For those that grew up watching TV within the 90s, the Sri Adhikari Brothers emblem is imprinted on their recollections. Before it turned a TV channel, SAB was a manufacturing home related to a number of the most iconic Hindi TV exhibits of the 90s. Three many years on, the TV panorama might have modified, however SAB troopers on, now shepherded by a brand new technology. Ravi Adhikari, the son of co-founder Gautam Adhikari, is main the cost within the period of OTT and AI. In a candid dialog with Hindustan Times, Ravi speaks about managing the legacy of India’s first listed media firm, placing a steadiness between emotion and enterprise, and the way his manufacturing home is utilizing synthetic intelligence to not exchange human creativity however to reinforce it.
On legacy and emotion over enterprise
Taking over a large legacy like SAB is a activity that carries each delight and stress. For Ravi Adhikari, the journey is outlined by a artistic course of that’s virtually solely pushed by ardour moderately than chilly calculation “For me, business is not an emotion. We, creators, are more emotionally inclined with every project, and that is my issue. Whatever I do, I get emotionally involved. When it comes to business, it’s about creating more wealth than money right now. That is why I am talking about our IPs, the shows. If I compromise on the product just to earn a few extra bucks on this particular project, then the business is not going to work (in the long term),” he says.
The nostalgia Blueprint: Why 90s exhibits nonetheless join
SAB produced a number of the most iconic tv exhibits of the 90s, from Shriman Shrimati to Suraag. Most of those exhibits keep a devoted viewers many years later. Ravi factors out that their success didn’t relaxation on excessive manufacturing values, however on pure, uncooked connectivity with the characters “No show or film will give you numbers just on production value. That is just good-looking stuff. If the story or the character doesn’t work, or it doesn’t connect, it will never work. Else Bombay Velvet would be the biggest film today,” he argues. He says that in the 90s, “creativity was born out of shortage.” For him, characters are what people carry with them long after the credits roll.
“Whenever you watch a movie or show, what you take back is a character, it’s not the story. People watch Sholay for Gabbar, for Jai-Veeru, or for Basanti. You watch Rockstar for Jordan. That connects with people. That is what made shows like Shriman Shrimati so relatable. It was a show about coveting your neighbour’s wife, yet it never crossed a line. Parents would watch it with their children. That was always handled in a very clean, family-friendly way.” He says this relatability stood in stark contrast to the highly stylised, aspirational daily soaps of the 2000s, where characters slept fully decked out in makeup and jewellery to sell a dream rather than reality. “Our characters didn’t go to sleep wearing jewellery. Reema Lagoo used to be in a nighty, and Rakesh Bedi sir in a kurta pyjama. There was no thought towards aesthetics,” he says with a smile.
Bringing back the classics for the modern era
Ravi proudly informs us that SAB boasts a vast library of over 5,000 hours, comprising more than 10,000 episodes. He now looks to bring back some of the most iconic shows from this library, but through a contemporary lens rather than just nostalgia. “If I am doing a crime show like Suraag, there is still crime today. But what we have changed is the kinds of cases there. It’s not just about murder anymore. We have cybercrimes and lots of other things. The audience is also very exposed to all sorts of shows from around the world,” he explains.
AI can collaborate, not create
In today’s creative landscape, discussions surrounding Artificial Intelligence (AI) are polarising, to say the least. Ravi believes in keeping up with the times and using AI. However, he is firm that AI can never replace the human spark. The filmmaker is excited about the hybrid future of AI, particularly for preserving and reviving legacy. “I’m making an attempt [to use AI to revive past shows]. Like in Sreeman Sreemati, Jatin Kanakia, and Reema Lagoo will not be there. How can I get them again?” He stated the thought got here to him when he heard about Paul Walker’s character returning within the Fast and Furious franchise a decade after his demise. “They are creating Paul Walker, reanimating him with AI. So, I thought, why can’t I do this?” he says.
But Ravi emphasises that AI is a collaborator, an assistant. It can by no means exchange human creativity. “If you just have an AI subscription, you are not a maker,” he asserts. “You need a man behind the machine. So, yes, and we are concentrating on that, because it’s not that I need to take people’s jobs. It’s not that; it is a collaboration tool for us. For a maker, if you are not evolved with today’s time, then you will obviously perish. AI is a tool that makes things easier for me. I don’t have to depend on many people or large budgets. It is helping me show my vision by filling the gap between visualisation and execution. AI-generated IP will have its own segments. There will be a flood of AI content, and you will want that differentiation. People will emphasise their show is ‘made by humans’.”
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