"Ethnic formats are a rave these days"

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Nikhil Alva, chief executive officer, Miditech, isn’t quite sure how the transition from Mathematics to film making came about, expect that “one was always drawn to things creative.” He founded Miditech while still in college in 1991 to produce music for television programmes, films and ads. Over the years Alva, along with brother Niret, has helped build the firm into one of India’s finest independent production houses and an acknowledged leader of the reality TV genre. Here Alva talks to Radhika Sachdev of the FE about the way ahead.

Define “reality”. How much of it is reality and how much is manufactured for a particular effect?

It’s 100 reality. No portion is stage-managed. What is managed is the technique of casting the right sort of people, placing them in a particular context and from that point on, the characters simply take off.

Who are these “right sort of people”? Can you cite a few examples?

People who have clear points of view; are articulate, can hold their own in front of a TV camera and don’t get swayed under pressure. People like Javed Akhtar, Anu Malik and Farah Khan, to name just a few.

Are you saying that the research and pre-screening that goes into reality shows is deeper than in other formats?

You are absolutely right. The research here is much deeper. We take screen tests, there is a lot of discussion that takes place prior to casting and it goes much beyond a simple CV scan.

Miditech has worked with both Indians and foreign clients. Who do you enjoy the best comfort level with?

That’s a difficult one to answer because they come from diverse markets. With foreign clients the initial pitching is a long-drawn process but once the ice is broken, they virtually open a floodgate of projects. With BBC it took us three years. With National Geographic we pitched for nearly five years before the first breakthrough, and with Discovery it took us 10 years of talking before they thawed. But thereafter, there has been no looking back. One advantage of working with these clients is that they enable you to attract the best talent.