Sashi Kumar | |
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| Born | 23 February 1952 |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupations |
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| Spouse | Radhika |
| Children | 2 |
Sashi Kumar, Born on February 23, 1952 in Kerala, spent his school years in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, the bulk of it in Madras. He completed his post-graduation in history from Madras Christian College in 1975. Sashi Kumar has been a media pioneer and institution builder over the last four decades. In the late 1970s he was among the earliest Newscasters in English on Doordarshan, India’s national TV network and over the next decade, he became a familiar face in TV households in India as news and current affairs anchor, film critic and producer and director of topical features on television.
Among the weekly programs, he authored and presented were Money Matters, the first independent program on the economy on Indian television, Tana Bana, a cultural feature, and Jan Manch, an interactive forum with Ministers in the government and a cross-section of society.
He has been the principal anchor of international conventions like the Commonwealth Heads of State meet in Bangalore, The Non-aligned summit in Delhi and the International Film Festivals of India for several years. During the mid 1980s, he focused his critical and creative energy on a series of documentaries on international issues that were path-breaking because they provided an original and alternative perspective (as against the routine western view) to the troubled spots of the world.
He travelled extensively to make these features, visiting the Soviet Union several times during the dismantling phase of glasnost and perestroika, East Germany (GDR) just before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Romania in the immediate wake of the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu, several countries in Eastern Europe to get a feel at first hand of the collapse of communism in that part of the world, and, separately, several European states and the USA for a multi-part mega feature on Disarmament and Development.
He also produced a number of special features on the issues affecting South Asia, covering Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, the Maldives. Most of these docu-features combined descriptive or illustrative visual footage with incisive and analytical interviews with the key players, and were telecast as multipart series. He was considered something of television’s Sri Lanka expert during the height of the fractious war on the island and the phase of the IPKF intervention.
Sashi Kumar’s engagement with the television media began as a part of Doordarshan, initially as Newscaster and then as News & Current Affairs Producer.
As a print journalist, he had been writing analytical features and critiques on Indian, regional and world cinema and interviewing topnotch Indian and international film directors. His writing moved from cinema to politics and international affairs when he became the first West Asia (or Middle East) Correspondent of The Hindu. He opened the West Asia bureau of the publication in Bahrain in 1984 and travelled extensively in the region covering the Iran-Iraq conflict, West Asian (or Middle East) politics, the Palestinian liberation struggle, the status of Indian labor in the gulf states and the developments in the GCC states over the next couple of years.
While in Bahrain, Sashi Kumar was also a news presenter on Radio Bahrain, the first time a non-Britisher was chosen to go on air in the Gulf kingdom. News presenters on Radio Bahrain also doubled as editors, choosing and compiling the news for the bulletins.
In 1986, he returned to India, enticed by reports of a more liberal dispensation in Doordarshanand an opening up to producers outside. After a short six-month stint as General Manager with the Reliance owned Mudra Videotec, he took up an offer from PTI (Press Trust of India) to set up the television wing of the news agency. PTI-TV soon became the most prominent banner on Indian television and it was during these years, 1986 to 1992, that he produced the series of political and international docu-features that won him critical acclaim.
As founder and President of ASIANET:
By the late eighties, the DBS (Direct Broadcast Television) technology was making its impact felt across the world, and Sashi Kumar saw in it a long awaited opportunity for an independent initiative in the electronic media. He conceived the idea of an independent satellite television news channel run by PTI and took it to the board. However, after several months, the board continued to be indecisive, he decided to take the plunge himself quitting PTI, launched Asianet, India’s first satellite TV channel in the regional language, in late 1992. Telecasting in Malayalam, the channel was targeted at Kerala and the large diaspora of Malayalis in the rest of India, the Gulf states, and other parts of the world.
Simultaneously, he also launched Asianet Satcom, a cable company in Kerala that took up state-wide cabling using the electricity poles. Both these were pioneering steps in the evolution of independent Satellite TV and Cable in India.
The Asianet channelset new trends and standards in intelligent and wholesome programming that resisted the innate tendency of the medium to dumb down. Asianet Satcom was the first state-wide cable system in India.
As founder & Chairman of MEDIA DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION
& ASIAN COLLEGE OF JOURNALISM:
By 2000, Sashi Kumar divested his stakes in Asianet, both the channel and the cable company had become hugely successful ventures. In 2000 Sashi Kumar endowed and founded the Media Development Foundation (MDF) as a nonprofit trust dedicated to excellence in journalism education and best practices in the profession. The Foundation set up the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) in Chennai, www.asianmedia.org. He is the Chairman of the Trust. The other Trustees are: Mr. N. Ram former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu Publishing Group, Mr. N. Murali, Director of The Hindu group, Mrs. Radhika Menon, Publisher and Editor, Tulika Publishers, and well known economist and former Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Dr. C. P. Chandrasekhar.
ACJ quickly acquired the stature of the premier institution of journalism education in region, attracting the best students seeking to study journalism from across India and other countries in South Asia, and forging links with some of the best in the field like the Bloomberg News, BBC, the Columbia School of Journalism in New York, and Cardiff and Westminster in the UK.
As Filmmaker:
In the late seventies, Sashi Kumar had been writing on films in The Hindu. His journalistic writing began with analytical views and reviews on the serious, new Indian and world cinema. He also introduced critical evaluation and comment on cinema on Indian television through his many international film festival coverages. Apart from his television documentaries and features, he scripted and directed a film in 16 mm on a friend fighting cancer titled “Vijaylakshmi, the story of a young woman with cancer’, and a science-fictional feature titled ‘Nemesis-II’. Both were telecast on the national network.
