ACTING AS A CAREER IN BOLLYWOOD 11 : SAMAR JAI SINGH
ALWAYS NURTURE A LONG WORKING REALITIONSHIP
“FIFTEEN YEARS OF ASSOSIATION WITH STAR PLUS”
WE AT KREATING CHARAKTERS ARE THRILLED FOR BAGGING THIRD CONSECUTIVE ‘GROOMING CONTRACT’ FOR THE JUDGES OF MASTER CHEF INDIA – 3 on STAR PLUS.
My personal association with ‘STAR PLUS’ dates back to August 1997, when I featured in their thriller ‘Ajeeb Dastan’ Directed by Ms Mandira Kashyap. Those were times when Door Dharshan was ruling the roost, It was the most sought after channel. It had so many mythological serials that it was even called ‘Dev Darshan’. Yes , amongst the satellite channels Zee T.V. was the leader.
It’s been fifteen long years of association from an actor featuring on Star Plus episodic shows to afternoon slot shows like ‘SHAGUN’ (Produced by Ronnie Screwala’s UTV) in 2001 which I did for fourteen months, being part of their flag ship shows such as ‘KAHANI GHAR GHAR KI in 2003 (Produced by Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Tele films and ‘SARA AAKASH’ (Produced by Miditech ) in 2004.
After fifteen years, I am bearing the responsibility of mentoring their talents. This panoramic view literally gives me goose bumps. There is a pressure of sorts on me to deliver show after show, one talent after another. I appreciate the trust and faith of the channels creative team has bestowed upon me. I thank channels’ programming head Ms. Monica Shergill, who has regularly recommended my name to the producers for the customized training provided to the talent hired by the channel.
In a television net work, a producer is merely a ‘ glorified executive producer’. It is the channel who invests money and has the final say. It is the channel that takes the call who is going to be on board not the producer.
It’s like “ Channel is the soul which is permanent and producers are perishable bodies”.
My association as a customized trainer for Star Plus show started in 2007 with the musical show “Om Shanti “. Mr. Vikas Kapoor was the creative head of the show.
In 2010 Master Chef was first time franchised in India after it’s huge success all over the world. It was a huge responsibility to spot the best of the Chefs who had good Communication and Interpersonal relationship skills. It was a task for the channel, and I was brought on board.
It was something new to me ,I had been handling actors, had worked with singers in ‘Om Shanti’.For the First time I had to work with people who were not into performing. They were excellent in their field, that of culinary art. Their communication was limited to their staff in the kitchen. Their body language was heavily conditioned by their job requirement , they appeared a bit too humble and submissive. They were getting prepared to host a food reality competition show. They required to be assertive , commanding, demanding and ruthless at times , specially when eliminating a contestant . It was an uphill task for the creative team of star plus and me. To add to our distress they were pitched along with the superstar Akshay kumar.
These guys, chef Ajay Chopra and Chef Kunal Kapoor worked hard, and the show started off with flying colours, registering TRP of above four points.
In July 2011 the channel decided to go for Master chef season -2 without the star Akshay Kumar. For the third judge they wanted someone with an international repute. They had zeroed on to three chef two from U.K. and one from the U.S.Chef Vineet Bhatia had a restaurant in London, had a Michelin star to his credit (Michelin star is a sort of hall mark standard for food in Europe and the U.S ), Chef Atul Kochar who hails from London had two Michelin stars to his tredit and Chef Vikas Khanna who runs a high end Indian restaurant in New York called ‘Junoon’ was the third one to be considered. Individual grooming sessions for all three were held and finally chef Vikas Khanna was picked.
Sphere origin launched their prime time show ‘GULAAL’ on Star Plus in March 2011, I was brought on board as an acting trainer. The show was based in interiors of kutch region in Gujrat. I had to specifically work on this little boy Ali. He had featured in David Dhawans film ‘Partner’, he played the part of Salman Khans son.
Soon after ‘Gulaal’, winner of Master Chef season – 1 Pankaj Badoria’s show ‘Chef Pankaj Ka Zayaka’ was launched on Star plus. The Show was produced by BBC. I did a two weeks workshop with Pankaj.
In February 2011 Star Plus signed actor Khalid Siddiqui for their new show rooted in Kolkota titled ‘Aparajito’. Co-incidentally Khalid was a student of mine, way back in 1994 when I was associated as a free lance trainer with one of the Acting Schools in Mumbai. During this stint I came to know that Khalid is a blue blood. He is from the lineage of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. After knowing this I realized why he is so courteous and polite. “We had to work extra hard to overcome this politeness of his”.
Khalid’s grooming stint was followed by training of Master Chef India – 2. Winner, Shipra Khanna. Her show for Star Plus was titled ‘India Banega Master Chef ‘ a prelude to season 3. This came as the prize along with the title she had won . She has just joined batch no. 68 at KREATING CHARAKTERS to polish her expressions and body language.
How Gauri Bhosle, female lead of STAR PLUS’ next show “Khamoshiya , ended up in Mumbai’s best acting school, KREATING CHARAKTERS.
I received a call from Director Sidharth SenguptaI in March 2012. He has been regularly directing shows for ‘Star Plus’. He told me about this young actor who is playing the main character in Star Plus’ new show “Khamoshiyan”. Her name was ‘Mrinal Thakur’. Both ‘Gulal’ and ‘Aprajito’ were directed by Siddharth , Star Plus creative team had suggested Siddharth to get Mrinal Trained at Best acting school in Mumbai , the one and only “KREATING CHARAKTERS”
After whopping success of Master chef junior Australia, star plus decided to launch Master junior in India. This work shop was conducted by KREATING CHARAKTERS in July 2012. It was quite an experience working with the young chefs, they were all aged 7 to 12 years.

NOW COMES STAR PLUS’ MASTER CHEF INDIA -3
On Wednesday 28th Nov, ‘ KREATING CHARAKTERS’, the most happening Film Institute in Mumbai, bagged yet another customized grooming assignment with ‘Star Plus’, The third season of Master chef India. This season has on board, India’s first celebrity chef, a legend in his own right Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. Mr. Sanjeev kapoor is a gem of a person, was an education interacting with him.
He has a charming smile, has a great set of teeth…but I am not going to barter a picture with him for his smile…. I am not the fraudulent one who sell his spurious product down the lane, with the aid of framed pictures.
I will be privileged, pleased and take pride in it if my pupil ask for a picture with me for remembrance and keep sake.
WOULD NEVER EVER FALL SHALLOW TO PROMOTE MY SELF THROUGH THAT PICTURE!!!
NEXT – “ My experience working with kids as a trainer”
SAMAR JAI SINGH
http://www.kreatingcharakters.in

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