Last week I wrote to Ronnie Screwvala, the managing director of Walt Disney India. He wrote back within a few hours and a couple of e-mails later we had resolved my request. He may or may not agree to talk to me or be at a forum that I am organising, but Screwvala invariably gets back in time and gives me a clear answer. It never ever goes into loops, with several other managers or people. This is true for Raghav Bahl, the founder of Network18, Prannoy Roy of NDTV, Mahendra Mohan Gupta of Jagran (the owners of this paper), Punit Goenka of Zee among many other names who are part of the industry that I write on.

They are, however, the exception, not the rule in the Rs 80,000 crore media and entertainment business. There are large swathes of the business where people don’t think they need to even acknowledge a mail let alone respond to it. Try any film star. No matter what paper you write for, national or international, the horror is the same unless you are a film critic or film journalist. The exception — Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. Both have offices and secretaries who will get back to you even if it is to politely refuse your request. Ektaa Kapoor’s secretary on the other hand is a nightmare to get in touch with. Ditto for Kalanithi Maran the head of Sun Network.