With Big Brother, Fear Factor and Deal or No Deal, Endemol quickly won the hearts of 800 million Indian television viewers. In order to successfully export Dutch television formats to India, customisation is required. The perfect timing, local production and cultural adaptation of appealing television formats were the key to success, says Endemol India ceo Deepak Dhar. "We are making three different Big Brothers in India."
"When I told my parents in 2006 that I was making the switch from Star TV to Endemol, they thought I was joining a pharmaceutical company," laughs Deepak Dhar (41), ceo of Endemol India. "The name was reminiscent of paracetamol, the company was completely unknown in India." Ten years later, things have changed: the Dutch TV production house has become India's largest in the past decade.
Dhar, a native Kashmiri who moved to Mumbai in his youth, lived through the explosive growth. He was Endemol' s second employee in India in 2006 and now leads an all-Indian team of 45 creative, young employees in the heart of Bollywood. "The timing of Endemol to enter the Indian market was really perfect," recalls Dhar. "There were hardly any foreign TV formats being exported to India, so Endemol was ahead of the troops. Besides, there were no local reality shows in the Indian market yet."
Endemol's experience from other countries in writing cultural adaptations helped immensely. "India is at least as culturally diverse as Europe," says Dhar. "Apart from Hindi, there are eight more commonly spoken regional languages. In addition, there are huge cultural differences and the regional popularity of TV stars varies. If you don't take that into account, there are chances of your show flopping." Such cultural adaptation takes a lot of time: for example, Dhar's team is currently working on the Indian version of the Dutch crime series Penoza - a process that takes roughly 8 to 12 months.
Endemol India CEO Deepak Dhar
Dhar's team constantly works closely with colleagues from Amsterdam and from other countries where EndemolShine, as the group is now officially called, is active. "The corporate culture at Endemol is young and creative. The exchange of ideas is central; there is no such thing as right or wrong. The only question we constantly ask is: "What works in this context?"
Big Brother, a resounding success that is currently in its 9th season, is called in India Bigg Boss. "In India, people often address each other as 'hey boss, so that seemed more appropriate than 'brother'. To overcome cultural obstacles, we are now making three different versions of Bigg Boss, for different markets in India. As a result, the programme can now be seen 300 days a year on one of India's 850 TV channels."
While Endemol dominates the Indian television landscape, the company continues to grow on other fronts. There are still many opportunities to create content for digital platforms," says Dhar, "and we are also throwing ourselves into film production, such as the adaptation of the American feature film Warrior for the Indian market."