Page 156 - From Bombay to Bollywoord The Making of a Global Media Industri

Dot-Coms and the Making of an Overseas Territory >> 143

The value of being in the city and developing personal connections with stars
and filmmakers becomes especially clear when we consider the experiences
of a film journalist who is not based in Bombay. A software professional who
works in an IT company in Gurgaon, a high-tech cluster on the outskirts of
New Delhi, Joginder Tuteja entered the world of film journalism by writing
music reviews for indiafm.com and was approached by bollyvista.com, a
company based in Montreal, Canada. After nearly two years with bollyvista.
com, Tuteja quit and began writing for a U.S.-based website called indiaglitz.
com. “Without a senior journalist to show me the ropes and give me phone
numbers, it was a constant struggle,” he explained. Tuteja pointed out that
being outside Bombay also meant that he was not “on the radar of PROs” or
part of a network of journalists in the city who would often share tips and
information. “When it comes to running around, dot-com journalists are
right there with the rest of the journos in Bombay. If you go to a press event,
along with the print people and TV reporters, you’ll see an indiatimes and an
indiafm reporter. I am not there, I am not clued in,” he continued. It is diffi-
cult to ignore the importance of “running around . . . with the rest of the jour-
nos.” Omar Qureshi’s team of film journalists is located in the historic Times
of India Building in south Bombay, a space that also houses film journalists
writing for Filmfare, Bombay Times, and Mumbai Mirror. Further, while web-
sites based abroad received the standard set of promotional materials that
they could repackage, dot-com companies operating out of Bombay were
able to take advantage of their connections with PROs to set up interviews
or chat sessions with stars and filmmakers and create “exclusive” content that
enhanced their credibility among overseas audiences. Emphasizing his point
regarding access and personal relationships, Qureshi pointed out:

Every film today is promoted by a PR machine. And they have their act
together and they know the value of the Internet as a new medium through
which to reach people, both in India and the U.S. So if a PR agent is giving
out slots to DNA and Times of India, he or she will give one to us and rediff
and indiafm as well. So we get that. But if Shahrukh Khan wants to do a
chat, he will not go to some website based outside India. He knows us here
personally, end of story.

The personal equations with stars and filmmakers that Bombay-based jour-
nalists developed over a period of time have been critical in establishing
companies like indiafm.com and indiatimes.com as first-hand sources of
Bollywood news. Journalists and other content producers working in these