Travel can be work too!

Deepti Bhatnagar's face has a distinct glow. She's patiently giving orders to her crew in one of the film studios in Mumbai where a large-scale 'Benaras' set has been installed for her forthcoming "mega-budget serial" Shaadi Street for Star Plus.

A successful model "" she was Miss India way back in 1990 "" and an equally unsuccessful actor, Bhatnagar has finally found success as a TV producer. "I wasn't happy with the films being offered to me," she admits. Taking stock of the situation, she decided to channelise her energies in conceptualising and producing programmes for Indian television.

Her efforts led to the creation of Deepti Bhatnagar Productions that began its first travel-based show, Musafir Hoon Yaaron on Star Plus five years ago.

The show picked up but Bhatnagar remembers only too well "when authorities at Star Television wondered if we could sustain the show for a long time". She shot a 15-day pilot episode in New York to convince the channel and within a month shot episodes all over the US.

With Musafir Hoon Yaaron, Bhatnagar and her husband invested nearly Rs 25 lakh and thus began their foray into television production. The programme was well received and soon Bhatnagar produced Yatra, a travel programme that showcased religious places in India.

"Initially, it was tough to convince priests at temples to allow us to film episodes," she says. She was the first person ever who was allowed to shoot inside the Badrinath temple. "The place is completely out of bounds and though we had a very tough time, I'm glad I managed to get the required footage for my viewers," she says.

Bhatnagar feels her best move was to invest in equipment in the initial phase of her career. "A major part of our investment has been towards buying and upgrading our equipment," she affirms. The production house has not ventured into partnerships of any sort with any company as of now, and Bhatnagar intends to keep it that way for as long as possible.

"A large chunk of our turnover is pumped back into new projects and we intend to stay this way," she says. But she has ventured into a collaboration with an Italian company for a full-length Bollywood film that'll go on the floors by mid-2006.

While her production company is usually associated with television programmes, Bhatnagar has her hands full shooting corporate films for such companies as those of the Hindujas. Besides, the company regularly makes films for tourism boards abroad.

Ravi Menon, head, programming, Star One, that airs a lifestyle show, Home Shanti Home, and another travel show, Exotica, feels, "Though travel is the company's forte, viewers' response to Home Shanti Home has encouraged us to extend the programme's episodes." Menon feels, "The passion with which the production house works is worth noting."

Looking at Bhatnagar on the sets, and seeing the results on the small screen, we agree.