India, Nov. 21 -- Several filmmakers, including Imtiaz Ali, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Anubhav Sinha, Anurag Basu, Anurag Kashyap and Rajkumar Hirani, have dabbled with the small screen before making it big in Bollywood. On World Television Day today, we talk to a few of them about what creating for TV meant to them.

I have directed several times for the television - the serial Hum Bambai Nahi Jayengey (1993), Bhagwati Charan Verma's novel Naya Daur (1996), the first six episodes of Just Mohabbat, Rajdhani, and Star Bestsellers. Since, at that time, I was assisting in films as well so I directed those shows in a very filmy-style. TV taught me efficiency, accha aur jaldi, that too on a low budget, which helped me a lot when I turned to films.

Whe...