta unplugged

Provenance Mumbai, schooled at JB Petit and graduated from St Xavier’s College in Economics Family Brig Furdoon Mehta, mother Villie Mehta who makes the best cakes in the world and younger brother Hormuz who works with Dow Jones in Singapore. “We are extremely close. He is one of my best friends.” Favourite holiday spots Goa, London and Barcelona Favourite pastime Playing with dog Sprite and reading.

Mehta has been married to Screwvala for the past seven years and an ideal day involves reading, spending time with her dog Sprite and drinking several cups of tea. She tries to spend as much time as possible with Ronnie’s 21-year-old daughter Trishya but it’s difficult. Trishya is studying film at the USC School of Cinematic Art in Los Angeles, USA, and the couple try to meet her over a weekend or on her holidays. “But there hasn’t been a long holiday that doesn’t include work for a very long time,” Mehta says.

Family holidays may be difficult to come by, but Mehta ensures a little time away from the hustle-bustle of the airwaves to recharge her batteries with Vipassana. Then it’s back to business as usual.