Lights. Camera. Action
First jobs are always special. Manavi Goyal explores what the first step in the world of media looked like some decades ago.
‘The world of the media may seem full of glamour and glitz but it can be a long hard struggle.’ That’s the kind of thing you hear your parents say–or maybe even that very ‘knowledgeable’ uncle–when you say you’re looking at life in the media. But we thought it might be best to go out and ask those who have been there, done that, and got several t-shirts.
Sunayana Sadarangani is a former editor from Doordarshan News and Current Affairs department in Mumbai. She reported and produced daily news bulletins for Doordarshan for 16 years. After gaining experience and expertise there she worked as a correspondent and producer for NDTV, Aaj Tak, and Zee for their News and Current Affairs programs, At her production house Images India she specialized in developing and directing non-fiction software for these networks. She teaches at the Social Communications Media Department at Sophia Polytechnic.
Sadarangani wanted to do journalism when she was in college. She interned with the Indian Express and found amazing seniors there at work. The chief reporter Mr. Ashok Hudlikar always encouraged her by placing her with her seniors for work. She enjoyed working as a journalist and was always excited to see her name in the byline the next day.
Sadarangani asked her chief reporter Mr. Hudlikar, “Will you give me a job? And, he said, ‘We don't, as a policy, take on lady reporters.’ And I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘You live in Andheri. Here my paper goes to bed at midnight. If I give you, how do I not give you the evening shift? As a reporter, you have to do all shifts and I become responsible for you, and your safety if you reach home in time or not after midnight. That time there say okay the paper's gone to bed at 12 and your job is over. How will you go home, on the train?’ So I didn't get that job. And I kind of held it against him.” Sadarangani got into Doordarshan eventually and was trained by Kunwar Sen. “And I would say, more than SCM it was Kunwar who gave me my training. And I kind of cut my teeth on journalism with Kunwar. He was very particular and that's how I started my career,” Sunayana Sadarangani tells Allen Elias Babu.
Nasurullah Khasim started his first job in media as an assistant editor at Printwell. Printwell was a printing company that printed various magazines. Khasim did not have a technical background so he stayed back after working hours to understand printing. He says, “...We were into the printing of magazines, we were into a lot of things. They are very technical. So it’s how you manage the labour, how you manage the production, how you manage your clients, how you deliver material in time, especially the products they need to deliver in time”
After learning all the skills Khasim decided to start his own advertising agency as he felt he was a born artist. He had a small team to work with him and they all grew together in the media world. “People don't start so modest nowadays. The youngsters like to start off with a big office and when they don't do well, they close shop. But my journey was slow and steady. That's the reason it was very successful. I did not borrow money.” Nasurullah Khasim tells Amaan Khasim and Naysha Bhatia.
Dinesh Das, who is an actor, debuted in the Assamese film Morom Trishna (1968) when he was in his first year of college, in 1960, under the direction of Abdul Mazid, which continued till 1968. He has been working as an actor for the past 62 years. When there used to be financial constraints they would stop filming for a couple of days, yet he has worked in almost 122 movies, be it in CDs or films.
“I met Abdul Mazid, who is now the national-level director of Chameli Memsahab (1975) who also directed my first film, Morom Trishna. I used to perform dramas with him in Nagaon, [Assam]. That’s when he spotted me and offered me the role of the villain in the movie. That was my first role ever as a villain, and I am still playing villains. Mazid Sir was a knowledgeable person, he knew everything. He directed Ronga Police (1958) before that, so he had the technical knowledge. Hence, he taught me. We didn’t have any drama schools or someone to teach us the technicalities. Whoever acted well went to him to learn more,” (Dinesh Das spoke to Laaya Lobo and Prerona Saikia).
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Ilustration by Rakshada Dalvi
Kshama Rao used to do a part-time job as a receptionist when she was pursuing her post-graduation in journalism. She then got into TVN magazine, a television and news media journal. When she joined her first media job she found a good friend named Chaaya. Kshama Rao shared her experience with Radhika Agarwal and Manavi Goyal saying, “Chaaya and I started off together. And the funniest part was the editor, who was then editor, she hadn’t told us that she had quit. She had put in her papers and she had just 1 month to train us before she could put us into the deep end of the pool and get out. So we learned everything on the job. So there was no internship as such. So we were on three or six months of probation and that's about it. There was no way that they were going to fire us after six months. They had to kind of absorb us. Because aur koi tha hi nahi (there was no one else) to run the magazine. And between Chaaya and me, we had taken care of the magazine so well, and bringing out a magazine was a very very different ball game those days.”
