Keep The Claps Coming

Media veteran Sameer Nair anticipated the growth of streaming platforms when he launched creative studio Applause Entertainment three years ago. He is the face behind bringing multiple hard-hitting stories to our OTT space, including everyone’s favourite Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story.

- Jigar Shah

It is profitable to be in the right place when change takes place, especially if you are the person bringing about change. Media veteran Sameer Nair has brought about multiple changes in the media landscape in the last 20 years. At the turn of the millennium, he brought in Kaun Banega Crorepati, and approved TV projects like Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii. It not just changed the fortunes of Star Network, but also the way Indian audiences viewed television programs.

Nair is an entrepreneur, and a visionary in a true sense. He anticipated the growth of OTT platforms in India. In 2011, as the group CEO of Balaji Telefilms, he launched ALT Balaji, a homegrown OTT platform owned and curated by Ekta Kapoor.

When Nair was completing his contract at Balaji, he was thinking about what to do next. In the interim, he had discussed a few ideas with Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, and one of them was a content creation studio, which turned out to be Applause Entertainment, a Content and IP Creation Studio. He believed that the business of streaming platforms would grow with time, and so would the need for quality content. So he decided on a studio that caters to all streaming platforms. Today, he believes the ecosystem can absorb about 200 shows easily.

Applause recently turned three, and in this short period, the studio has released 18 shows, of which seven were during the pandemic, on various streaming platforms like Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, Sony Liv, MX Player, and Netflix. Their latest production, Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, made it to the 14th spot on IMDb’s list of Top Rated TV Shows, globally.