 Thank you so much for talking to us today. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's been really long, but it's a kind of radio articles and everything. So it's nice to be a part of this. But thanks to Spice. Pleasure to hear that. And I also appreciate the kind of work you've been doing and just loved your movies. Thank you. Thank you so much. So Ashwini, I was reading about your journey and I understand that you worked in the corporate life for about 15 years or more, and then you thought about getting into films and taking to direction and then production and script writing all of it. So if you could take us back to time and talk to us about how this transition happened for you. So it goes back to a very long time back. And for me, October 2nd actually plays a very important role in my life. So the reason being, of course, it was Gandhi Jainty and there's a great philosophy Gandhi Ji has. And at the same time, I remember I was doing my class 12 commerce. And I had pretty much got a decent percentage in school. And I always wanted to be a painter. But coming from a very middle class family and a family which has a lot of professors and teachers around my mother's a teacher. My father was a double PhD in plant pathology. And he was a professor in teaching in Algeria in French in the French Institute. So you know, so it comes from there. So one of my uncles was an IT has been an IT prof. So my mother wanted me to do my CA, which I don't understand at all. I think nobody's gonna happen because of that. And she wanted me to do my CA study maths and become a charter accountant. But then I kind of retaliated on October 2nd saying that either I finished my 12th, I'm going to leave my 12th, I'm not going to do my give my class 12 exams. And I'm just going to leave everything and just going to start off painting. And she was like, no, no, no, how can we do that? You know, we middle class people, how can we just randomly just leave everything in this go? You know, we need to figure things for you. And she said, okay, you want to do painting, right? So she was she because she's been a teacher and a principal of a school, she kind of found out that there's something called advertising where you can actually do your art. And at the same time, you make money because it's media. And because some of some one of her friends brother wasn't wasn't advertising or something like that. And I still remember very clearly that in class 12, I started interning. She could she made me work, go and start interning in network advertising. That's when I did my first internship. And I didn't know head or tail of it, but I was working for the network advertising event management companies, I was doing a lot of events, designing a lot of events and everything. And from there, I kind of joined Sophia Polytechnic and ended my BFA there, which is bachelor of finance in applied arts. And so while I was working there, while I was studying in Sophia College for five years, after class 12, I was working also. So I was working in network advertising, I was doing a job there. And I was working on doing also internships in Mudra, at that point of time. So I was working and making working and also supporting my school fee college fees is because art itself is very expensive, right from buying camera to getting to a lot of different things. So that's how it started. And by the time I finished my fifth year, it was very clear that whoever gets the gold, this I'm talking about 1999 2000. So it was that time and it was the millennial year I very clearly remember. And it was a thing that you know, if you get the gold, if you like, if you're a goal, if you get the goal, then you get into Oolka or you get into a Chaitra at that point of time, Chaitra, Leo, Benette or no. So these are the three advertising agencies you get to because they get a special preference for anyone who gets gold. And there will be less women who are actually getting into advertising. So a lot of my school, college friends in Sophia's were either getting into graphic design or they were traveling outside the country to do their masters in design and things like that. I wanted to actually go to NID, but I could not because of financial pressure. So and now I teach at NID. So I just I am visiting, I like go every year for one week to teach at do master class in NID. Life was come full circle for you. Full circle for me. So I always tell myself that, you know, if I was not one one teaching side of me and being a prof, I think is always there is because of my background. So I like being in in campuses and having my little Jola. So then I got into Leo Benette as a as a trainee director. It was a time when all the who and who were there, it was Angelo Diaz and everyone if you know anything about advertising and that that period. So I've worked under the best of best people. I learned a lot under KVC, the Arvind Sharma, and the who was who Angelo Diaz, everyone with KVC. And slowly and steadily, obviously, because of I think I'm a hardworking person. So kind of started moving in terms of gradually progressing