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Mint
2 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Gulshan Kumar, the juice seller who rose to become the music mogul of Bollywood
On a sweltering August morning in 1997, Mumbai pulsed with its usual chaos of cars and hawkers, along with the hum of Bollywood tunes wafting from roadside stalls. Suddenly, the comforting rhythm of daily life was rudely interrupted by the sharp crack of sixteen bullets at the gates of the Jeeteshwar Mahadev Temple, where Gulshan Kumar Rai had come to offer his daily prayers. The assailants, shadows of the notorious Dawood Ibrahim syndicate, vanished into the city's sprawl, leaving behind the crumpled body of a man who had, over the previous two decades, turned India's music industry into his own audacious symphony. With his killing, a burgeoning business empire built on melody and commerce lay shattered. It was a brutal coda to Kumar's life lived at full, often reckless, volume. Born in 1951 into a family that ran a fruit juice stall in Delhi's Daryaganj, his entrepreneurial education started early. In the 1970s, when a relative's records shop came up for grabs, the Kumars pooled their savings to buy it. The cassettes business For young Gulshan, the shop was a revelation. Behind the counter, amid stacks of vinyl from the Gramophone Company of India (now Saregama), he watched customers bewitched by the strains of Mohammed Rafi or Lata Mangeshkar. Music, he realized, wasn't just art; it was commerce too. Also Read: How CR Bhansali exploited India's NBFC blind spots in the 1990s In 1980, he set up Super Cassettes Industries that would, under its T-Series label, completely redefine the way Bollywood music was distributed. While the incumbent leader Gramophone Company of India stayed satisfied with its dominion over a niche market of record players and vinyl, Kumar saw a future that lay not in the cumbersome, expensive turntables of the elite, but in the torrent of affordable Japanese cassette players that had flooded the market, thanks to a liberal import policy. He began producing cassettes at low cost by leveraging the concessions available to small-scale manufacturers and pricing them aggressively. Sales outlets were not restricted to high-end music stores but fanned out to the capillaries of India's informal economy, the panwallahs and neighbourhood grocers. By 1985, T-Series cassettes were everywhere, their garish covers promising hits from Bollywood's latest blockbusters. His genius, and his most controversial manoeuvre, lay in exploiting a subtle lacuna in the Indian Copyright Act, which permitted the production of cover versions of popular songs as long as the vocalists and instrumentalists were different from the originals. A nominal royalty was all that was required. To this end, Kumar tapped into a wellspring of untapped talent, including singers like Sonu Nigam, Anuradha Paudwal, Mohammed Aziz, Kumar Sanu, and Alka Yagnik, who, despite their immense gifts, struggled for a foothold in an industry still largely beholden to titans like Mohammed Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, and Kishore Kumar. Kumar paid them a fraction of what the established stars commanded, yet offered them an unprecedented platform. Also Read: Jayanti Dharma Teja: The enigmatic genius whose shipping empire was built on deception He was also an early evangelist for devotional music, seeing a vast, underserved market for spiritual hymns and chants. T-Series churned out tapes of spiritual songs, from Jai Mata Di to Sai Baba Aarti and Hanuman Chalisa, the latter sung by Hariharan and Vaishno Devi devotee Kumar himself. These tapes, sold at stalls outside temples, cemented T-Series as a cultural force, as much a ministry of faith as a music label. An entertainment behemoth By 1997, T-Series was a ₹500 crore behemoth. Yet, with every rupee earned, Kumar was also notching up enemies. His cutthroat pricing strategies sent tremors through the established music industry, pushing rivals to the brink of collapse. Moreover, a significant portion of his empire was built on what some considered a grey area of copyright, and others outright piracy. It wasn't just the music labels that felt the sting; filmmakers, too, saw their potential profits from music sales eroded by these readily available, cheap, and often unauthorized, cassettes. The resentment eventually boiled over into threats. Kumar received extortion calls from Dawood's lieutenant Abu Salem after a dispute with music director Nadeem Saifi over the music of the latter's album Hi! Ajnabi. The simmering tensions eventually exploded when contract killers, allegedly acting on the behest of the Mumbai mafia with reported connections within Bollywood, shot him dead. The investigation that followed cast a wide net, even implicating Nadeem as a co-conspirator, though he was later acquitted. Eventually, Abdul Rauf, one of the assailants, was handed a life sentence in 2001. The case exposed the mafia's grip on the Mumbai film industry, leading to increased government scrutiny and crackdowns. The film industry too underwent corporatization and professionalization, reducing the reliance on informal financing and protection rackets. Also Read: Alagappa Chettiar's legacy of fortune and philanthropy Happily, Kumar's death didn't mute the music of T-Series. His son, Bhushan, then barely twenty-two, inherited a wounded empire but a father's brilliant blueprint. Under his stewardship, T-Series diversified into film production while maintaining its musical dominance. Today, the company holds a 30% share of India's music market and, with over 296 million YouTube subscribers as of May 2025, trails only Mr Beast in global reach. Its channel, a digital cornucopia of Bollywood hits and bhajans, is a testament to Gulshan Kumar's grand vision. His legacy, though, is no simple hymn. While some call him a democratizer who gave voice to the overlooked and brought music to the masses, to others, he was a predator whose empire was built on the margins of ethics.
