How Do You Play When The Odds Are Stacked Against You?

Ever been there?

The odds are overwhelmingly against you. Your competitor enjoys a head start that seems impossible to catch up to. So, how do you play when the deck is stacked against you?  I’ve vivid memories of one such experience. Before I recount that, here’s the background to the story.

The Aftermath of 26/11

Mumbai was recovering from its most significant terror attack on November 26, 2008.  Two months later, as part of our Republic Day programming menu, CNN-IBN (now CNN-News18) conceived a show to honour the heroes who displayed exemplary courage during the attack.  Had it not been for the NSG Commandoes, the terrorists would have wrecked further damage, and many more innocent lives would have been lost.

CNN-IBN approached Mumbai’s beloved icon – Sachin Tendulkar – to check if he was keen to visit the NSG hub at Manesar to thank those involved in the daring operation on behalf of all Mumbaikars and the nation. He agreed. We then contacted the NSG leadership with our proposal to televise the visit.  We received the go-ahead, but understandably, there were restrictions on what we could and could not do, given that this facility was the training ground of India’s elite commandoes.  We intended to create a show honouring the heroes without being overly sombre. We wanted the commandoes to have a good time during the interaction and hoped to reflect some of the friendly banter on television.

CNN-IBN invited Harbhajan Singh (a.k.a Bhajji) to accompany Sachin. Bhajji was then a part of the Mumbai Indians cricket team, besides being among the liveliest sporting personalities around. He agreed. We then got down to planning the show. Since this was a special broadcast, our then Editor-in-Chief decided it should be featured across our English and Hindi national news brands. The senior editors from both brands met and picked one anchor from each to host this bilingual show. We called it Heroes of India. Once the big decisions were made, it was time to fix the nitty-gritty.

I led a small team to recce the location and plan the filming sequence. When I got there, we learnt that another news brand NDTV had already planned their popular series Jai Jawan at the same campus with NSG Commandoes. They had secured the presence of MS Dhoni, the then-captain of the Indian Cricket team, to spend an entire day with the commandoes. Hearing this news was a dampener. But there was more bad news to come.

Facing the Odds

The liaison officer from NSG shared details that showed our competitor enjoyed distinct advantages over us.

• They were filming their show a week before us and had more time to package and promote it.
• Dhoni would spend 14 hours at the NSG campus for their shoot. We had barely four hours as Sachin had other commitments.

But that’s not all.  While NDTV had mastered producing such shows over five years, it was a first for CNN-IBN. Our crew had never attempted anything like this before.  We neither had experience nor expertise. We had less than one-third of our competitor’s time for filming and a week less for post-production. But we had to face the audience on the same day and would be judged for it.  How does one compete when the odds are so heavily stacked against you? That was my dilemma. While I didn’t know the answer to that question, I told my crew I needed each to play their best game.

There was no scope for errors. Or a second take. We had to make the most of the limited time we got.  Our planning and execution had to be immaculate. We had to shoot sequences in seven locations in under four hours, including a truncated cricket match with a LIVE audience.  Once the filming began, there wouldn’t be a second to ponder. Everyone was required to know their part and play it to perfection.  I returned to the Manesar campus again before the shoot to tie up some loose ends. I was worried. The stakes were high.  I knew our audience would not know or care about how significantly disadvantaged we were vis-a-vis our competitor. All that matters to them is the product.

NDTV had already put up its promo by the time we finished filming. The first mover tends to have an advantage. The pressure rose by a few notches. Enough said about handicaps. We wanted our audience to live every moment of the show as if they were participating LIVE.  When you venture into uncharted territory, you leave no stone unturned while planning and preparing. Nor did we.

We put our best foot forward. And played to our strengths. We split into teams keeping core competencies in mind.  Every cast and crew member was driven by a passion to excel. We enjoyed every moment of the journey.

The content was riveting. It had a mix of fun, tears, and emotion.  It was the first time the camera caught Sachin Tendulkar in tears –perhaps the only one. Bhajji and Sachin shared an emotional moment with the widow of Hawaldar Gajendra Singh after the cricketers paid their respects at the martyrs’ memorial.  Sachin Tendulkar ran up to the audience gallery after the cricket match when he learnt that the parents of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan were present.  (Hawaldar Singh and Major Unnikrishnan were killed while battling the terrorists during the 26/11 operation) Bhajji shook a leg with a commando during their LIVE interaction. Another commando asked him when he planned to get married, and Sachin urged Bhajji to commit to a date.

Sachin ran up to a commando to hug him when the latter wanted to touch him to confirm that he was not dreaming.  Bhajji was sporting enough to attempt on camera a part of the obstacle course that the commandoes had to undergo as part of their training exercise. Sachin did not risk doing so fearing injury as the Indian cricket team was to tour Sri Lanka in a few weeks.

The show was peppered with many such candid moments.  Ultimately, our product was a labour of passion, resolve, sweat and tears. It was for the audience to decide if they liked it or not.   The most satisfying moment was when Poonam Saxena, a media critic, wrote in her weekly column in Hindustan Times: “For me, the most watchable show this entire week was the CNN-IBN special where Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh interacted with NSG commandos.”

Your Takeaway

You will have moments when the odds seem insurmountable. Don’t brood about what you don’t have. Double your efforts. Focus on your strengths. Make the best of what you have.

And don’t forget to enjoy the journey.