Imagine appoints Saurabh Tewari as head, programming-fiction

Imagine has roped in Saurabh Tewari as head, programming (fiction) with effect from July 1. The development follows the exit of Shelja Kejriwal, head, programming, Imagine, who has reportedly stepped down to take a break.

In his new role, Tewari will be based in Mumbai and will report to Harsh Rohatgi, head, content and communications.

Tewari has more than 10 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry. After graduating from Lucknow University, he began his career directing ad films and since then, has worked with many television production houses, primarily as a writer.

He has also been associated with Zee TV in 2006 as assistant vice-president, programming, where he was instrumental in expanding the market share of the channel. Later, during late 2007, he moved to Viacom18 as a part of the start-up team for the launch of Colors.

In an official communiqué, Rohatgi says, "Post our acquisition by Turner, we are investing aggressively in our content and people. To that end, we are excited to have Saurabh join the team at this important juncture and we are certain that his experience and understanding of the business and our audience will help us achieve our objective of becoming the leading player in the Hindi GEC space."

Talking about his new role, Tewari says, "Imagine will be a big challenge for me. It is an established brand that has its non-fiction lineup in place, so all we need to work on is good fiction shows to make it a formidable player in the Hindi GEC space. Fiction is the backbone of any GEC - hence it has to be very strong."