Ragu Ram -An Icon

Raghu Ram is the senior supervising producer at MTV India and the executive producer of the show MTV Roadies. He co-judges the auditions for the MTV Roadies with MTV VJ Nikhil Chinapa. He is known for his crewd remarks and sharp observation tactics. Also well known to be ruthless and impatient with the contestants when he takes the auditions. However, during the show “Behind the scenes”, we get to see a different rather softer side of him. He can be seen laughing and having fun with the Roadies crew

Early Life
Raghu Ram comes from a middle class Andhra family who are settled in Delhi. He has a twin brother Rajeev Lakshman who is also in Television production. His father is a Chartered Accountant and mother a reputed political affairs journalist. He also has one younger sister who is married and lives in Singapore. He was never very keen on studies. He always wanted to pursue a career where his artistic bursts will get an outlet. With this in mind he joined TV 18, at the young age of 18. At that time, Indian television was just emerging out of the stranglehold of Doordarshan. He subsequently worked for various organizations in the television industry including Channel V.

Career
As of March 2008, Raghu Ram remains to be the senior supervising prodcuer and co creative head at Mtv Networks, India. He was recently promoted from his position as a associate executive producer to the executive producer right during one of the show telecasts. Raghu started work at Mtv supervising shows like Mtv Love Life with Vj’s Malaika Arora Khan and Cyrus Broacha and also lead Mtv Select and the first few seasons of Mtv Super Select with Vj Nikhil Chinapa. Raghu has also lent his hand to various random shows at Mtv, sometimes being uncredited

Mtv Roadies
Raghu Ram was given his first solo project, at Mtv, in the year 2000 and the show tentatively tittled Mtv Find The Road. The show was earlier decided to revolve around youngsters in the age group of 18 – 24 years traveling all around the country based on clues and hints given on the show, in their bikes. The concept of clues were replaced by tasks and challenges by the senior creative heads. The show format first faced severe criticism from the Mtv heads due to its sheer content, audience value and the name, but was later given the green light as a “experimental show that could go off air anytime”, after much discussion by the current producers. The name of the how was changed to be Mtv Roadies which remains to be the highest rated Mtv show for 3 years back to back and is also the longest running reality show of the country, ever. The show first had one main sponsor in the form of Hero Honda, who also distributed the bikes and conestant gifts, but now runs with an errand of sponsors and co-sponsors like Airtel, Wrangler Helmets, Mountain Dew, Red Fm, etc. The first Mtv Roadie was Rannvijay, who currently works as a video jockey at Mtv. The second winner was Ayushman, who currently hosts a show called Wassup Mtv, along with Gurbaani, who is a runner up of the fourth season. The third season was won by Parul. Anthony Yeh won the fourth season.

The Mtv Roadies Official Soundtrack
Raghu along with the creative heads at Mtv, have come up with a promotional theme song for the show. The song being performed by Agnee has Raghu doing small bits and voice overs in his trademark offensive style. The song was first introdcued in the fifth season during the Delhi auditions, with the band performing for the contestants along with Raghu. The album theme got mixed reactions from the viewers although being widely appreciated for its new sync and appeal. Most of the members of the band Agnee are close associates of the producers of the show and are recent entries into the world of music.

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