in in the creative side. And then you become the creative director, then I started handling PNG for a very long time. So most of my brands, I launched Whisper, have a happy period. And then I launched Bella Colestant, home, the hair color, home hair color. And then I launched Fiat, I launched Tata Indicom. I was just talking yesterday to someone they didn't know my profile. And I said that that I just launched your own brand. And they were asking, so what do you do and everything? So it's kind of a little weird. But yeah, you always have to be grounded is because it's glad it's great that people still do not know your journey. So then this makes you work harder. And like, you know, to tell more things, or maybe I don't talk up too much about myself. And that's why spice setting is there. I was very, I was very like the thing that the brand you're handling, I launched that brand. So it was like, okay, so. So yeah, so then then I then I worked on Sony entertainment television for a very long time. So I was I stuck to where I work. So I wasn't in Burnett for like 16 years. And I, I was heading Bombay, ECD, and I was handling ASEAN Rejoice. I was just doing a lot of things. I was at Cannes, I was everywhere, wherever. I mean, you know, boardroom, you say that you need women in the boardroom. So I think because of my bosses, Kevi Shreeder and Arvind Sharma, who used to really encourage women, you know, to be heading brands and to be heading, talking to clients and everything. So basically, I was being there done that like, like my mother says, you know, that you have an executive secretary and you travel business. So those kind of things and I was even almost going to settle a shift to Bangkok to handle the ASEAN region. But then I fell in love with Nitesh and I decided not to pursue that. So, so that's what happened. And just when I was going to go to Bangkok, everything was set. And then I kind of realized that what is more important, you know, to have a companion or to move ahead and do this. But I think life has always has given you choices and the questions which needs to be asked to yourself. So I think at that time, more than my career, having a family was more important. So, so I so I chose Nitesh over Thailand. I'm getting a very lucrative job in Thailand. So, so yeah, but then he keeps saying that that, you know, this, if this was not happened, then this would not happen. So then I started handling Sony entertainment television and I was handling the brand I've launched about what some 170, 80 shows. Wow. Right from, I worked with her very closely on redefining how do you look at promotion, promotional ads, promotional campaigns. So right from, from calling it promos for a fiction show, we started calling it ads, you know, we, we had an idea for a story. And that's what I think my interest for storytelling and to tell stories because we anyways used to write stories. We were brand people. We understood clients, we understood research, we understood marketing, PR, everything around it is because we were, we were custodians of a brand. And so we used to, it was like a baby every brand was like a baby. And then when I moved on to handling Sony entertainment television, I kind of realized there were a lot more stories to tell and the more and more we were talking about the stories. And I was telling a story for Indian Idol every year. I was telling a story for Konvanega Karodpati, but almost I think this is the first year we have not done a campaign for them. So, but otherwise for the past 12 years, it was all, all work. And that year I did a campaign for Konvanega Karodpati where I insisted to our client who are amazing clients who understood what it was to see at that point of time. This I'm talking about 2016, 15, 13, 12, 13. And we had a KBC campaign where it was basically the whole idea that because of where you come from, you can ever see small. If you do not know how to speaking, it doesn't mean that your knowledge is less, you can still move ahead. So I stood to the client that, you know, what we want one, which would be a woman on the, on the hot seat. She needs to be there and she needs to break diversities in terms of, because I had never seen a woman on the hot seat and we're talking, her talking to Amitabh Bachar would be such a great strategy to have, to have more women on the hot seat. And now you have so many women there. The client bought into the idea and that's how we said, we got this girl from Haryana and it was her story about at that point of time, there was this really serious issue of, you know, not having a girl in the family, eliminating the girl baby before she's born is because they need more boys to carry forward the business or whatever. And things have changed considerably now from what it was and what it is now. So Laurie was about this girl from Haryana where the father wants her to like, you know, just get married and move, move out of home. And so her, her place is in the kitchen. So every time she's asking a question or she's saying something, she's saying, her father keeps telling her that, you