 Well, thank you very much all of you for joining us in what's supposed to be or at least hopefully will be a very exciting session It's a Wednesday afternoon. That's a lot more people than I thought they will be It's a weekday afternoon. I know why I'm here I would pass up no chance to hang with two wonderful ladies Extremely prolific producers in the entertainment industry starting with Bollywood of course MA entertainment both of you I guess started about a decade ago decade plus I think 11 years ago and in that time if IMDB serves me, right? You guys have 24 productions to your credit already I think Madhu, Hojwani, Monisha Adwani you deserve a bigger honor applause than you've got so far Now obviously we can discuss Diversity inclusivity and in your context I can see two areas Which will be very very relevant one is the obvious one Which is the fact that both of you are women in what is traditionally been seen as a very male dominated industry That is entertainment in general and we'll touch upon that at some point for sure but I think the more important one in my mind is the fact that Both of you also happen to be not from this industry Which has largely been dominated by a few film families over years Of course a lot changed with corporalization There were studios that came up from those studios many people stepped out started their own companies as well But you guys literally came from somewhere else and started out Monisha Madhu, I'm going to start with first asking you what were the industries and businesses that you were part of Before you got into it. I hear you were part of four to five businesses Monisha. Man, you're very kind Actually, in a sense, I don't think we stop being part of different businesses. Madhu and I continue to support young entrepreneurs This is a fantastic form. That's in fact recognized that earlier. I I'm really delighted firstly to be here and thanks for asking us what we've done before this We were in the human resources business We ran a recruitment company which was founded way back in 1996 Which grew to become one of the largest in India was acquired by Randstad We were I was managing director for Randstad India their first managing director actually, I think one of their first female managing directors to way back and Madhu held the executive search business So we came literally from no background to the movie business other than being the ones who should say that Friday Including the fact that you know, I have a brother. I mean we share parents, right? Nikhil and I and he was in the movie business always and I had never watched his movie as a privilege Earlier before it would be released not one of those trial show Experiences which now we host has produced us. I used to literally go two weeks later Go stand in the line. Why two weeks later though. So very often. I was working. I was traveling and he would always call it in So you saw Calhona how two weeks after release really Two weeks later, and the only film I saw probably in a Tragic show was Jhani Chowk to China and then when I Maybe that's the one you shouldn't have seen No, you have no idea and I come out of Madhu and I it's a cold day in Cold night in London and we come out shivering and both of us looking What was that and Nikhil goes up and he says What do you think I said well your poster promised one thing the movie was something else He's who do you think you are now one name the critic he called me. He said you think you're this person and I said who's This person. I mean, okay I can see Komal Nata. He said you think you're Komal Nata Who she of course Komal Nata No clue and that's how rim far removed we were from the business and little did I know literally two years from then We were sitting with him Madhu and I and he called us to start this business He told us we'll take us to lunch and he told us that this is a great business to be in they're always going to You know producers get to travel to exotic places. Look at where I've shot in New York in London So Madhu and I thought well, okay, this seems to be you know a nice progression. We're retiring from the recruitment business We've sold the company now Golden handcuffs have come off. Why not and You know the first place we shot it it was the underbelly of amdabad The next place we shot and we went to shoot airlift You a you think Dubai we went to Russell Kaiman, which is literally, you know, one of the most simple Pudumentary parts of the UAE. So it wasn't any glitz no glamour and even now I mean look at the shows we've done when you look at Mumbai Diaries Empire looks glamorous looks grand, right? But I mean putting such shows together takes takes us into a lot of grace. Uzbekistan was put up in But look really really like You know, we our intentions were to shoot in Uzbekistan, but In your case, I mean I can see Somewhere where money comes from the sense of brother was in the movie business had been also a producer, right? Leading up for most of his films right after his first Were you were you like drawn to this as a movie buff or how did this happen? Be honest. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, be honest. Obviously. So, you know When Nikhil approached us it was it was a thought that was farthest from my money and to be honest So what did you have in your mind once you have sold a company and made made billions? I'm assuming so, you know, you didn't correct me. You actually made billions. Did you why? Why did you make I mean this I think that's But you know to be honest, I think I'm myself have you know started out very early in our careers and we've Been fortunate as friends to have worked together and build companies, etc. And when we sold our previous company, of course We were coming off a very drooling couple of years. And so It was the farthest from my mind, right? And so when Nikhil approached well, what was in your mind at that time? To be honest, we had golden handcuffs. And so I was traveling, you know Okay, I'm so not a corporate person. What's a golden handcuff? So essentially it sounds very cool But is it really as cool as it sounds? So you basically can't join a rival firm that's because you have this particular clause in your contract So there's the money and go chill for how long? So it had been about two years Okay, and so when Nikhil approached us the idea was he wanted to set up a banner I think he was looking for like-minded producers or who would constantly sort of have his back and You know, he would be able to sort of you know, give his creativity more wins and and moonshine myself have you know Had a pretty decent Business career so he turned to us and said that this is something that I'd like to do and Honestly, we had absolutely no idea of how this business is run And I was extremely skeptical because for me, it's always about you know, the the hard data Which is the numbers does it work does it not work? balancing of books, etc Operations, you know very brass-tacks and so I was extremely skeptical Monisha being you know, the ever-optimist of the two of us said that I think perhaps It's very similar to what we did in the HR business, which was when we entered that business it was very unregulated and we saw the Trajectory of that sector change as you know corporate as it got corporatized and the film industry back in 2011 was at a very interesting point and You know just to give you a sense movies up until that point used to be shot on film Right and and when we made D-Day, it was one of the early films that actually got done on digital So so clearly that was an inflection point for the sector and and in in this past You know 11 years that that that we've been in the business Incrementally, we've seen it get more and more regulated which has been really an interesting time for us to have gotten associated with the business and And so yeah, so you know we started out as well your movie buff before. Oh absolutely I mean we've all grown up including Nikhil on a diet of Amitabh Bachchan films and you know, I mean When is there not an instance in your life where a Hindi song is not playing for that, you know It's not considered a niche thing. It's not like just because you watch movies Oh everyone loves the movie, but you know what I tell me today I said I blame you for the fact that you've just taken out the fun of watching movies for me because every time now I get in front of a screen. I'm thinking to myself when I see a big Song sequence how many dancers how much did this cost? Where did they shoot this? You know, you're just Setting every frame or why didn't we make it? Oh, why did we not make it? Oh, why did you not make it? Yeah, you know, right feel that I mean ever so often now because there's such great content being churned out Have you had instances where there were things that were offered to you and I want you to be really really candid today It was just the three of us and a few people here Where you said no to something and then you looked at it on the screen site. Why did we not make it? But I hope but I hope I'm telling you that came to you first it came And the writer very sweetly sat in front of me told me, you know, this is a story. I think you will get it It's very progressive. I said sure tell me and he says 60 year old woman gets pregnant And he narrated the whole thing to me and I told him I said Dude, you're a good storyteller. I can't figure this out and I didn't cut to two years later I'm sitting at Inox and you know, we had a film simultaneous to them release called Bazaar which did reasonably well, but I Mean Bazaar was always in a 20-seater theater in the multiplex and this was in the 200-seater And I should be sitting outside and listening to everybody go So yeah regret and I tell that to a lot of writers who come and when they tell me what they're doing And I tell them listen, I'm here to support you. That's great You're doing that. I'm very jealous that you're doing this as well And I think it's just good to admit that because it also makes people realize and feel valued and a lot of Technicians in this business. I feel you know, I think it's such a skewed industry in a sense because 20% of the The the headline has actually land up getting a lot of the attention. It's like the Mona Lisa, right? Everyone knows who the painting is about 10% know what was done by a guy called and when I say Leonardo You'll be amazed how many people say de Caprio No, I won't be amazed Don't you get that but you know coming back to where you're from and where you are, right? Now when you move from an HR business practice, I'm assuming an HR consultancy firm You come to a place which is also very HR led in a real sense. It's a people's business It's people and their craft and their talent that shows everything else can be rented you hire everything else, right? What is it that you found that was very different in this industry from the ones that you'd worked in before I find that there's very little and like you rightly said man The industry largely attracts a lot of legacy family lifestyle owned in businesses It's nothing wrong with that because some of the largest corporations that run our country today a nation builders because they started with that Multi-generation approach And the film industry is no different for a hundred year or a hundred odd year old sector It has a lot of these legacy companies which are there respectfully The challenge is that it's all driven towards supporting