Dr. Nameeta Sharma aspired to become a teacher, but as destiny would have it, she went on to be ‘the very first’ Creative Director in the TV industry, when the designation was coined for the very first time..Having got a doctorate in Media Writing, Nameeta who never wished to join the entertainment business, has had a successful and flourishing career in the line for the last 16 years. Now she serves as the Creative Director in Creative Eye Ltd.’s new show, Betaal aur Singhasan Battisi on SAB TV.

In an exclusive interview to Tellychakkar.com, Dr. Nameeta Sharma speaks about her journey, aspirations and much more for our ‘Behind the Lens’ segment..

How did you enter the entertainment field?  

Well, I came to Mumbai 16 years back, and joined A.I.R. Mumbai as Programming Head. That is when I got an offer to join the core team of Zee TV’s show Rishtey. And this happened by chance. Coming from a simple middle class family, I was very scared to get into the entertainment industry. But due to able guidance coming from Anita Kumar who headed A.I.R. then, I grabbed the opportunity. And then in the year 2003, I joined Balaji Telefilms and went on to be part of many of their shows. In fact, that was the golden era for TV shows, and I am glad to be part of that era. After being part of many shows like Kahiin Toh Hoga, Kutumb, Kahiin Toh Milenge and many more,  I started to freelance for Sagar Arts and DJ’s A Creative Unit. This is when my journey as ‘Creative Head’ began. And in the year 2003, I happened to be the first person to bag the title of ‘Creative Director’. In fact, when my name was put forth by Sagar Arts for the Creative Director’s post, the channel Sahara One actually had an objection to it. As you know, it was only the Creative Head and EPs that gained prominence then. So I can really be proud of the fact that I was the first Creative Director to take charge.

She continues….                    

Later, I joined the Entertainment Society in Goa and organized the IIFTI. I then came back to Sahara One as the Creative Supervisor and went on to launch popular shows like Ganga Ki Dheej, Niyati, Humari Beti Raj Karegi, to Masakkali, and Kismat Connection. My tenure at Sahara One was a good learning curve, as we had to do everything as the team strength was less. So I had a hand in researching, promo making to marketing which was very good. Later, I left Sahara One with a drive to do something new. Now, I have joined Creative Eye as Creative Director for the show Betaal aur Singhasan Battisi on SAB TV.

Who has been your inspiration and guide in your career?

Well, I have always remembered and followed Shri. Ramanand Sagar and his teachings. Initially, when I had joined Sagar Arts, I was young and fit, but was very strict when it came to work. So nobody in my team liked me, and one day, Papaji (Ramanand Sagar) called me to his cabin for a talk. It was then that I told him about not being liked by any. Papaji immediately told me that he cannot see anything wrong in me now and is glad with the remarks I have got. He told me, if everybody starts to like you, it means I have to think about you. Now I am sure that you don’t work to please others, and stick to the job on your hand. So this has been my mantra for life.

Which has been your best phase at work?                  

It has to be the years between 1999 to 2005, wherein I was growing every day. Every step that I took was a learning curve, and this was the best period for TV too.

You have worked with the channel earlier, and now with the production house. So how would you describe the experiences.

Well, being with the channel, our job is to extract good work from the production house and convince them at every step for the budgets. I was with the channel for 10 long years, and the journey was very good. Coming to working in production, earlier there used to be one boss, which was the creative head. However, there are too many bosses nowadays. But this again is also a fruitful journey. I have earlier worked with Creative Eye for the show Niyati when I was with Sahara. The show did extremely well, and I was very comfortable working with them. So when I came out to work on something new, I felt the best place to work with will be Dheeraj Kumarji and Creative Eye Ltd. They basically know my strengths and know my capability of pulling off a success story out of nothing.

What do you feel about today’s television shows?     

Well, I will say that TV is on a repetitive mode, and there is nothing new to show. Having said this, no new experiments have worked on TV. But we need to come up with such different shows time and again. Hammer the viewers with new content, and they will receive it one day. The best example for people accepting something new is the movie Rang Basanti.

Which are the shows on TV that you feel are good?      

Balaji Telefilms’ show Itna Karo Na Muje Pyaar is showing good stuff, and depicting life after a divorce happens. I hope the future for TV is good.

Tell us about your show, Betaal aur Singhasan Battisi on SAB TV? 

Well, it is a very different show, and we are providing a mythological, historical and fantasy based show under a comic wrapper. Everything looks promising, and we aim to click with all kinds of audience. We are not catering this show to any age group of audience. The most important thing in the show is Betaal’s character. One thing is guaranteed, that viewers will laugh on each and every reaction coming out of Betaal. In fact, he does not even need to impress people with his talk; his expressions will speak volumes. Apart from this, we have many important characters.