know, your place is in the kitchen and you're not supposed to do things. And I, and I still remember that shoot really well is because I had gone for the shoot and the women of the house saw me there and I kept from the agency, I was a creative person that time. And they dragged me into the room. They literally dragged me into the room and I thought maybe you can really nice, you know, women who are very beautiful faces and they said that, why have you come here? And I said, because I make ads and ads. So I said, yes, I have two kids. No, I said yes. So I said, yes. So and then one of the women very quietly told me because she didn't want anyone else to hear it outside the, outside the room, she said, you know, be a beard, but now she would be here. She would go to the good. And I have taken care of her. So I tell her to go on time and come back. She can do the rest, but she doesn't want me to read it and she's being bearded. That made me realize that there is so much more for us to tell us like beyond the money we make beyond the position we have. And I think I was very, I was very, maybe I didn't have the money. My family didn't have the money, but they still, but my mother had the education. My mother had the, the, the, the foresight that, you know, that my daughter needs to be where she needs to be. And I felt that if, if, if my voice could, could translate into so many more voices where, where so many girls could have a choice coming from not so privileged backgrounds, maybe, maybe, maybe there is something more there than me, than me continuing to do what I do really well. But was that my purpose? I don't think so. That was my purpose. Cause my purpose had always, has always been, like I always say, I'm a very empathizing creator. And yes, I am pretty, pretty much I handle my finances really well. I, I write from the beginning when I was owning 25,000 rupees. I used to put 10,000 rupees into, into mutual funds, you know, that's how it was. And I've always been someone who has been save money, done my own thing, you know, so for me, even marriage never was like a, like a thing. And I think I also married a guy who kept both of us as individuals who were not like, so for me, it was like, I need to, my mother very clearly told me this one thing, sorry, I'm jumping it, but my mother very clearly told me this one thing that, you know, it's very important to get educated. It was very important to have a job for yourself. And it is very important to own your own living, because you never know what will happen. You'd still need to stand, walk by to what you believe in, so that if anything happens to you tomorrow, you know that you have, you can stand on your own feet. Because you, life is so unpredictable, right? You need to have your own, own part. And then she also told me that, but you still fall in love and you need to get married and you need to have kids also. Just like a typical mother. There goes the, you were here, and suddenly you come here. You didn't know, but because, because your generation thinks that no, these are things which are not important, but mark my words, these are things also which are important. That doesn't mean, and then you said you have kids, but you don't leave your job, you continue with your job. Didn't we all take care of ourselves? We still didn't have any help, but here there is everyone, you know, so you need to continue doing all these things. And you have to do things on your own. You never take money from anyone. So it was also engraved in my, in my, in my head that, that for me, I felt that, you know, there's something more, there's something more for me. I think I need to have more of a voices because yes, in advertising, there were very few women and they were, we had great bosses. Like I always say this thing, when we have more women, men encouraging women, women to be in the drawing, in the, in the, in the conference room, and many, and many men figuring lies for women to, to, to lead is when we will have a place for equals, and we'll have more women who would be out there to encourage more men and women to move forward. It doesn't, it doesn't become, it doesn't become a case of extremes because I still feel that being an entrepreneur today also, or being, being someone who, who knows how to lead, good leadership only comes when you know what you've gone through and how you need to get people around you to start elevating and that, that leadership ideas comes only when, when you're walking along with people, when you have people around you also who treat you as equals because then you're not trying to prove a point, you're only making sure that everyone elevates and everyone makes their mistakes when it rises up. So, so I wanted to leave the first person, of course, I didn't, the last person I told was my mother. The first person I went and told was my boss. Okay, we shared it and I told him, I want to leave, I want to make sense. And he said that just wait, do one thing, just wait for some more time. You probably didn't front, probably in front of, hey, but your gratuity also will happen because