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Episode 12 featuring Neha Barjatya, CEO of Rajshri Entertainment — Transcript

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0:00[Music]
0:05hi
0:05and welcome to yet another edition of
0:07hippo brain here is where we have hippo
0:09size conversations
0:10with hypo size brains it's one of the
0:13very interesting
0:14uh guests that we have today normally we
0:16get very very excited
0:18so rajesh and we got very excited we hit
0:20thousand views 100 subscribers
0:22and here i am in total of because i'm
0:24going to be speaking to someone
0:26who is getting a billion views a month
0:30and more so rajesh over to you to
0:32introduce our next speaker
0:34thank you jaime today on on hippo brain
0:38we have nina bajatiya
0:40from rajtri entertainment she's the ceo
0:43uh so of course nay i have known for 20
0:46years or so
0:47a wonderful friend and uh
0:51she has built raj entertainment over the
0:54last four years
0:55into one of india's largest digital
0:58entertainment powerhouses we'll hear
1:01that part of the story on how
1:04neya runs one of the most awesome
1:06content factories
1:08across food bollywood content
1:11kids content uh dr binox is something
1:14which you have to go check out
1:16if you have not already done so at some
1:17point of time across
1:19youtube and facebook but before that
1:22we're going to start with
1:25her personal journey niya has been a
1:29homemaker
1:30a mother and then in 2016
1:34her husband and my close friend rajat
1:37barjatiya
1:39passed away and naya had to take over
1:42the entire business and
1:46given her background
1:49a science graduate and been at home for
1:51the last 15 years
1:53after her marriage to rajat and then
1:57all of a sudden she's trust in the
1:58leadership position
2:00we'll start with her journey how she
2:03took it over
2:04what were hers experiences over those
2:06last four years that she's been running
2:08rajtri
2:10and then we'll have the fun part about
2:13what does it take to create a amazing
2:15content factory
2:16so now we'll start with how is it taking
2:19over
2:20all of a sudden um
2:23it was it was very tough rajesh
2:26um given the circumstances that i had to
2:29join in
2:30i had gone through a personal tragedy
2:34uh of course i lost my husband
2:37so and i had two small kids at that time
2:40my kids were six and eleven both girls
2:43so um um if you ask me how
2:46was it joining so i'll quickly take you
2:49through what actually happened
2:51so we um we did the formation
2:55my husband's cremation we came back home
2:58and the core team members were there to
2:59meet me
3:00i just looked at them and they were
3:03looking
3:04at me with questions on their faces
3:06because obviously they did not have the
3:07guts to ask
3:08that you know will you be coming to
3:10office you just cremated him
3:12so i just looked at them and i just told
3:15them that i will come to office
3:17but i don't know anything so then they
3:19said
3:20uh it doesn't matter just come ma'am i
3:23said
3:23fine first day i entered the office
3:28i was absolutely jittery
3:31i had actually no idea of
3:34what we do also why uh
3:38of course i had some inkling of what he
3:40used to do is to come home and tell me
3:42things but
3:43as a wife i would just give him some
3:45year and then
3:46you know just listen to him what he's
3:48saying without actually anything sinking
3:50inside me
3:52so the first day i stepped into the
3:53office and
3:55we had a hundred people team at that
3:56time and i
3:58was like you know what do these people
4:00all do over here
4:02what is the business about you know
4:05so uh i com i was completely freaking
4:08out
4:08but i couldn't show that i had to be
4:11absolutely calm
4:13and i just went and i
4:16sat there now home to ask questions
4:19i don't have a mentor i don't have any
4:22person
4:23any chairperson any senior person in the
4:26company i am the senior most person
4:28now whom do i ask questions uh you know
4:31who am i dealing with so the first thing
4:34i
4:35did was where to start
4:38uh first three months i actually did
4:41nothing but
4:42meet each and every member of my team
4:46because i wanted to know what do they
4:48all
4:49actually do and then i was able to piece
4:52together
4:53the jigsaw puzzle and realize that okay
4:56this person does this
4:58reports to this person uh this person
5:00reports to this person they all do
5:02this so this is how i kind of
5:05uh you know piece together the whole
5:07jigsaw puzzle
5:09and of course the core team at that time
5:11was extremely strong
5:13my entire team that way knew my
5:15background
5:16they all knew i have actually no ideas
5:19of anything
5:19so they all helped me i actually
5:23had no no no calms you know about
5:26asking them questions i would ask them
5:28point blank what is this
5:30why not this what is this and they would
5:31all explain to me very nicely
5:34so this is how um i kind of stepped in
5:39now the first part was of course to
5:42figure out what do we do we
5:45i realized we do two things number one
5:48is that we make content
5:50what content we make non-fiction content
5:53uh for youtube for facebook primarily
