MEDIA - PR
Anusha is national sportsperson having played the games of basketball and handball, besides having been a sprinter. Though she confesses that her late father V. S. Srinivasan was working at that point of time as The Chief Cashier with the Indian Express Group that also published the popular film trade weekly Screen, because when she applied for the post of a cub reporter in Screen, she was put off when she was asked questions in an interview which she couldn’t even figure out. “Imagine they asked me to write an imaginary interview with Mahesh Bhatt. It is like deciding what the verdict is going to be and then going to see a film to review it as a critic! I may have been a new kid on the block, but journalism is about being true to your reportage. Nevertheless, working with Udaya Tara Nayar any day will be my dream come true. She is an epitome of humility and a role model for all of us.”
It was way back in the 90s that Anusha had joined the popular eveninger Mid-Day as a sports reporter, since it was up her alley. After having worked with the paper for five years, she moved on to features and entertainment and eventually was part of the Sunday Mid-Day.
Anusha says that rather than covering the actual game, she liked to tackle games as a feature. “We did a lot of Sunday features and eventually I moved on to Indian Express, the TV Today Group and then the Rediff Women’s channel Footforward.com as Editor followed by a stint as Associate Editor of Indian Express Group’s Hotelier and Caterer and Smart Interiors and the Editor of Sindoor, an Expat Women’s magazine in Dubai. I then opted to settle down as the Head – PR, Promotions and Publicity Head of UTV.”
Anusha says that being a journalist has actually helped her tremendously as a PR person. “You cannot pitch a story properly and get it printed, if you do not know what exactly a journalist looks for. While most of the other PR persons simply send long-winded press releases to the publications, I make it a point to send the right article pitch and information, so that they can publish it even at times without bothering to edit what we send.”
Anusha explains that you should know which pitch to send to which journalist depends on what the journalist or the publication specialises. “You do not bother to send samosas or bhajias to someone who does not like oil. You just cannot hope to get across a story if it does not interest the journalist. I know that it does not work if you try to push the journalist to a corner, because if I were a journalist, I myself would have not done the story myself. That is why I have an extra edge as a journalist.”
Interestingly though Anusha is one of the leading people in the business of publicity, she does not like to call herself a PR person. “We are not PR persons. We are Media Strategists and Brandmakers. Each person has an aspiration and we create a staircase between today and that aspiration, using media as a tool and help them reach whatever heights he or she wants to reach. Our job is to see to it that our client gets into the limelight, not us. I am quite practical. If I get an actor like common man Anjan ‘Mr Wagle’ Shrivastav in the pages of a paper like The Times of India four times in a week, it will be to my credit. What’s the big deal if I get Shah Rukh Khan or Salman Khan into the Bombay Times, even every day of the week? They would have gotten there with one call, anyway. A true PR is one who moves a ‘Who’s he’ into the ‘Who’s Who’ list with his strategy.”
Anusha is of the opinion that every medium has its own reach. “Each journalist has his or her own individual zone and I as a strategist should know how to tap that zone. It is either by sending them readymade snippets, trade- oriented items or story pitches, crisply cut video or audio stories as per requirement. I know that websites need shorter and crisper stories. How you draft and set out to present it to them is important. It works for me as I am a journalist first.”
“You cannot pitch a story properly and get it printed, if you do not know what exactly a journalist looks for.”
Anusha says that as a publicity and media strategist, Media Net is an add-on and helps get a wider coverage for her clients. “There is ethically no harm in it at all, because let’s face facts, a newspaper like The Times of India does not give you space if you do not at all qualify for it, even if you offer them loads of money.”
Relationships have always been Anusha’s forte as a journalist and one of her strong points. She says that she can recognize and converse with over 800 journalists nationally by just hearing their voice over the phone.Her most memorable moment was when Indian goalkeeper Mark Patterson had written a letter to her and sent it to his dad when he left India for Australia. “I was just 19 at that time but since I was more of a friend rather than a journalist to Mark, his father sent me the letter and told me that he did not mind if I published it in Mid-Day. It gave me a high when it was the only paper that Mark spoke to after he left India and his career behind due to some sports authority issues. My seniors were very proud and that made me happy,” gushes Anusha.
Anusha avers that as a journalist she has always been ethical to the core and never misused any information which was shared by people who she went to interview. “At the end of the day, today’s gossip is old trash tomorrow, but good stories live forever in the hearts of those you interviewed.”
“Each person has an aspiration and we create a staircase between today and that aspiration, using media as a tool and help them reach whatever heights he or she wants to reach style onto the big screen too.”
A single mother, Anusha has no qualms about working 24×7. “When you love something and someone, you make time for both.” She has no regrets either and believes that giving is living, which is also the essence of her animal welfare initiative, Pawsitive Farm Sanctuary; her home houses over 60 dogs and cats, whom Anusha looks after from her own funds. The initiative even boasts of a cricket team that plays with its emblem on their T shirts.
Anusha avers. “In PR, every news is good news, because if you are being written about, you must be somebody. The same way, every incident in your life happens for a greater good. I am a proud mother of two intelligent sons and I am glad we have so many happy souls at home today. My family equally shares the love for animals; I would not trade my life’s moments for anything else, ever.”
Anusha who has put in 25 years as a PR, Promotion and Publicity Consultant ever since she began her career as publicist with Govind Nihalani’s Takshak, has today expanded her horizons beyond the realm of being a Media Strategist and Brandmaker.Today, she is also a curator of films for various film festivals globally, besides actively managing the careers of actors of the likes of Ranvir Shorey, Dino Morea and Gracy Singh. This year, Anusha curated four films in Entr2@Marches, Cannes – Paradiso, Side A Side B, Umformung and Viraam.
And hold your breath! Anusha, who has also penned shows like Parchaaiyan for Sahara TV for Anand Rai and Ravi Rai, episodes of Avinash IPS, and assisted veterans like Raman Kumar and Brij Katyal in the writing of Mili, Son Pari, Siskiyaan and over 14 Indonesian shows and two feature films, has now also moved towards direction.
“In PR, every news is good news, because if you are being written about, you must be somebody. ncing is my passion too.”
Her debut short film as writer-director, Saare Sapne Apne Hain won rave reviews as Entr@Marches, Cannes, this year, and was among the top ten films in the 600 films from 60 countries there. The film was on a mute child labourer who sacrifices his dreams to help another, thus emerging to be a voice on his own. It struck a chord with global audiences worldwide, travelling to over 23 film festivals globally, thus far. Her second film The Wait, a silent film on the eternal wait of a woman for her true love who would never return is now on the journey having travelled to over 11 festivals globally.
”My sister Nandini Viswanathan is the Director – Media Relations of Naarad PR & Image Strategists. She infuses fresh blood into the business and handles the media independently today. So I have peacefully spread my wings as she is the wind beneath my feathers. I handle the Media strategy and Client Servicing and I have no stress of media. Besides, my kids are also lending us able hands. Siddhant is an emerging cinematographer and Vedant is an avid reader-writer besides being an actor. Life is beautiful indeed.”
With her PR business going strong, Anusha is looking forward to her three feature films as writer-director to go on the floors soon. There is Mehek, a powerful subject of a woman who has to choose between motherhood and motherland, The Stranger In My Bedroom on an actress who finds a stranger in her bedroom one night, and A Handful of Earth, the beautiful love story of two unconventional people.
And this, as they say, is just the beginning!