you spend enough time. I said, oh yeah, that's a good idea. So, so then he said that also listen, it's like, you're a public limited company, so you've done really well. So maybe, you know, next year, there will be some more bonuses and all you will get. So this, but till that time, what did you do one thing? Why don't you see what you can do in the agency itself as a director, as a, as a writer? And then of course, I spoke to Nitesh about it and he told me that, you know what I have one story, why don't you direct it and see what it is like. And I said, okay, fine, I'll direct it. So there were people around me who always felt that, you know what, okay, at least let her try, let her do these things. And I think that is very important. But at the same time, when I left, and I actually started, there were more people who believed me in the, in the feature film world than in my own advertising world. So for the first one and a half years, I didn't get any work as, as the director. One and a half, two years I didn't get, but thanks to my stars or my work or whatever, I was just making feature films continuously. So, but, but I also understand that it takes time for people to trust to believe you as a person. But I was told once that, you know, maybe because you're a woman, that's why you're not getting to direct ads. Oh, so I was like, why would that be, you know, that I think up after about nine years now, I just recently shortened and which is a very male centric brand for Agus witches. And I literally went into the client and I told the agency, thank you. And they were like, why your work is so good. And you know, and I went into the client also, thank you, such an amazing client. And they said, why your work is so good, you know, you've done such an amazing ad right now. And I said, no, because you, you're choosing more women to tell your stories. So I said, oh, that's such a nice with that way. But I said, you never thought about that way. But I feel, I feel it is my model responsibility to tell you, thank you. So maybe, you know, so these are the kind of little social service work I do in terms of, you know, instilling that you're that somewhere unknowingly, knowingly, we do things which might just, which might just add so much more value to a woman's life at that point of time. And because it is not about the kind of money you make or what you're doing, it's also about self assurance, reassurance, I would say it's also about it's also about letting everyone know that there is more to do to be than what you are. So then that happened, nobody. So I did that short film, which got a national award. And, and then I, we started writing, nobody's another right in the office is because people not afford to leave, you're getting your paychecks. And of course, the office knew about it. And then I went to one person because I knew the person through, through, through, from one production, how you get to know and all that. And I, because of some good works, I went to Ajay and I, who's an executive producer, now he's a producer. And I asked him whether he would be interested to just take the script because my idea was to tell good stories. It was not about me directing anything. I just wanted to tell good stories in a longer format. So maybe I would leave, not leave. I didn't have any plan. I don't think so far. I'm very impulsive that way in terms of taking quick decisions and moving. And he told me such a beautiful script, why don't you only direct it? And I was like, okay, that's cool. Okay, that was a place I said, okay, give me at least a week to think about it and I'll come back to you. And that decision was very quick. That decision was very quick. It came from taking a sabbatical to almost leaving and there. Yeah. So taking a sabbatical and me getting being told that you have a gratuity and provident fund. And also being told that, you know, you have a husband to take care of you. So you don't have to worry. I said, no, no. That's not what it is. It is about my own self-respect. And that's not arrogant. It's not arrogant. Yeah. There it is together. It is everything is there. But what I'm going to do right now is about the decisions I'm taking. I can always fall back on. Of course, I can fall back on my mother. I can fall back on my husband. I can fall back on my friends. Who will figure life for me? But at the end of the day, I think the most important thing for all of us is that you're responsible for your own path. Whether it is right or wrong. Because you can fall and only you can rise. But you'll have a lot of supporters to help you through if they feel good for you and they want you to rise up again. And that's how Nilbadee Sanata happened. And once Nilbadee Sanata happened, I started, I was coming back from Nilbadee, shooting Nilbadee Sanata and I was at Delhi airport for Magra and I was very bored. So I'm a very avid reader. I read a lot. And that's how my first book also happened. So I read really a lot. And I picked up this book called ingredients of love because it was a very easy read. And I kind of realized that when your