The doyen of Indian media, Subhash Chandra is the man who revolutionised the Indian TV scene. He had made his millions trading in rice before his foray into this totally new field. This dynamo of a man from the sleepy town of Mandi Adampur in Haryana, comes from an extremely orthodox family. Yet, he is highly progressive and resourceful. Heading the Essel Group of Industries, he brought the concept of amusement parks to India with his Esselworld theme parks. From amusement parks to entertainment on TV, with several other successful ventures in between, his has been a saga of vision and hardwork.

Zee supremo Subhash Chandra's clout in the new age is the reminiscent of Reliance Chairman Dhirubhai Ambani's in the '80s and '90s. Starting out with Zee TV, Chandra has widened his network to cater to the entire spectrum of telly watching. He has something to offer to all tastes – from Zee Cinema and Music Asia to India TV. Between these channels, he covers all that television has to offer. His network commands great viewership and audience loyalty. Riding on the enormous success of the Zee brand and the visibility it commanded, Chandra hitched a host of other programmes like Zee Education and Asian Sky Shop – for tele shopping – on to the flagship network. In spite of the proliferation of channels, Chandra's Zee continues to rule the airwaves with its innovative and wide-ranging mix of entertainment, news and film-based programmes. Even Murdoch has to take stock.

Subhash Chandra, the Chairman of Zee Telefilms Limited and promoter of Essel Group of Companies is a man with multifaceted dimensions. Television networks and film entertainment, cable systems, satellite communications, theme parks, flexible packaging, family entertainment centers and online gaming – all are his business concerns.

Chandra has been the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, industry awards and civic honors, including being named 'Global Indian Entertainment Personality of the Year' by FICCI for 2004, 'Business Standard's Businessman of the Year' in 1999, 'Entrepreneur of the Year' by Ernst & Young in 1999 and 'Enterprise CEO of the Year' by International Brand Summit. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) rightly chose Chandra as the Chairman of the CII Media Committee for two successive years.

He has also made his mark as an influential philanthropist in India and set up TALEEM (Transnational Alternate Learning for Emancipation and Empowerment through Multimedia), an organisation that seeks to provide access to quality education and to promote research in various disciplines relating to health and family life, social and cultural anthropology, communication and media.