P.S. Saminathan Chairman and managing director, Pyramid Saimira Group

More than educational background and business acumen, P.S. Saminathan counts ambition to succeed as the primary requisite to be a winner. “Ambition to succeed and complete confidence are vital,” says the chairman and managing director of the Pyramid Saimira Group (PSG). “Business is more about perspiration with good discipline and a few good ideas than about great ideas,” he adds.

PSG is a global entertainment conglomerate spanning India, China, Malaysia, Singapore, the UK and the US. It has interests in film production, TV content production, film distribution and exhibition. It has over 53 multiplexes with approximately 800 screens across India, Malaysia, Singapore and North America. By 2010, the group plans to operate 175 multiplexes with 2,000 screens in India alone. By its own estimates, PSG ranks as the world’s third largest cinema operator, based on number of seats and admissions with nearly 4,36,000 seats as of January 2008.

One aspect that Saminathan believes in while doing business is to be very transparent. “We are in a business, which was considered to be non-transparent and unorganised,” he says. “Therefore we had a clear-cut principle in our business which includes absolute transparency.”

Sticking to the principle of fairness and transparency is important even if it means suffering losses sometimes. Saminathan cites an example. “Recently we procured and distributed a big budget movie with a top star in Tamil Nadu. We knew the quality of the film was not up to the hyped expectation. We could have easily taken a minimum guarantee, given the demand for the film. But we did not do that and, as a result, suffered a loss of Rs 7 crore. We could have passed this on to many other players. But we desisted from doing that too.”

PSG is also taking giant strides with its integrated Network Operating Centre (NOC) which will convert films into a digital format and transmit them using satellites to various theatres across India in a secured encryption mode. This will save lakhs of rupees for cinema theatres per year. The group is also engaged in digitising theatres even in small centres which were never considered places where films could be released.

Saminathan, a commerce graduate from Loyola College, Chennai, and a cost accountant, started his career as an aquaculture economist and then dabbled in venture capital, followed by techno-commercial ventures. He was also the promoter of Saimira Access Technologies which brought the concept of digital cable at a very early stage. With a wealth of experience in both the technological and entertainment arenas, he now manages the conglomerate of 14 companies in various parts of the world.

Despite coming from a rural background, Saminathan was never short of aspirations even as a child. “As a youngster I always wanted to be in some leadership position,” he adds. And he did go on to achieve his dreams. But it’s not that Saminathan doesn’t believe in the concept of destiny. “Life is completely uncertain. Every atma is free to choose his own path and, depending upon the choice, karma acts upon you,” he says.

Saminathan has not forgotten his roots in the village and the lessons he learnt as a youngster. “Though the environment and opportunities for youngsters who are unfortunate to live in villages and small towns are limited, their aspirations are not; but they have to struggle that much harder, endure that much more scorn, develop a thick skin and also get out of this small-town-village-inferiority min-dset to succeed,” he says.

PSG is a high-pressure business with production, distribution and exhibition of films whose fortunes change on a day-to-day basis. But Saminathan has a simple formula to stay calm. “I read a lot on diverse subjects and this has been my great stress management method,” he says.

Looking into the crystal ball, Saminathan says, “In the next five years, Pyramid Saimira Group will be one of the giants in the world media and entertainment sector.”

Based on a conversation with V. Kumara Swamy in Calcutta