 Hi, my name is Mureya, Dino Mureya and I'm on the digital cover of Entrepreneur. My name is Barn. Thank you, thanks for having me here. Yeah, like you said, there's been ups and downs, right? Fortunately for me, my transition from modeling into the film industry was very easy. My first few films were hugely successful. The fame came really easy. And I also was a model at a time when modeling was sort of blossoming. So we were as big as film stars at that point, just being models. So the transition was really easy. But having said that, I did many films thereafter. I worked for 10 years non-stop. 11 years, from 1909 to 2010 to 2011, I worked literally non-stop. I did about 17 movies then. But there came a point when I realized that some of the stuff I'm doing is not great and it's not being liked and not being enjoyed by audiences, right? So the offers that were coming to me post 2011 were terrible. So it was a conscious decision to say no and not agree to do anything that was mediocre or you know, inconsequential. I don't know if it was good or bad, but in my opinion, I think it was a better decision because if I did some of the movies that came my way, I would have only dug my grave further. And I would have ruined my sort of standing that I had in the film industry. But my relationships were great with people and hence I produced my first film then because I wanted to stay part of the film industry. So 2013 was my first film which I produced just in part two with Pooja Bhatt and Mahesh Bhatt. And that left me wanting to just be in front of the camera again, you know. But I held on to my decisions to say no to anything that was not great. So I needed to keep myself afloat. I had invested in a couple of businesses. I was looking at different avenues and that sort of opened my eyes up to what else was going on besides just the film industry, right? India is moving forward. All industries were moving and going into great spaces. Tech companies with startups were flourishing. So I looked at so many of those avenues at that point and that kept me busy. But my love always was at cinema. Then I produced my second film and OTT happened to us and that blew up during the pandemic that was 2020. But prior to that it was just about beginning. It was 2016, 2017 when it was beginning. So my four years of five years of absence from being in front of the camera was hurting. But I was occupied and kept myself occupied and busy doing the other stuff that I was doing with different ventures, which was really interesting. And then in the meantime I was just honing my skills, being prepared that in the event something good comes to me, I'll be ready to shoot the next day. And it started coming then. I started with Ektas, Balaji's show, Metalhood and then Tandav and then Empire, which just sort of gave me a new de-supply, I feel. Yeah, so it's been a great journey, ups, downs all over the place. But I guess you only realize and you learn more if you have those downs because we don't have those downs and you're not going to look elsewhere. And if you're only stuck in waiting for offers from the film industry then sometimes it's going to be really tough and it's going to set in securities within yourself. And if you can battle all that, then great. But for people who can't, then I suggest, you know, this is a tough place. You know, I've always been very ambitious ever since, as far as I can remember. When I was in school in college, I was very ambitious. I was always working, wanting, didn't know what I wanted to do. I had no clarity, even when I was in college, I had no clarity as to what I wanted to do. I just knew I needed to make some money. And modeling made me that money. So it was, I went with the flow. But I also built relationships and looked at opportunities. I read a lot. So when Prep Station was the first sort of venture I was a part of, which was because my brother's in the food industry. And he came back to India and he said, should we do something? I said, okay, great. Not that we had too much money, but we said, let's just try. And we did something. And it became quite a rage in Mumbai. And we opened a couple of prep stations and then we sold it. Then we went on to open a bar. And we sold that too. So the whole idea of running a business, investing started over there. But there after because of the relationships and connections, the people I met, like I said, I was always listening. I'd hear friends of mine from different industries talk about certain businesses, startups, so on and so forth. People would come to me and say, Hey, would you be interested in participating, being involved? And I would always understand or try and understand where this would possibly could lead to. In 2009, I started a company with a friend and a partner called Kulvan Merchandising. I think we were a little ahead of our time over there because we wanted to do celebrity merchandise, which no one was really doing. And online hadn't really started. The whole internet space hadn't really taken off then. So we did this. I'd signed two of India's biggest cricketers at that time, MS Dhoni and UV, to do their merchandise. They understood my plan. But unfortunately, I didn't have deep enough pockets to really go out and push those products which we made. We created inventory, which was worth a lot of money. And that's where online would have worked. Because if we'd only transitioned to online at that point, then I wouldn't have to spend so much on inventory. Inventory and distribution is huge, but you need deep pockets for it. So we learned from many of our mistakes. We went to different actors and everyone loved the idea, but by then I was burning so much money, I was like, we hang on. Can't kill myself over here with this one particular company. And we tried to raise money, but everyone was only investing at that point in online and new tech startups. And if we had to transition at that time, it would have been really tough spending there for a lot of money. So we had to shut down. But that taught me a lot how to look at businesses and thereafter that we started an tech business called Eye Bhakti, which was quite interesting. We had a