Journey Of A Visionary Media Giant

Hello Friends,

I am back with yet another roller-coaster ride of a media giant in the form of my latest book review. It's the engrossing story of Star India. The Making Of Star India by Vanita Kohli Khandekar is an extremely engaging piece on the journey of one of the largest media houses in India. My personal inclination towards stories of media companies made me grab a copy of this well drafted book by Vanita. Let's find out some of the major highlights of this book.

First of all let me highlight two of the major features which make this book such a delightful read for me. Firstly the accumulation of various financial data of Star group over the years for which the author deserves a big applause. It must be a hectic task irrespective of the source of those data. Secondly instead of narrating the series of events over the years on a continuous basis which is a norm she chose to divide the entire story under the tenures of various leaders who were at the helm during various phases of company's journey. By providing such a structure she not only could point out different leadership styles of the stalwarts but also made the story easy to follow with the mention of the tenures of the leaders.

Author is a well known name in Indian media industry for more than a decade. A regular contributor in prestigious publications like Business Standard, Business world, Singapore based Content Asia she has several research papers to her name. Her work is commendable in this book in terms of collecting all the data and then presenting them in a sequential manner for the convenience of the reader. The entire journey of Star India has been depicted in five parts under the leadership of Richard Li, Rupert Murdoch, Rathikant Basu, Peter Mukerjea, Uday Shankar. The story kicks in with the initial interest of Star group in Indian market followed by their subsequent establishment as one of the market leaders through various ups & downs. Various instances with respect to business formation irrespective of how small or big they were have been described in depth with appropriate data. Overall the language has been simple but in some chapters use of business jargons or little complex financial figures might seem a bit difficult for the readers.

Even though multiple chapters have been dedicated in details to understand the contribution and leadership styles of various leaders, some of the chapters have turned out to be mere narration of various events. A few pointers on their specific leadership traits or their ways of handling critical situations could have been handy. There is in depth narration of game changing programmes of Star be it Kaun Banega Crorepati or typical saas-bahu daily soaps under the banner of Balaji telefilms or entry into the sports arena. At some stages those stories seem to be quite lengthy which may loose the readers' interest.

Talking about the high points of the book, it's never easy to outline the journey of an industry giant spread over three decades. But the author has been able to do justice to that. If anybody is looking to understand the evolution of Indian media industry, this is the book for them. Starting from the cable tv days to the modern era of OTT, it talks about everything through the vision of one of the industry giant. The author was able to include all the major events that mark the incredible journey of Star India. So whether you are a 90's kid or a kid of the OTT age, you should be able to connect with the story. The journey is definitely an inspiring one and worth sharing.

Image credit: amazon.in

Personal Recommendation (Business Journey)