Exclusive | TRP is a bonus you get post your hard work: Rajiv Laxman

It goes without saying that both fame and respect have to be earned and much effort is required to achieve the same. This maxim holds good for twin brothers Raghu Ram and Rajiv Laxman presenters of popular show MTV Roadies who have been involved with the show since 2001 and gained popularity due to their right attitude, passion and involvement in the show. Rajiv Laxman is currently focusing on the eleventh season of MTV Roadies, viz. Roadies X1 - Ride for Respect.

Colosceum Media Pvt Ltd. is a multimedia content producer agency specialized in TV and filmed entertainment, creating original and groundbreaking programming since 2007.  In just a period of 7 years since inception, Colosceum can be counted amongst India’s leading independent multi-genre producers with proficiency in animation, TVCs and other entertainment formats.

In an exclusive interaction with Adgully, Rajiv Laxman, Chief Creative Officer (CCO), Colosceum Media shared about his stint at Colosceum Media, Roadies and its popularity and also his expertise beyond MTV Roadies and Splitsvilla.

Laxman is accredited with creating many iconic franchises and is synonymous with MTV Roadies, the longest running reality show on Indian television. He has been associated with groundbreaking shows on Star and Viacom and also for various large production companies. He is also the face of Channel V’s The Player, and Tees Maar Khan marked his Bollywood debut.

Speaking about the company and his aspirations he said, "I am part of Colosceum since its foundation days in 2007, and I look after content creation. I've always wanted to get into something which demands creativity."

Roadies is one of the most popular shows on Indian television and now all set to air the 11th season of the show. Explaining what has made Roadies a successful property he said, "I feel if something is worth doing and challenging then why not do it? When we started off with Roadies, Splitsvilla and other shows, the dominant point of view was that it can't be done, and that's what gave me and Colosceum a sense of purpose that this is the space we want to explore and thus we tried the series of shows."

Colosceum along with feature films and advertisements for FMCG's and shows for channels also produced Masterchef, which was something totally different from the shows produced on other channels. Sharing about the thought behind adapting an international format for the Indian audience Laxman said, "The fact is that no one in India believes in food drama, as in India food is not considered a luxury but just a necessity.”
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Adding further he said, “Few years earlier we were called by Star to discuss about various reality shows and we thought of dancing, singing or acting shows. But to our utter surprise we were offered a cookery show. The channel's trust and our work really paid off and we were successful in launching Masterchef which has really worked out in India." 

Given Laxman’s vast experience with various channels, how important are TRP’s for him? In this regard he said, "TRP's are our responsibility for our client ( i.e. channel), but I don't work for TRP's as for me the satisfaction of giving our best and TRP's are not inter-related . At times loads of stuff that you enjoyed being part of doesn't really work well. TRP is just a bonus which you get post your hard work, but the whole process of conceptualization and flashing out the show is what drives me.”

Both brothers have been tagged as youth icons. But Laxman clarifies that he does not intend only targeting youth oriented shows. "I've been trained over two decades and my talent is to understand any audience and not only the youth. Every television profession comes with one talent and thus I feel that I cannot work outside India, the reason being I have been born and bought up in India, I know this country, its insights and people which is totally different from other countries. I know what is relevant for the Indian audience,” he avers.

Rajiv Laxman studied at the Woodstock School in Landour, Uttarakhand, with his brother. They later attended the University of Delhi. In the first year, both were students of Deshbandhu College, but in the second year, they joined Sri Venkateswara College.

Laxman believes in working on one project at a time. As of now he is concentrating on Roadies and has also written a film which is still under discussion.

A much talked about topic about the brothers is their attitude on television whereby they are considered to be rude. When asked if it is reel or real he laughed it off saying "We are rude; others egos do not matter to us as sometimes egos are so big that they cannot be hurt."  

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