their lifestyles those family multi-generational And because of the nature of the business being gig economy There is a very little propensity towards Reinvesting back to grow the operational side of the business and that's what the picture. It's all good. You're Bentley. Yeah, right It's a real strain On the way and then we sit and lament that why is it that the theatrical business of this country is after all these years It's an inventory cumulatively of 10,000 crores 10,000 crores is the size of a mid-cap company on the BSE and so and this is what we consider to be the soft power The greatest generator of influencers in our society, right? And that's the size. It's it stayed at It's just grown and and most of that growth 50% of that growth has come largely in the last four years So thanks to the advent of tech of technology platforms embracing the development of content And that's somewhere the floor. So that's the first challenge I feel the investment to grow the sector has been and I think the second learning for me different from other corporations has been Or industries has been patients You know in this it's it you even when you plant a seed as a child And you know you should do that experiment where you put a seed and you keep watering it over the cotton And it starts giving you the shoes. There's still a predictability in that. There's no predictability in the content business You are always on the input side, which is the only part which is Controllable the output is a variable. You you can make the best film with the best headliners ever Top actors at top studio and no act no Right, so for me it takes a lot of patience to see that cycle through and come back to work So, yeah, I think these are the two big learnings I think for me in this business, you know the successes the The adulation around it is Very it's a big high and the failures when you have the failure or you experience the failure it's firstly so public and The silence after that is definitely and you have to drag yourself back to work You know and so I think that when I compare it to any other business or even our past businesses You didn't have this kind of you know You're constantly you're in an aquarium and you're the fish You know and so you're constantly getting on a weighing scale on a day-to-day basis in a sense because you work for an 18 month Cycle to put together a project and it's no different right whether you make a film Which has an a list actor or you make a film which has you know and also ran It's the same effort you still go through a cycle of 12 to 18 months and at the end of that This is the outcome. So it's it can be very uplifting and at the same time can be very And so does that lead to some element of insecurity as well a far more rivalry that you would see Compared to other business and the reason I'm saying that is because when you're talking about 18 months cycle For instance in that 18 months you actually put together a company and that company is that film Yeah, and they all come together and then they all dismantle and go to various other companies, right? It's not like other businesses where they just keep making the same product every time this new company makes a new product Which is which is the film one? Do you think that leads to creator in security people are too bothered about what others are doing? Because that's what the general perception in any case second and there's a part that I want you to delve on a little later and further as well is There is it also perhaps one of the most insular places given the family these spoke of the Bentley's and their houses in Portugal They actually don't know what's happening in the world outside of them when you compare it to other business Which have greater interlink you know linkages with with others first. Yeah, tell me about the insecure Did you feel this was a little more insecure than you've dealt with before most definitely and you know there's a term for it, which is the crab mentality and It's very much prevalent in this business But I think the way that you know we insulate ourselves from it is you know to keep to have a Monday-to-Monday approach as Monisha puts it which is that The way that you know, you're able to keep yourself going is to know that you're coming back to work irrespective of the outcome of what you do and And and fortunately for us I think the fact that we don't come from this business So we don't have antecedents beyond the fact that we've been in this business for about a decade Once we proverbially cross the ceiling Quite literally so huh? Yeah, pretty much so and and so and so it's very important for us To stay grounded and to keep in perspective that you know We come back Monday-to-Monday and we build this as a business and we keep reinvesting in what we're creating That's the way that we approach it and to add to that I think what we've done differently in these 11 years man because we've added People back into the system. So today when people turn around and say how the hell is this company do you know 10? Projects a year of you're doing four films six shows and they're not small each one I mean the shows are massive How is this company able to put out a rocket boys a Mumbai diaries an empire gone by Niki Shikharvati all at the same time? And it's really because we sat back about five years ago six years ago and said listen We've got to do this differently We've got to build the infrastructure because there is this thing out there that's coming We're talking about being here at the streaming summit, right? We and I'm saying this in modestly We called it out way back in 2011 when we started this company and it took a little convincing Nikhil, but you know I said