It was a unique congregation of two of the most successful people in recent times one a ‘Genre Actor’ and another hugely successful producer of the film ‘Baahubali’ and Baahubali the conclusion at the final day final session of the TiE-ISB Connect 2017.
It was truly a ‘Fireside Chat’, where the audience were in rapt attention listening to an array of questions thrown at them. And, they (Shobu Yarlagadda environmental engineer, turned film producer and Actor Entreprenuer Rana Daggubati) did not disappoint the audience that included industrialists, entrepreneurs, students, academic experts.
‘The reason I am in cinema is because there are some stories that need to be told and it wasn’t there’ Rana began by opening his fireside chat to a question by Murali Bukkapatanam, Member Board of Trustees TiE Global and moderator of the chat at TiE ISB Connect why he choose to be in films.
Rana Daggubati is truly in the forefront of breaking into new genre right from his first film Leader. He believes that the foundation of good cinema lie in good content and even better story telling. The actor went to act in some of the most stellar movies in recent times like Krishnam Vandey Jagadgurum, Baahubali, Ghazi, Nene Raju Nene Mantri.
On being asked his journey from Leader to Nene Raju Nene Mantri Rana his first and the recent film with politics and drama in the background Rana told the audience the idea behind doing political films “I like drama and movies and the most drama I see is in politics.”
“Environmental Engineer and successful producer of the film Baahubali when probed to speak about his journey from being a tech pro to film producer and when the entrepreneur bug hit him he said ‘It wasn’t easy, I came to India in 1996 and failed, my back against the wall not really knowing what to do.
For me movie was the next survival and business opportunity” Shobu told the audience. Infact, movies happened by accident in 2001. There was tremendous amount of pain and challenges as a startup”.
What next after Baahubali, Shobu said our goal is to keep this huge fan base we created through the film engaged through various other new media. And, of course making good movies and television shows will be my production house focus.
Every film is like a startup, it is a startup for every one working in the film. Rana said. You can start from zero all over again every film you do. Asked if you revisit Baahubali what would he would like to do better Rana said Baahubali is the largest film experience for any one of us. Understanding the character better, we could have trained harder there is so much we could have done.
On why enterprises fail? To this question Shobu cited, while we ventured at the peak time to starup during the dot com days, by the time our prototype was ready the dot came crashing. While creating a product is easy the biggest challenge for a startup entrepreneur is ‘The go to market’ strategy.
Explaining about the biggest challenge for a startup is raising the money Shobu said when you startup with respect and credibility to the idea you dream it is a possibility you will find investors to back you up Shobu told the audience during the chat. One needs to find trust in your dream and its genuine intentions.
So if there is a Baahubali 3? “If there is a part 3 I am there”. Rana said stating that Baahubali is armour I wear and walk around. It was undoubtedly a film that taught me so many things you could do with film on screen and off screen.
Murali Bukkapatanam on his closing note said that success is what entrepreneur resonates with and it is indeed a great learning opportunity for every entrepreneur to study Baahubali and its continuing strategies to keep the brand ‘Baahubali, alive.