fantastic platform where we got people who were devotees of certain temples. If they couldn't reach out to the temple or couldn't be at the temple, how could we send them Prasad? Yeah, a lot of people tried that thereafter. I wanted to be absolutely authentic because we're dealing with religion and people. And so we tried to tie up with many temples to have an association and tell them that whatever people pay for that Prasad, we will give you half the money. It was really tough just getting temples on God. It's really tough to get them to understand what you're trying to do because they're so used to what they're doing and they have thousands of people coming in. My whole idea to them was, it's a service you're giving to people. It's a service. Don't look at it as a business, it is a service for so many Indians all over the world who are, for instance, a devotee of Siddhi Vinayak or whichever, so many of these Mandiris or Tirupati Balaji or whatever, they can't read, they can't cup, but they would love something from the temple. So why can't we send them authentic stuff from the temple? And it started really well. I mean, we were having we were having thousands of orders from all over. But at that point, the burn was far more than the earn again. Right? We were earning, but trying to just maintain those temples or have authentic stuff from the temple, it was really tough because sometimes the temples would come and say, what are you doing? They didn't understand it. Then again, I said, okay, listen, losing too much money, I don't know how to pay, but I can't raise money again. It was tough to raise money because VCs love the idea, but anything that was related to, you know, temples had government involvement and anything that was related to government they really didn't want to get into. So VCs weren't keen on funding anything that could switch instantly because the government changes, they might take your agreements away, which you have at Mandiris. So that was, okay, forget it. Let's stop right now before we, before I lose everything that I've earned so far. So I've lost in a few and I've made in a few, you know, there are different other tech plays which I've invested purely and not really been in part of the execution and they're doing fairly well. I'm part of a pet company and part of right now part of a sexual wellness company, which is, which is health tech, which is really good actually, part of a fruit juice company, which I'm marketing and I'm mentoring, which is doing damn well. We've got these electric carriages, which was just started in Mumbai, to replace the Ghoda Gharis, which they banned. So that started taking off also really well, this fitness, which I do. So I've just got my fingers in many things, but production is my, is what I love. So I'm pitching to movies as we speak to go on and produce. So the other companies I'm not completely in control of, we've got CEOs and founders who are running them really well. I'm just mentoring and seeing where I can help. And yeah, if I see myself fitting in some of those roles, I would, I will act too. You know, I mean, so many producers do it for themselves. So why don't I do it for myself too? You know, I mean, I remember this very cool line from Clint Eastwood, he said, if people can't make the movies that I want, maybe I'll produce and make the movies that I want. So that's exactly what I'm aiming for. Yeah. So I mean, we're working on three scripts at the moment. And hopefully everything will be greenlit by a certain studio we're talking to. This is purely Hindi. This is purely, which I'm producing is purely Hindi. But if all goes well, then I will try and move into, you know, various other language firms. You know, put my mind as to what I would want to do. I mean, I'm so focused on production, but I see so many opportunities coming my way. So many. I see India is just booming away at this point. It's a great time. Next 10 years is going to be fab. If it goes as is, it's going to be great in this country. I mean, every time I read so much that's happening. I mean, after the, for instance, the government banned importing of laptops and stuff. I wish I could put a team together and make laptops immediately. You know, we get excited, but you can't jump into anything so soon. I just want to put my blinders on, blinkers on, focus on what I know really well, which is production and films. Yet I know many other things. So when people come to me and they're good founders and good at doing what they're doing, then I would back them for sure. Be careful with your money. It's the most important thing. Just be careful. I mean, you might try. It's okay to take risk. It's good to take risk, but I mean, we all say calculated risks so on and so forth. You just have to have sort of a gut. You have a gut feeling about something. Go for it. And most often it works. The only thing I can ask everyone to do with the money is invest it wisely. You know, we all get caught up in wanting to have the best car and wanting to look good. And you know, no one, it doesn't really matter what other people think. You know, get something that's going to, especially if you're on the growing stage. If you're the growing stage invest wisely, you know, a lot of people I see living for today, not even thinking about tomorrow. But you got to know that you got to put something aside for that tomorrow because sometimes the tomorrow comes really fast and it could be damn devastating. And if you're not prepared, you could go downhill. Simple example. A lot of these other young kids earning quick money are just spending it so fast. In the event, there's some medical emergency which takes a lot of your mind. What are you going to do? Everyone's young, everyone's healthy, no one expects it. And I've seen this happen to some people. And that just makes you realize that you've got to have something aside. So invest it. There's so many places to invest. Don't go by fancy cars and fancy this and fancy this. Conserve a bit until you've got so much that you can actually go and spend it off. Have fun. I'm not saying don't have fun, but be wise, be a little smart about it. Unstoppable. I am unstoppable.