Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; May 31, 2014)

Punit Goenka, 39, may have started off as a rebel, but has made his father Subhash Chandra proud today by being the successful MD and CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, the flagship brand of the Zee group. He takes his professional decisions through consensus and looks up to his father for his principles and vision. He is a complete family man for whom his father's principle of standing by the word you have given is sacrosanct. Ahead of his upcoming new channel Zindagi (a first-of-its-kind Hindi channel which will carry content from across the border) on June 23, he opens up to Bombay Times about not just his channel, but also his own zindagi. Excerpts:

Why do you write your surname as Goenka even though your father writes Subhash Chandra?The joke is that it is to confuse the world. But the reality of it is that my great grandfather, who was very close to my father, during my naming ceremony just happened to call me 'Punit Kumar Goenka' and it remained that thereafter. My father, when he started Zee, did not want to be associated with any particular caste or religion, so had initially chosen to call himself Subhash Chander. But the international community could not pronounce it, so he renamed himself Subhash Chandra.

Talk about your father?He is very reserved. While he was born in a trader Marwari baniya family in Adhampur, Rajasthan, he moved to Hissar, where I was born. At a young age of 17, he was pulled out of his education and put in business, as the business was going through a bad phase. And from that time, he had the responsibility of taking care of his entire family and had a tough life. He is a strict father and a man of principles and that is what I admire about him. My younger brother Amit and I have some childhood memories of going on holidays with him, but mostly our memories are only about him working. Now, I see him far more relaxed as a businessman. The way we see him with his grandchildren is completely different from the man we grew up with. Our mother was more our support system while growing up.

Was it is an obvious choice for you to join your father?I was brought up in Delhi and most of my life was spent in boarding schools. I went first to Sanawar in Class V after which I did my high school in Switzerland. I then had to come back to Mumbai as my father said, 'I have wasted enough money on you. You don't deserve it. Come back, take admission, do B.Com and start working.' All my friends were moving to London or the US to study, whereas I had to come back and do B.Com. I didn't like returning home leaving my free life there. But I came back, started working at 18 and completed my B.Com by correspondence. I was more the rebel of the family. I was the first one in the family to have a love marriage. My wife Shreyasi used to live in the same building, Jolly Maker 1. We were friends, but our romance started later, due to common friends in Sydenham College. Friendship led to infatuation, led to several fights, before we decided three-and-a-half years later with two break-ups in between that we wanted to get married. It was a difficult thing for my family to accept, as in the eyes of my father, I was not capable of taking care of my family, even though he was doing very well. That's the man he is and his principles are such that if you are single-handedly not capable of taking care of a family, then you don't deserve to have a family. At that time, I thought I used to fear him, but now I realise that it was more out of respect. And today, I have become more friends with him. He never hit us. I have always worked with him and trained in several companies before being given a position. I started as the executive assistant to executive director Rajeev Santwan. I failed terribly in my first venture, which was to look after Zee Records that I ran into the ground in a year. I then became the CEO of Dish TV and was headquartered in Delhi for a year. Even though I was very passionate about it, living in Delhi just didn't work for me. I just didn't like the business environment and the people and culture of Delhi. I came to my father and said, 'This is not working out.' I then came back to Mumbai and worked my way up to become the MD and CEO of Zee Entertainment that today is our flagship company.

Who are you emotionally most attached to? My younger brother Amit. From early days, we have been more friends than brothers. I have never been uncomfortable sharing anything with him and he is a great anchor in my life. I didn't even realise when from being a protective elder brother we came to becoming buddies, sharing everything. And I know that this is a bond that will last forever. It's pretty obvious to my wife also. She knows that if I get a call from him even in the middle of the night, I will just get up and leave. I got married at a very young age while Amit was still a bachelor then, so he continues to live with my father while I live with my wife and kids. Eventually, we will all stay together and are building our family home in Churchgate. My father is more attached to him too and they are both alike. They are both always thinking of new stuff to do, whereas I like to focus on one thing at a time. They can multitask, I can't, which is why Amit runs close to five businesses while I run only one. I am a consensus kind of person, but my father finds me very soft. My father is more practical and a visionary and is a faster decision-maker than me. Visions don't come to me so easily. It comes to my brother.

In what way were you a rebel?I realise now what my father used to tell me and how right he was and it echoes in my head. By the time you realise that your father was right, you will have a son who thinks that you are wrong. When I was called back from Switzerland, I used to feel, we are not poor, then why am I being subjected to this? I may not be an 'A' student but at least I was not failing. I was getting 50% and would rather have time with friends and have beer as against studying. I started smoking at 15 and would flirt with girls. Even during my affair with my wife, I had two breakups and that time I would be flirting. Fathers always know everything about their sons. He hated it that I started smoking early as he used to smoke. And now he hates it more as both he and my brother have given it up. He didn't like the fact that just because it is easy for you, you don't care a shit about life. He would tell me, 'You have not seen the true meaning of what is true life.' I used to feel I have not seen hardships so how do you want us to know. But failures in life teach you many things. While it took me time to get my head on straight, I know that today he is proud of me.