In 2004 Sashi Kumar scripted and directed a full length feature film in Hindi titled ‘Kaya Taran’ (Chrysalis). The film deals with the crisis of identity in a multicultural society that turns continually volatile, and straddles the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 and the post Godhra anti-Muslim carnage in Gujarat in 2002 (www.kayataran.com).
The film won him the G.Aravindan Award for the Best Debutant Filmmaker in India in 2004 and was selected for the Indian Panorama in the International Film Festival at Goa that year and, subsequently, for various international film festivals. The film was the first ever Indian entry in the feature film section at the INPUT (International Public Television) Festival at Taipei in 2005.
In 2009 Sashi Kumar acted in a lead role opposite Mammootty in the Malayalam feature film “Loudspeaker” which also won him critical notice and awards in the categories of ‘best supporting actor’ and ‘character actor’. Since then, he has acted in a number of Malayalam films. As a pioneer in the field, his advice is sought in television greenfield projects, and he has played a key role in setting up the Malayalam TV channels Kairali, India Vision and Media One, among others.
Sashi Kumar’s regular columns titled “Unmediated” in the fortnightly Frontline (of The Hindu group) were compiled under the same title and published by TulikaBooks, New Delhi.
His latest media venture, Asiaville Interactive (www.asiavillenews.com), was launched at the end of January 2019. This multimedia, digital initiative has three language verticals - Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam. Asiaville also produces original non-fictional and fictional audio and video content for many OTT platforms. Sashi Kumar is Chairman and Co-founder of Asiaville Interactive.
Other interests:
He was Member, Empowered Committee on Information, Communication & Technology (ICE), Prime Minister’s Office.
He is a Trustee of the Elizabeth and Malcolm Adiseshiah Trust
He is member of South Asia Foundation-India Advisory Board.
He has been Chairperson and member of juries of international film festivals
He has received many awards for his contribution to media, including the Swadeshabhimani award and the first Lifetime Achievement Award for Television Media instituted by the government of Kerala
He has written and lectured extensively on the media.
He has learned, and is an avid rasika of classical Carnatic music
He has experience in the theatre, having acted in and directed a number of plays as part of professional and amateur troupes in Chennai.
He likes reading and swimming and wishes he had more time for both.
Sashi Kumar is married to Radhika, publisher-editor of Tulika Publishers, who publish books for children. They have two sons. The elder son, Tushar, is a scientist, is married to Nisha and live with their two sons, Vihaan and Aayush, in San Diego, USA. The younger son, Tuhin, co-founder with him of Asiaville Interactive Pvt. Ltdis married to Pooja, and with their two daughters, Kaira and Anika, in Chennai.
Early life and education
Sashi Kumar was born at Karupadanna near Kodungallur in Thrissur District of the erstwhile State of Travancore–Cochin.[1] He did his schooling at the Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Chennai. He then completed his graduation from Loyola College, Chennai, and took post graduation in history from the Madras Christian College.
Career
Sashi Kumar’s engagement with the television media began as a part of Doordarshan, initially as Newscaster and then as News and Current Affairs Producer.
As a print journalist, he had been writing analytical features and critiques on Indian, regional and world cinema and interviewing topnotch Indian and international film directors His writing moved from cinema to politics and international affairs when he became the first West Asia (or Middle East) Correspondent of The Hindu. He opened the West Asia bureau of the publication in Bahrain in 1984 and travelled extensively in the region covering the Iran-Iraq conflict, west asian (or middle east) politics, the Palestinian liberation struggle, the status of Indian labour in the gulf states and the developments in the GCC states over the next couple of years.
While in Bahrain, Sashi Kumar was also a news caster on Radio Bahrain, the first time a non- Britisher was chosen to go on air in the Gulf kingdom. News presenters on Radio Bahrain also doubled as editors, choosing and compiling the news for the bulletins.
In 1986 he returned to India enticed by reports of a more liberal dispensation in Doordarshan and an ‘opening up’ to producers outside. After a short six-month stint as General Manager with the Reliance owned Mudra Videotec, he took up an offer from PTI (Press Trust of India) to set up a television wing of the news agency. PTI-TV soon became the most prominent banner on Indian television and it was during these years, 1986 to 1992, that he produced the series of political and international docu-features that won him critical acclaim.
Position
- He was Member, Empowered Committee on Information, Communication & Technology (ICE), Prime Minister’s Office.
- He is a Trustee of the Elizabeth and Malcolm Adiseshiah Trust
- He is member of South Asia Foundation- India Advisory Board.
- He has been Chairperson and member of juries of international film festivals
- He has received many awards for his contribution to media, including the Swadeshabhimani award and the first Lifetime Achievement Award for Television Media instituted by the government of Kerala
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Iniyum Marichittillatha Nammal | ||
| 2004 | Kaya Taran | Directorial debut | |
| 2009 | Loudspeaker | ||
| 2014 | Balyakalasakhi | Ameen Sahib | |
| 2015 | Love 24x7 | Dr. Satheesh | |
| 2015 | Ennu Ninte Moideen |
Bibliography
- Unmediated: Essays on Media, Culture and Cinema, Tulika Books, 2014
Award
- 2007: Viayaraghavan Memorial Award for his contribution to journalism
- 2005: G. Aravindan Award for Best Debut Filmmaker for Kaya Taran
References
- ^ Samakalika Malayalam weekly, 2010 August 20 Onam special edition Archived 14 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine An interview with Sashi Kumar By O.K Johny-"malayalathinte pinvilikal" page 28-39 (Malayalam)