Dheeraj Kumar tells Jyothi Venkatesh that he has always re-iterated that the content is the king.

"If it is a good central role, which requires me for just about twelve days every month like Vinod Khanna did in Smriti Irani's Mere Apne, I am game to face the camera and act once again, because acting gives me tremendous relaxation", quips Dheeraj Kumar over steaming cups of hot sugarless coffee at the outset when I meet him for this tête-à-tête at his plush office in the suburbs.

Dheeraj recalls that the last time he had faced the camera as an actor was three years back in his own serial Ghar Sansar.

Dheeraj reasons, "If you have to grow, you have to be a professional and delegate work to others instead of trying to do everything and ending up as a jack of all and master of none".

No wonder that today, Dheeraj owns the second biggest production house which boasts of approximately 12 hours of programme per week.

Says Dheeraj as a matter of fact, "In the next three months, we will have 15 hours of programme per week. It will grow to 18 hours of programme per week in yet another six months.

We are now working for almost every channel, in the sense that we are producing two shows each for 9X and Zee and a show each for Doordarshan and Sony. On the anvil are also two shows for NDTV Imagine."

Like Jeetendra who used to have the facts and figures about the box office in his hey days, Dheeraj seems to know the statistics of the small screen at the tip of his finger.

"As content creators, we are the second largest as a listed limited company. We own the intellectual property rights of most of our programmes. The requirement of contents is the highest in order of agenda with several new channels coming up.

We are now creating 1500 hours of work in different languages in India. Today it is a very tough competitive scenario with as many as 220 channels beaming into India, including seventeen General Entertainment channels. I have always reiterated that the content is the king". Dheeraj continues.

"You are much in demand if you have mythological content, because there is immense shelf life for mythology.

Today 60% of the TV programmes constitutes of social shows whereas 40% of the shows constitute of reality, mythology and research based shows.

The USP of our company is that we have created 7000 hours of programming from 1986 till today, including 700 hours of mythology content like Shri Ganesh, Om Nama Shivay, Jap Tap Vrat etc."

Dheeraj predicts that in the next six months, reality shows will occupy 60% of the television programme slot and adds that with the buying power slowly shifting from the women to the children in the age group of 8 to 15, the need is there to increasingly make shows keeping in mind children who are in that group as the prime target audience.

According to Dheeraj, changing with time is the essence of moving forward.

He admits that there indeed was a big lull as far as mythological shows were concerned for almost seven years between 2001 and 2007, because of overdose and the mad race to churn out mythological serials without proper research or a scientific approach which led to blunders confusing the audience.

Dheeraj is confident that mythological will be back with a big bang now in 2008 with a new contemporary look. However, he warns producers of mythological shows not to go overboard and play to the gallery.

"Never play with the sentiments of the public in terms of their feelings towards the Gods and the goddesses, because their images remain the same from times immemorial. You should project Gods as they have been projected till date instead of trying to experiment, " explains Dheeraj.

Dheeraj is of the opinion that kids' shows are no more the prerogative of only the children's' channels.

"Today whatever be the channel, you can play with special effects on the computers because kids identify with them after watching Hulk, Super Man 3 and are well versed with the latest computer games. There is a great demand for shows like Baal Ganesh, Baal Hanuman etc, " depicts Dheeraj.

Dheeraj is happy that his shows like Maayka and Ghar Ki Lakshmi - Betiyaan, which deal with married women and their families have proved to be big hits with the audiences as well as the satellite channels. Broadcasters depend on the advertisers.

He asserts, "Ultimately it is a game of revenue with every broadcaster thinking how to be different. As far as reality shows go, I feel that the ideas remain the same with every show being a singing or a dancing show but cosmetic changes take place."

Dheeraj says that like mythologicals which are in demand now with the new versions of Ramayan and Mahabharat and Krishna springing up, there will be a big demand for even historic serials.

"The scenario is slowly changing and soon there will be the demand for serials on Mahatma Gandhi, Tipu Sultan and Akbar The Great, because a new generation is growing up which is keen on learning various aspects of history, " he explains the various aspects of historical shows in Indian television.

It is interesting to note that the man who has redefined television entertainment scene with shows in various genres was never inclined towards production of films though he has to his credit films like Aabra Ka Daabra, which failed to tickle the box office counters.

"Yes. It is true that I was not inclined towards films. Aabra Ka Daabra was a window through which I wanted to open the doors for 3D TV shows in India", Dheeraj quips.

Dheeraj has lofty plans to make around ten to twelve mythological animation films in the next five years, inspired by the tremendous success of films like Hanuman.

"We have the expertise as far as mythology is concerned and hence it is easy for a visualizer to enhance the images for his film after watching our serials.

We intend producing mythological animation films like Nav Durga which is now under production which will cost us around two to two and a half crores of rupees. These films will have a running time of around an hour and fifteen minutes, " Dheeraj asserts.

"We have a tie up with a Hyderabad based company from which we will outsource graphics and the animation of characters.

All the rest from ideation to the background to the technical aspects of mixing to distribution will be done by my production company Creative Eye, because with big production houses like that of Yash Chopra and Karan Johar jumping into the fray to make animation content, making animation films is far more practical and beneficial, " concludes Dheeraj. - Jyothi Venkatesh