Your new channel Zindagi launches June 23. Talk about it?To start with, it will have the best content from Pakistan. The way we currently tell our stories in India on TV is very different from the way in which some of the evolved audiences want to consume it. For instance, the differentiating factor will be that these are real life stories. The heroines in these shows don't get up decked up as if they are going for a wedding. They are not shot on some mega set but are based on real locations. We also have a lot of content from Turkey and Latin America that we will be remaking for the Indian market as the kind of things they show there are not what we can show in India on TV.

Have you been to Pakistan?My first visit was with the Zee delegation with my father as his executive assistant. We were state guests but my motivation to go there was that I had a few friends there from my school in Switzerland. So I managed to convince my father to get my visa extended by four days. Pakistanis are not any different from the way it is here. They may not go out clubbing, but they are just like us in India.What was your motivation to launch the Zee music label?The industry was suffering from a monopoly situation and while we were trading in the music business, we saw an opportunity to build an IP. Javed Akhtar sahab representing the industry reached out to my father and me, we met him and saw the opportunity and realised that to build our digital strategy, this was a great asset to have. One of the things my father has always been very passionate about has been owning the IP of content. So, while you can sell music for other people you are only traders. The industry's motivation of course was different.

Did the industry's fight against T-Series make it easier for you?Had the business been easy my father would not get into it. He has never treaded the weaker path anyways. And that is what gives us the kick to deliver what he sees. For me, it's never about ego, my decisions are always driven by the business perspective. And well, we are happy as we have signed on over 30 films and have the entire Fox and Viacom slate already.  

Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 17, 2014)

Together they scripted some of Bollywood's biggest success stories—Sholay (1975), Don (1978), Deewar (1975) and Trishul (1978) to name a few before parting ways. Mr India (1987) was their last film together and 26 years later, Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar came together to promote Sholay 3D and admitted that they were open to the idea of working together again.

Now Mirror has it that Javed, a leading voice in the cause of royalty for intellectual copyright, paid a visit to Salim’s house a few days ago to lobby for a new music label which is giving tough competition to the dominant player in the music industry, which has long opposed Javed’s stance on the copyright issue. Buzz is, Javed even met some other producers with the same intention, after meeting Salim.

A source close to Javed revealed, “Javed is fed up with music companies that use their monopoly to violate the clause of royalty.”

When contacted, Salim admitted that Javed had come over. "He told me that we should look at the new music label in the market,” he said.

So, what has Salim decided? Does he agree with Javed? He shot back, “How can I decide so quickly? First I need to go through the other options available."

And did they meet warmly? "Of course we met warmly. Javed and I are very civilised people,” he retorted.

Gaurav Dubey (MID-DAY; March 15, 2014)

Reams have already been devoted to covering the royalty issue between music company T-Series and a bevy of singers and music composers. Recent instances include the much-publicised controversy that broke out when actor-turned-producer Abhay Deol decided to take on T-Series by supporting the rights of the music director trio, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

Similarly, Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan were shown the door upon demanding royalty; their songs were then re-recorded with other singers.

For quite some time now, the industry seems to have been unable to resolve this conflict. But it looks like a solution is not so far away. If sources are to be believed, Zee is all set to take on T-Series with its own music label. What’s more, this label is apparently pro musicians and is considering giving them royalty.

Says a source, “The chairman of Essel Group, Subhash Chandra, called for a meeting with the industry’s top music directors, lyricists and producers where they were informed about Zee’s music label. He stressed on the fact that the company will seriously consider the amended copyright clause that deals with paying royalty to music composers and lyricists.” This secret meeting is said to have included director Vikramaditya Motwane, filmmaker Vipul Shah, actor-filmmaker Arbaaz Khan and some leading music directors from the industry.

When informed about this, Bhushan Kumar of T- Series said, “Music is a big market and recently it has incurred us losses, so we have now diversified into film production. Besides, we have always welcomed healthy competition from big names.”

Kailash Kher is happy with this development. He says, “Some people are not ready to give singers their due but there are a few good people in the industry who follow the rules. We respect Zee’s ideology.”

Sonu Nigam, who has been fighting the royalty battle for a long time now, sounds relieved. He says, “For a musician like me, who is loved and appreciated by people, it is difficult to accept a scenario where an autocratic, unrepentant set of people snatch away my songs and make others sing them. So this news is a breath of fresh air.” The new music label has apparently acquired music rights of a few films and this list could include Shah Rukh Khan starrer Happy New Year, Akshay Kumar starrer Holiday, and a film being made by Vashu Bhagnani.

Lyricist Sameer, who was present at the meeting, says, “Zee is reviving its music label and this is great for us, because they have promised to follow the new copyright law which will give singers royalty and performance rights.” Music composer Ehsaan Noorani, who also attended the meeting, points out that healthy completion is always welcome. “It’s good to have more music companies distributing and acquiring music. Copyright laws apply to everyone, but their implementation by record companies is taking a long time. A lot of administration and monitoring work needs to be done for it to be smoothly executed.”

Punit Goenka, CEO of Zee Entertainment, remained unavailable for comment. Anurag Bedi, business head, Zee Entertainment, said, “ When the time is right, we will surely comment on this.”