listen this is what's coming I've sat in rooms with Siddharth Roy Kapoor with the with Vijay Singh and they and I've said well guys What about digital I was thinking about that and they've just looked yeah, yeah, how soon can you make a film? That's like kalmuna home, and I'm like normal. Let's talk about digital and now It turn you know tables utter because this is what the future we anticipated that man And which is why we built operationally in the company So today when somebody turns and comes to us with an idea We're able to back it the second thing we did is if you look at our projects Find the ones Nikhil headlines most of them are new directors new technicians first time I was whether it's in the field of art whether it's in the field of Styling whether it's in the field of You know it's a cinematography every aspect of the business. We've always tried and taken bets on new talent And today even when we are then it was a budgetary constraint today We've got thankfully some premium attached to us. So the budgets are more generous. We will still back new talent Not because there's more margin to be hacked But the idea is that if we don't start building the infrastructure for this business We're going to stay at 10,000 Cros turn over for theatrical with any talk about why is that dying? We've not built that Demand we've not catered to it. So I think that's the kind of perspective with which we come also Vanities left at the ceiling most people don't see they don't even know who we are so you don't guys you guys don't hang around in in These cool parties that you were promised by Nikhil when you came on board firstly He doesn't go to any of them himself. It's a bit of a hermit. Yeah We're calling it. He has a great life. He enjoys what he does, but he does it with his family and likewise We also have that distinction. I think everybody in this room will appreciate the fact work life balance is Applicable everywhere in this business Sometimes I find that not sometimes most of the times I find that those are blurred lines and that's where the security comes in because You're constantly looking at how the staff at home are Perceiving you you're concerned about what the person at the nuclear is going to think of you Whereas we've been trained fairly with middle-class values that listen boss. This is your work. You go to work You come back home you make your bed and you sleep on it. It's as simple as thinking of parties I think none of us can keep our eyes open beyond 10 30 and we are very early risers, which is very Alien to this business. We begin our days and I mean Nisha myself all three of us work with this discipline by six o'clock our chats go live Internally clearly right because if you were to like scheduled a meeting with somebody at six o'clock in the morning Maybe Akshay Kumar In his gym, which is also a lot of urban legend I it's not like he's some serious morning person is just things that people say to also I'm sure he is but it's not like he does nothing else but but makes up Narrations at 5 30 a.m. So it's it's it's true because we've worked with Tested you and me whether we were standing outside waiting to take him in the car to the set In when you were shooting a lift and at six in the morning that too and we were there And that's what makes it different from all the traditional producers that we've had over a period of time Right including ones who probably set up their own companies starting out from corporations and studios at work There is a lot of chit chat is a lot of gossip who's doing what was doing something that you may not see so much of in Say cement industry. I'm pretty sure they don't know who's who's sleeping at the womb But that's the conversation you still you still make but that's the culture we come from right and so When we when we did start this business even the approach to the business was to see how can we build? Predictability into the business. How do you look at the various metrics? How do you look at spreadsheets? Not only for film budgets, but for your annual budget, which is an alien concept because like you Rightly said it's such a gig economy. It just goes from project to project to project. Nobody is looking at building the whole You know the company first thing and that's what we started with I think there are a few companies that are doing it very well now But they look at what somebody is doing with applause whether you look at what a boobah and Karuna trying to do with her What you see happening with? Well, I think clean slate is also getting in there, you know Dino's trying to professionalize it So I think I think a lot of the independent guys are now getting there back together and realizing that you have to scale you have to invest and Build that infrastructure. Yeah, I mean but the people that you mentioned are all typically verse over guys including Karan Jawor, I mean how the mighty fall in it was a South Bombay guy, but really is now bound Happy about you calling him a verse over huh? I said he's not going to be happy about you Well, that is the truth. Isn't it? That's where we went to the same school Myself So what happens when a South Bombay person enters a situation like Bollywood? There are two possibilities one is that you could be a snooty about it That this is a world so different from you when there's not something that you know You ought to look down upon in a certain way or you become extremely starstruck Tell me what the first time you met like a movie star did something happen to you Go for it. Come on first first star. I met was actually Kumar. Okay. Maybe somebody else. We've heard that she come out Yeah, yeah, we met Amitabh Bachchan when we were very early I think after we set up