MUMBAI: Post the restructuring of Sahara's media and entertainment business under a joint venture management company with Percept, the company saw a couple of high profile exits. One of them was Sahara Media and Entertainment vice president, programming Triptii Sharma in November last year. SaharaOne has found her replacement as programming head in Star India's commissioning editor Kumud Chowdhary, who is slated to join office on 11 January.

Chowdhary, who was with Star for a period of two years, will be reporting to SaharaOne Television COO Karuna Samtani. Speaking to indiantelevision.com about the new development, Chowdhary says, "It was a great offer and there is nothing to lose here. One can do what one wants in terms of experimenting with different kinds of programming. My agenda here will be first find my focus and then work on it."

Confirming Chowdhary's appointment, Samtani, on the other hand says, "There are very few good professionals in this business and we were looking for someone who would gel in with our personality and our business goals. The Percept and Sahara Groups have found a great person in Kumud."

The change from Sahara Manoranjan to SaharaOne last year has been more than just a name change as far as the channel is concerned. The look and feel of SaharaOne has slowly but surely seen a great deal of improvement in the last few months. And in this competitive market, where there are many players including Star's new baby Star One, Samtani is looking at putting together a strong core team to take competition head on.