Zarina Screwvala
| Zarina Screwvala | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Zarina Mehta 1961 Washington D.C., United States |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Co-founder of the erstwhile UTV Group, COO of Hungama TV, CEO of UTV Bindass |
| Employer | Managing Trustee of Swades Foundation |
| Spouse(s) | Ronnie Screwvala |
| Children | 1 |
Zarina Screwvala (born Zarina Mehta, 1961) is an Indian entrepreneur and philanthropist. She is currently the Managing Trustee of Swades Foundation, a foundation dedicated towards Rural Empowerment in India. Previously, she was the Chief Creative Officer at UTV Software Communications (which she co- founded) where she conceptualised, promoted and managed the UTV Bindass, UTV Stars, UTV Action and Hungama TV channels.
Zarina Mehta was born in Washington, D.C., in the United States and moved to India with her family at the age of eight. She finished her schooling from J.B. Petit School for Girls and went on to pursue her B.A. in Economics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. She also holds a master's degree in Marketing and Advertising from Xavier's Institute of Communications.
Screwvala started her career as a production manager for a play produced by reputed theatre artist Pearl Padamsee. It was during her stint with Pearl that she met Ronnie Screwvala and Deven Khote who later on became her business partners.
Screwvala co- founded UTV along with Ronnie Screwvala and Deven Khote in 1990. During the initial days, the company made advertisements and corporate films. In 1990, UTV became the first independent production. house. UTV produced a quiz show for state TV channel Doordarshan. The show was titled 'Mashoor Mahal' and Screwvala was the Assistant Director of the show. Screwvala also created and directed The Mathemagic Show and produced various other shows like Lifeline (a short film), Contact and Shakuntala
UTV has been credited with the production of content for India's top entertainment channels like Zee TV, STAR TV and Sony. Zarina and Ronnie Screwvala and Deven Khote gave the country its first ever reality show – Saanp Seedi (1992) and first daily soap opera Shanti (1994). After the success of Shanti, Screwvala went on to produce various shows, each targeting a different segment of audience. The shows produced by Screwvala were Saaya (targeted at young adults), Snakes & Ladders, Hip Hip Hurray (targeted at teens) and Shaka Laka Boom Boom (targeted at kids).
...
Wikipedia