She also said that there was no technology when she joined her first media job, they used to cut and paste photographs and everything was handwritten. If there was any mistake they used a whitener to correct their mistakes. They used to edit and re-edit until it was perfect and then either of them signed the final copy for publishing.
Kshama Rao said that her first pay was 1200, and it was the most satisfying amount that she used to get. Because those days the excitement of seeing a byline was much more than the money. When she joined Midday it had become 4000 per month. So, it was a big jump. And then it was Mid-day, the name, the brand, and she did not complain about the amount as she knew at first that was the amount she would get as a fresher.
Because she did not have a direct boss as the senior editor resigned just one month after her joining, she did not face many problems but took over all the responsibilities along with her friend, Chaaya.
Tapan Bhat who is working as an actor and a director for the past 37 years claims to be very privileged to be born into a family where he was not stopped from doing what he really wanted to pursue as a career. He used to act in Prithvi theatre from the time he was in his first year of junior college. Bhat told Rupali Khandelwal and Dhwani Vyas that when he was in Mithibai he used to earn around 150 Rupees in a month.
Bhat used to work with Paresh Rawal, and Mahendra Joshi and had no idea about him working with such big names. He realized it later, after two to three years, that he was working with such legendary people. He says that he got to work with them because god was kind to him. He slowly got into the commercial world. He believes that his job came by very easily and he was blessed to have met such nice people during his journey because people are egoistic. Mr. Bhat says, “...but God was kind to me, started with Toka it was based on a fantastic and commercial play I used to do with Bhadrakant Zaveri. Though it was a PTSV play, it was running houseful, it was so well known that I have seen people attending for the 25th time.”
Ramdas Bhatkal is a writer who started his first job in England. Before going to England he had published a number of Marathi books. Because it was a family business, it was only a question of getting the consent and encouragement from his father, elder brother, and his brother-in-law who had purchased Bombay Book Depot in Girgaon which was a center for Marathi books.
“My first book was published in the year 1952 when I was in the inter-arts and of course initially it was only two books a year, and three then four by 1958, by the time I was a graduate in 1956 let us say, I had about 30 books. By the time I was in MA it was 50 books”, said Mr. Bhatkal to Shruti Gokarn and Aboli Maharwade.
His ambition was to make his family business independent and the business should be possible to run without him. His father had contacts in England and America and he wrote to the Publishers’ association of England. The chairman of that organization was Mr. John Attenborough, who was the chairman of Hodder and Sons group in England. They called him to work with them for three months and said that they would pay him a token salary. So that was in a way his first job, where he was employed for just three months.
Mr. Bhatkal says, “I behaved like an employee for that only time, I went there on time, I said sir, etc. I would get up when the boss would come. I worked in different departments of production, editorial, sales, sales promotion, advertisement, and even packing, and then they had three other organizations in that group.”
He earned 150 rupees initially and after marriage 450 rupees. He was not just a publisher but he was a great follower of the theatre and reviewed Marathi plays for some Marathi papers, most importantly for three years he was a reviewer for the Times of India in English. He would review Marathi plays in English. He had also thought of getting into plays but because of the group activities and his business, he decided not to.
Reema Suri started her first media job at the age of 17 in a subtitling company named VGP. She worked for Indian shows as well as international shows. She has been working in the media industry for the past 25 years.
Reema Suri talks about her job with Soumi Mitra and Adithya Unnikrishnan, “I have actually worked for a lot of people for free also because I didn't know how to estimate writing skills. I actually made my money nearly after 1- 12 years of being in the business, 15 years I would say. Wow! So internships then were quite free. I have actually done episodes at 150 rupees for a 25-28 minute episode. I have written shows. So I used to get paid 10,000 for episodes for Son Pari.”
These were a few stories of the first media jobs of people across different media platforms. Their enthusiasm, courage, and talent saw them through and helped them to flourish in the workplace. By chance or providence, they all had employers who supported, mentored, and encouraged them. They were so focused on their job that money didn't seem to matter to any of them. As students or someone who have recently completed their education, they were aware of their strong points and worked equally hard to achieve their goals. From viewing movies for 2 rupees to earning 150 rupees a month, from working with legends to not realizing it for years, from doing a job to owning their businesses, the media world came with trials and tribulations as a part and parcel of it, and they have experienced it all.