5:57and we have i came to know that we are
5:59one of the biggest
6:00digital content producers in india
6:02imagine and
6:03i'm sitting on top of that company
6:06so um so first was to figure out
6:10what it was now uh
6:13this uh now as i take you through my
6:16journey
6:18i will tell you business from the
6:21perspective
6:21of a non-business person completely a
6:25complete housewife
6:26i have no degree in leave
6:29in bcom accountancy max was absolutely
6:32zero
6:33so i have no no no such uh
6:37experience business according to me
6:40had three parts as i figured out over
6:42the past four years
6:44number one is the business itself which
6:46includes the front
6:48end you know what people actually see
6:50and then there is a back end
6:52where it's a dirty part people don't see
6:54that
6:55so you have to understand both of them
6:58second part was the finance part of it
7:02third was people management
7:06now you know when some tragedy happens
7:08or something or you're pushed to do some
7:10kind of a job
7:12you probably go and do only that job you
7:14know you have probably become an
7:16accountant an editor morning to evening
7:18you're just doing editing
7:20here i was pushed into a job of a ceo
7:24right at the top of the ladder and i had
7:28to
7:28understand everything right all these
7:32three
7:32as i had said though the business part
7:34the finance part and the people's part
7:37and i had to do it on my own
7:40so that was the whole challenge
7:44now if um now i can
7:47take you through that journey it would
7:50be great to actually talk about each of
7:51these three aspects
7:53so i'll um make it very short and
7:56quick all of these because you guys are
7:58stalwarts
7:59i don't need to tell you uh but this is
8:02my
8:03perspective so um first part as i
8:06figured out
8:06was the content part of it um
8:10i knew okay we are making content across
8:13five verticals
8:14which included food included lifestyle
8:17uh bollywood content entertainment and
8:21animation spiritual so content was being
8:24made across all these
8:26genres for different platforms uh
8:29maine was youtube i had no idea what
8:31youtube is
8:32and second was facebook i had never been
8:34on facebook
8:35so first was to figuring out that what
8:38is being done
8:39then the backend part of it now that's
8:42one part
8:43second came the technology now
8:47uh technology will entail you know
8:50things like
8:51uh editing now what all is being shot
8:54how is it being edited what are the
8:56formats what are the machines being used
8:59i mean this was amazingly technical and
9:02half of it would go
9:03you know bounce off my head but i had to
9:07sit i had to call people in my cabin
9:10and tell them give them my writing pen
9:13and tell them
9:14you know write it on the whiteboard and
9:16explain it to me
9:18what is it how are you doing it so that
9:21was the editing part then there are
9:23huge machines that are in the office i
9:25would actually go and ask my people what
9:27is this machine for
9:28and they would be like okay this is the
9:31server
9:32or probably this is some fancy
9:35editing machine these are hot edits
9:37these are cold edits
9:38goodness let me not even get into that
9:40for you
9:42so that that was a one
9:45you can you can imagine you know women
9:46and technology just don't go together
9:49so uh but somehow uh
9:52i i had no option i had to learn it
9:55what this is it took time but i kind of
9:59figured it out
10:00um so this was the uh back end the
10:04technology part of it
10:05now uh besides this also came a lot of
10:08other things
10:09um issues like you know what cameras are
10:12you working on
10:13that's the content part you know what
10:15what are you working on what cameras
10:17what
10:17what uh uh what formats you're working
10:21on
10:21again this all came under the technology
10:24part i took time in learning
10:26so this was the second part now um
10:30second uh second part was the creative
10:33part
10:34what to create today if i'm sitting on
10:37one billion views
10:39what was the thought process that went
10:41into it and how did i figure that out
10:44so if you ask me how i figured that out
10:47i
10:48i would say that here uh
10:51my science background came into play
10:55where we are simply taught that while
10:58doing an experiment
10:59you need when the experiment is being
11:01done you need to observe
11:03and then you need to conclude so this is
11:06what i did across all my verticals
11:09i just observed i just observed what has
11:13been done
11:13in the past what are my rivals doing
11:17and what is it that we can do there were
11:20so many things that
11:22you know i had questions in my mind i
11:24would ask them can we do this can we do
11:26that
11:26and then my team would tell me ma'am
11:29this is not possible
11:30man this is possible okay fine so
11:33you know then then how i could figure
11:35out what are the limits
11:37what all can we do and
11:40then i think i had that um you know that
11:43instinct
11:44in in in me to kind of figure out
11:47a lot of these things and uh
11:51and just go about it so that's how
11:54um we are sitting on so many views
11:57today yeah and of course we will cover