mind is too hectic, you won't be able to sleep or anything. So I said, okay, let me just read like this little chick flick kind of thing and just I kind of finished the book. I reached home. Obviously, I was meeting Natesh almost after two and a half, three months. And the first thing I look at, I said, I didn't like this book. I think this can be made into a film. And Natesh is like, oh, you'll just come back from a shoot. What's up? And I said, no, I think this can be made. And then he read it. And he said, yeah, this can be made into a film. And that's how we started writing Barely Puberty. Oh, lovely. And like I said, everything in life sometimes impulse decisions in life are good. It just can backfire also. But I mean, what is life without risk to be slightly more fearless? And that's how this happened. The one who was very, very upset was my mother, because she felt that I don't have a secretary now and I won't travel to Cannes. I won't go to the duty free shop bags won't come, which he needs to get. It's like a funny thing. I think I can write a web series on my mother. So I keep telling her you're drama queen. So and I started writing that. And then, of course, we pitched it. And Aishman came on board after seeing Gulpates and Nata in an offline. Trust you, my films are not out till then. And then I called him to see the offline. And I thank Aishman because he trusted me and my judgment of my work. Krithi also did the same thing. She just came and saw my offline. But it's not. And she came on board. That was the first film which was completely in terms of her acting. We do start all the acting from her. I'm very proud of what Krithi has achieved today. And she just got the national award yesterday. And Barilliki Murphy was really a turning point, I think, for both of us in terms of what we did. And Aishman Rao was there. He also came. And this day before yesterday, I was at the airport and there was this auntie who comes and tells me, can I take a picture with you? And I was like, yeah, she's like, that is joy for me. To just see like, you know, people, unknown people just coming and saying you, I really like your work or, you know, there are things. And then what I started doing is that I just felt that the kind of messages I used to get on Instagram and the messages which I used to get from a lot of young kids, and especially women girls who look up to you, who want to hear you. So I started doing a lot of college visits, maybe because the prof in me just, the Jhula and this thing in me just like landed up. And I started doing that a lot is because I just felt that there's so many youngsters out there who who who maybe with my little knowledge of from wherever I've come, I can make a difference. But then the chaska is not less. But after that, I made Panga. And then we started when Panga happened, COVID kicked in. After during COVID, we got the opportunity to work on Mahesh and Leander pieces, docu docu drama. And so I did that, I worked on that. And then I kind of realized that I don't, I only produce it and why don't I start a company called pictures. And it was my thing. And they showed me a stupid, please this, let's just do that. And just keep quiet. Don't get into all this production and everything. I said, no, I want to do it. Because I want to make stories, which I believe in, and I want to give wings to so many more directors and storytellers who can, like, you know, make a difference through their stories. So I started off with sky like that. And we did that. And then we did uncahi, which was a short film series for Netflix, one of the shorts for Netflix. Then we did Turkey Murgy for another shot with Sony, which was selected for Bricks. Then we produced Tarla this year, which is my first time director or writer, who worked with me in Ljubljana and gave him a chance because we'd spelt those kind of stories needed to be told. Then we then we could produce Babal, which was Netesh's film. Then we co-produced another film this year called Tum Sena Hopayega, which is again an entrepreneur journey story with Pod Star. And that's how it started. But in the meanwhile, what I tried, what I tried doing is that I'm pretty restless in terms of, you know, innovating and doing new things. So I have a great interest in the arts and crafts of our country and paintings and textures and textiles. I would say a textile concierge kind of person and I have many textile friends. So right now, we're trying up with a lot of these young textile designers and, you know, telling their stories through something called Roots, which is almost like a CSR thing for me to do that. And then I started off with Outskite Moon, which was only for digital ads and brand, because the brand side of me, that blood in me will never go off. So I kind of realized that a lot of our clients and a lot of agencies wanted, you know, digital communication and ads and writing. So I did something for Karat lane right now, we're doing two more campaigns for smaller brands, but who have big ideas. So yeah, that's where it is going forward now. But it's to keep doing things.