the company and we were trying to do a film together and you cannot not be Ostruck, right? I mean Amitabh Bachchan is Amitabh Bachchan and then there's the rest of the but does it go down over a Time or do you remain? Firstly tell me where you snoot. So are you well? No, not at all We were absolute fangirls Across but in Bollywood in general Well, you know the two instances you talked about I think it's neither because like I said nor do we take a snooty approach Nor are we you know enamored by it? We just take a very Middle path approach, which is this is our work and that's how we come at it I don't think it's either and Honestly actors feel a little Initially, they feel a little intimidated. They won't admit it But when they meet with especially the two of us, they don't know how to beg us Because you guys don't act stastra. You don't give a shit kind of situation I don't think it's even the question of stastra. First, they start by saying we speak English too well I've had a couple of them turn around and actually English is very good. I Had a couple of them actually call out somebody call up and ask her Kisi a mujhe bola ki apne kutte ko wet ke pass le gaya. Uska matlab kya hai. So You know, but to be fast the Hindi film industry, so yeah, I totally get it So we then switch to speaking Hindi and then our Hindi is that school Hindi Which is very true. This is South Bombay Hindi basically I don't know. We are not that caricatured driver kya katta hai and all that. We'll speak proper Hindi But I think what I think what's really funny is the fact that and I can see it. I've sat with I remember very early I don't remember Madhu. We met with Ranbir Kapoor. I'm talking way way 11 11 years ago And he listened to us and he kept you know, he bites his nails and I can't forget that vision on He's biting his nails listening and Nikhil saying a bunch of things. He's looking at the two of us Jona, South Bombay both of you, right? And I said, how is that relevant? I can tell I can tell and it was like a triumphant moment for him that he could call it out And whereas for us, we don't go into the situation thinking either We ran a company before which had 1800 employees all over the country 42,000 indirect employees and I can assure you There was probably about 10 of them came from South Bombay So you don't get to that number by being you know Secretarian or turning around and actually turning around and bringing your prejudices into it We have we have to keep a very open and we are that way we're built to support talent I think that's one of our intrinsic qualities today Did you find this place also a little more male dominant than other businesses you've been part of as women Do you really stand out in that sense? That's definitely the case. I think the entertainment industry has predominantly been male dominated Especially on the business side forget about the narratives on the business side I mean today if you look at I was just reading about the fact that you know there was this film companion report You know the Oh Mania I mean I think the you're looking at technicians or HOD's you know on the filmmaking side Not exceeding a number of 15% of the which is still 15% higher than it was say about 30 years ago Perhaps and when you when you compare that with the South industry we fare very well in Bollywood But it's still a very dismal number. So yes, you're absolutely right extremely male dominated But what what we've seen happening, you know over the past I'd say four years is there is a definite shift And you can even see it in the narrative and I think what OTT has done today is it has democratized the kind of content that we are seeing You're beginning to see the female gaze on screen a lot more there are women directors You know there are some departments where the number is dismal like cinematographers 2% of the number of cinematographers that we have are women 2% it's as low as that so so yeah you're absolutely right extremely male dominated but I think it's changing Of course we still have a long way to go because it helps to have women leaders because that's where the change is going to come from From your perspective but this is one thing that you constantly mentioned Madhu is last four years last four years And the last four years obviously talk about OTT revolution that you guys have been really very much been part of But the flip side to that is and a lot of people have issue with it they're talking about how Bollywood has been completely decimated as a result I mean you take I saw you at the Amazon Prime Video slate launch and practically that was basically Bollywood there As home entertainment is being serviced by Bollywood industry which should be doing theatrical releases where you see south completely dominating Based on of course only three films so far but those numbers are huge Do you think it's it's an unfair criticism that essentially a lot of Bollywood producers became vendors for OTT platforms Leaving aside a really big industry theatrical right across the country that was still 60% revenue for a movie Well I think that you know what has played a very important role in this transition has been the pandemic We know that during the 24 months that and we're still not out of it right I mean but during those 24 months a lot of producers saw the transition to OTT as an alternate to survival I mean if you if you didn't get on that bandwagon either you had the ability or the staying power to tile over that period of two years Or then you found a way to make it work during that period and OTT is what has actually kept a lot of producers going Having said that I don't believe that it's the demise of the theatrical experience I think we will probably