Time of India
19-05-2025
- Time of India
Police probe Rs 700 crore IPTV piracy following JioStar report
In a decisive move to combat digital piracy and protect its intellectual property , JioStar has enabled a breakthrough in a nationwide crackdown on illegal content distribution. Acting on a criminal complaint filed by JioStar, the Cyber Crime Police Station in Gandhinagar , Gujarat launched a targeted investigation against BOS IPTV — a rogue IPTV service provider illegally streaming JioStar's premium content including from the JioHotstar platform, as well as restricted channels. The racket, estimated to be worth INR 700 crore, involved unauthorised access to Star India 's pay TV channels and banned Pakistani television networks. BOS IPTV was offering these pirated services to Indian consumers at a nominal fee of INR 400 for a 3-month subscription, gaining illicit profits at the expense of legitimate broadcasters and licensed platforms. Investigations revealed that the content was being sourced through hacked or manipulated consumer set-top boxes (STBs) from authorised DTH operators — a disturbing breach that could have larger ramifications for broadcast security. Based on the complaint, FIR was registered on May 14, 2025 at the Cyber Police Station, Gandhinagar. The charges invoked include sections 303, 318(4), and 61 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023, along with Sections 37, 51, 63, and 65A of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, and Sections 65, 66, 66B, and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Police action led to the arrest of an accused in Jalandhar, Punjab, and the seizure of 3 laptops and 2 mobile phones, which were allegedly used to operate and manage the illegal IPTV service. The investigation is ongoing, with law enforcement agencies suspecting a broader piracy syndicate with international links, potentially connected to networks distributing banned foreign channels in India. 'This crackdown is a critical milestone in our ongoing fight against piracy,' said a spokesperson at JioStar. 'We commend the swift and impactful action by the Cyber Police in Gandhinagar and other agencies involved. At JioStar, we remain steadfast in our commitment to protect our content, partners, and the interests of millions of lawful subscribers. We will not hesitate to take the strongest possible legal action against anyone found engaging in such unlawful activities.' JioStar reiterates its zero-tolerance policy towards piracy and its commitment to work closely with law enforcement to dismantle piracy networks across India. This operation sends a clear message: illegal streaming and distribution of copyrighted content will face the full force of the law.
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Business Standard
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Court proceedings cannot be recorded without nod, warns Punjab & Haryana HC
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has released a public notice cautioning individuals against recording court proceedings without authorisation. This directive applies to all courtrooms in the high court as well as district courts across Punjab, Haryana, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, Bar and Bench reported. The court emphasised that electronic devices used for such recordings are liable to be seized. It also warned that those found violating the directive may face contempt of court proceedings. 'All the parties/litigants and public at large are hereby informed that recording of court proceedings by any person or entity is prohibited in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the District Courts in the state of Punjab, Haryana and UT Chandigarh. In case any person/entity is found violating these orders, appropriate action can be taken by the concerned court including confiscation of electronic gadget used for recording of proceedings and initiation of contempt proceedings against such person/entity,' the Registrar General said in a statement issued on Wednesday. In line with other high courts The move aligns with similar measures implemented by other High Courts of India. The Uttarakhand High Court, for instance, has also explicitly prohibited unauthorised usage or recording of virtual hearings. 'Any unauthorised usage/recording of video conferencing facility through any means will be punishable as an offence under the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, I T Act, 2000, and other provisions of law, including the law of contempt,' reads a notice on the official website of the Uttarakhand High Court. Man fined for recording court proceedings In March this year, the Bombay High Court levied a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on a Navi Mumbai resident who was caught recording a court hearing without permission. The incident occurred during the hearing of a property dispute before Justices AS Gadkari and Kamal Khata. Court staff noticed Sajid Abdul Jabbar Patel filming the proceedings and confronted him. Patel claimed to be related to some of the respondents. Advocate Hiten Venegaonkar, representing the respondents, confirmed that Patel had not been authorised to record the session. His mobile phone was subsequently confiscated and handed over to the court registry. 'He fairly submitted that the act of the said person cannot be justified. However, he requested this court to show leniency to him as this is his first act and therefore may not take stringent action against him,' the Bench recorded. Patel agreed to deposit Rs 1 lakh into the High Court Employees Medical Welfare Fund within three days.