see it come if you've already seen it with the south films right I just think that we have to buck up the kind of stories that we bring to the theatres have to be you know either spectacle films Or they have to be compelling enough for you to come to the theatres because it's not like people are not going to the theatres No they clearly are they're just not going to watch Bollywood movies apparently because series of lobs and three amazing hits from the south Which were completely unheard of in terms of the lobsideness of revenues right There are a couple of things there I think that if you look at the like I would make the reference of 10,000 crores Mark that breaks down to actually roughly about a 10 million footfall, a unique footfall that is committed to watching cinema in our country Going to the theatres out of a 1.3 billion population it's just 10 million That one crore is spending a thousand rupees for annum which means they're buying on an average take 250 rupees for tickets a year Now what are we talking about is it because of the fact that we're not converting more and it's all about the reach We did at one point we've not had enough screens when we talk about the streaming revolution in these four years You've also seen a growth of cinema screens you've had single screens turning into multiplex going into 2, 3, 4, 5 screen formats And all of that has come in at the same time the pandemic is a watershed moment that has had a transformation of societal choices So we put that to the side if you look at what we've done as an industry right now we've been really catering to a very sliver of an audience It's just so stereophonic in the years of the people who actually consume that content or make that content so we think that it's the world We also recognise we fail to acknowledge the fact that a lot of the influences that come out of this industry are actually serving the larger 78,000 crore advertising industry that sits Right and now that is even exponentially burst further with the way paid partnerships work or endorsements online And even social media right It's massive, it's massive right so when you look at actually what we are doing over here is we are like an ecosystem which is producing for a lot of the other thought leadership Whether it's in a consumer environment, whether it's in an ideological environment but that's what we are actually doing as this little cottage industry And we've got to transform that Two, I think that when you look at a theatrical when the South content that's coming across it's catered to a family audience What's happened predominantly with Hindi content and I don't think it's just about what the OTT provides, the OTT industry provides We have intentionally segmented our audience and what we've done in that manner is we were quite happy turning on saying hey you know what this is going to be a Saturday film not a Friday film Which means that I'm okay if the film comes and then people word of mouth will come in on a Saturday I'm happy for this to be a Monday to Friday film We actually started classifying things in that manner but we were also responding to audience consumption patterns So I think it's a chicken and egg situation as to what is going where I just know one thing there's more content being made today than there was yesterday And there's more content that's going to be made tomorrow You may see a lot of headlines grab that saying that oh you know this platform is not performing, theaters are not performing But people are consuming more and more content and more organized that sector becomes The better it's going to be the more stories are going to be told and that's where that whole term democratization will come Because you'll have a larger audience, a lot larger population serving a larger audience Well you know we started this conversation somewhat with how as against other industries that you've been part of this is the most public of them all right Everything that you put out everyone has something or the other to say sometimes good, sometimes not so good You are also three completely different individuals yourselves You both of you and of course Nikhil Adwani who was a filmmaker and has been a filmmaker all through But even before you guys entered he was always there I want to know like do you guys have conversations about what you've put out and sometimes you like something and the other two don't How does that work? All the time Be candid, tell me something that you loved and the others did not Well there's a lot of stuff that we constantly you know chide each other about for the choices that you know we've made But when we do make some anything yeah yeah but when we do make anything you know we commit ourselves to it and then of course Notwithstanding the performance we still hold on to our opinions so for instance Munisha is very aligned to mass cinema And you know Satyamev Jayate, Marjava those were attributed the choices you know to Munisha And of course and the successes and you know a lot of those choices Then there is you know stuff like Mumbai Diaries or the gritty stuff that Nikhil has transitioned to making Which again sometimes we get on board with sometimes we don't get on board with But I personally you know of course I think Rocket Boys we were unanimous with But there are Hang on I have to confess here you heard it here first When Rocket Boys was being put together I was really skeptical and I've had private conversations with Nikhil And I said Nikhil really do you think that we can get this audience to hook into the story of two notable scientists Nation builders but I mean where's the reference to context and he was so determined He says no watch it see what's right till the day it came out it was beautiful when we were watching as it was turning out And of course there was a lot of heart bleed in seeing the kind of production we were having to manage But at the end of it I can tell you that the love that that show has received and the interest and it's just It's just surpassed any of my skepticism we were Nikhil and I were sold from the word go We just we just loved the premise and and of course the way it turned out was it just surpassed our own expectation Yeah, I mean there are there's gonna be awards or the shape of media awards for 40d platforms But of course Rocket Boys normally part of it because it's 2022 but I can say with with fair amount of stuff Watched over the year so far it is absolutely the best show that came out on your new platform in 2022 Congratulations, I'm not just saying this because you guys are here but it literally was something we hadn't seen before How much does the platform it appears on matter to you guys because a lot of people would not have seen it purely Because there aren't that many subscribers to a Sony live as compared to say a Netflix or even for that matter I mean of course hotstar and the others are bigger numbers much bigger numbers So I think of course the platform matters but I will say this that you know Sony pulled out all the stops on marketing the show And they did a fantastic job and and I think and not only backing it but you know one is to of course you know put the money down And say that we are going to produce the show but in the in the last mile do everything that it takes to put it out there Because I think that is the most important So what's the model you work on is it that the the platform commissions you or do you make it and then after shopping for the best bidder Is that how it works which of the two would you So so far we've followed the the former which is that we've worked with platforms on a commission model Okay And we're working towards transitioning into the latter I mean that is we ourselves are seeing a growth trajectory for Commission I think Mike what we land up doing is a lot of the stories are generated by us and we then take it out and speak to And we do a lot of precision targeting which is we identify that this is the kind of content that there is an appetite and this platform Or these platforms let's just take it to them and see what they would have to how they would have to react to it I mean and I can tell you besides I mean Mumbai Diaries for instance It was literally One meeting with a partner and they're then head of the company and we You know we were sitting there and she said what do you really want to make and he says you know what I've always wanted to make a medical drama I'm a huge fan of grace anatomy I want to make something which is booted But I want to make it in Bombay and I want to always give an old to my city And she turned around and she says that's the line okay send me an email and let's get your people to talk to our people and Let's develop this and it has organically grown into where we're shooting the second season right now the third season is being written It's a very exciting show and there's a lot of love that's come for it so again it's it's it's just really where we Learn it wasn't an accidental thing. It was really he knew Amazon's the place where this is going to get the platform and the love and I mean that's how we built up So in that sense if you were compare we were to compare OTT platforms to the typical Bollywood model Which would be a star-driven system where you actually go to a movie star and you pitch that particular script And the movie star says yes, which means that film will get made Do you think OTT is the new star in this particular format? It's it's the platform that says yes and everything else falls into place For the money sure but I mean I don't think that the movie stars have that there's a guy called Gushan Kumar And there are a bunch of other studios was similar to him who actually like I said everyone goes looking for Mona Lisa There's Da Vinci and then there's the rich family that commissioned the portrait Nobody really looks at those headlines, but those are really where you're right. That's where the chips fall And I think and with a little immodesty and I hope I don't sound arrogant but it What the OTT platform has done is it's given creators Makers producers the opportunity to be the stars And that credibility has transferred into us being able to actually Get actors and and break through the star system and put them out in ways that nobody expected them to Because of the fact that we can invest so much in character-driven content And it's fascinating how a lot of these actors people when they see them on hoardings or when they see them on the show And they go oh gosh do you know he's the guy who was you know with Ranveer singing in that movie And he was singing a song to him and guess what he's Omibaba now And it's so fantastic I mean people turn around and say Dino Mordia But he is a villain and I don't think in Dino's wildest dreams he would have ever thought That he's going to be part of such conversations or he's going to be on 5000 hoardings around the country right And that's something that we feel really proud of that we've been able to and not just MA When you look at all the producers on OTT we've been empowered to actually build our content in that manner And make the story make the production the real star Couldn't have put it better these are two women empowering a lot of talent in the city Through OTT platforms of course at this point but I really hope this translates to theatrical releases too Ladies and gentlemen Madhu Bojwani, Munisha Adwani Thanks guys, thank you