12:00that part in much more detail
12:02and then you had to worry about of
12:04course the pnl the finance
12:06and all of the security part of the
12:08business yes the finance part now today
12:11when you come across as
12:13one one of the cogs in the company
12:15you're only worried about
12:16yourself your your part you are only
12:19worried about
12:20your performance right here uh i had to
12:24sit
12:24and figure out uh the entire finance
12:28now uh as i said
12:31everything was zero in the match
12:33department in the commerce department
12:35so um uh but
12:39end of the day i come from a marwari
12:41family and i know profit and loss
12:43this is what i understood i'm sorry if
12:46i'm
12:47segregating this community
12:50but this is what this is what i knew so
12:53i asked
12:55my accountant i said um you know just
12:57give me
12:58uh what is the profit and loss uh
13:01statements
13:02so he gave it to me and i could i could
13:06understand
13:06of course with help from friends and uh
13:09team people
13:10i could understand where are the profits
13:13coming from
13:14where are the losses i realized
13:18that
13:26the first part was to make it stable how
13:29do i make it stable
13:31i have to plug in my losses
13:34as fast as possible because if there
13:36were losses happening since last six
13:38months or one year
13:39i had to plug them or mend them or
13:42whatever
13:43stop the leakage then work on the profit
13:45part of it
13:47so uh yaha parade challenge aura
13:50very interesting um every time i would
13:54ask a question
13:55about finance about numbers
13:59my people my ca et etc you know they
14:02would come up with
14:03such technical jargons over here
14:05goodness
14:06i could not understand a word and then i
14:09realized
14:10that uh you know i need to get somebody
14:13who understands me and who can explain
14:16things to me
14:17in the language i want to hear not all
14:19this technical nonsense
14:21and by the way a big takeaway from here
14:24is that the people who talk the most
14:26technical stuff
14:26no don't know their business they just
14:29talk technical
14:30to uh impress you so this is one
14:33conclusion in these four years
14:35so then i um i immediately got in touch
14:38with friends
14:39and i told them that i am looking for
14:41somebody who can
14:42you know understand me i got a fantastic
14:46person to join the company
14:48as my finance person as my ca and i
14:51asked my old one to
14:53please leave the first second i did as
14:55soon as i joined
14:56and i'm very happy of course he was
14:58quite shocked but
14:59this the person who came in the ca he
15:02then explained to me
15:04a lot of things what
15:07where is the money coming from where is
15:09it going how does it need to be invested
15:12where all you know you need to you how
15:14do you how do you manage all this
15:16i joined in august uh rajeshji
15:20and september the old ca
15:23came to me and gave me a huge pile of
15:26papers
15:27and he said ma'am sign this i said what
15:29is this he says this is a balance sheet
15:31i'm like what is a balance sheet i
15:33didn't know
15:34and i said i'm supposed to sign it he's
15:36like yes so
15:38i got a little scared because i don't
15:40like signing things
15:41which i don't understand but of course i
15:45had to i couldn't ask him too many
15:47questions then i realized that this will
15:49not happen
15:50from next year on i need to know what am
15:52i signing on
15:53so that's when after 2-3 months i
15:56decided that this guy needs to go
15:58and some other guy needs to come in
16:01now finance in business not only
16:04includes
16:05profit and loss you also have to
16:08understand
16:09various other things there's something
16:11called auditing
16:12goodness now what is this auditing after
16:15six seven months gst came in as if this
16:17wasn't enough
16:18gst came in and i'm like now now what is
16:21what animal is this
16:22so that that was different and then
16:25you know if you if you're sitting on on
16:28on a bank balance
16:29you need to even invest that now where
16:32do you invest that
16:33now for that i had to get in all the
16:36things
16:37like mutual funds debts equities
16:41bank fds what is giving best returns
16:44so this is another part of business that
16:46i had to figure out
16:48i had to meet a lot of people because
16:52uh you know somewhere somehow all these
16:54people out there can smell you want to
16:56invest money
16:57and i had people pouring in from every
17:00nook and corner ma'am invest with us
17:02now i had to spend amazing amount of
17:05time with each one of them
17:07because how do i otherwise decide
17:11so trust me you know i would
17:14literally finish up five six cups of tea
17:16in every meeting because i would be so
17:17sleepy
17:19uh couldn't understand a thing they are
17:21talking about
17:22nifty and markets and bull market and
17:25what bear market
17:27goodness i couldn't understand a thing
17:30i was like boss take my money and grow
17:32it now tell me
17:34where or do i put it so simply again i
17:37did a lot of studies over here
17:40understood where all i can do see
17:43my position was such rajashi that you
17:46know i
17:47i can't take too many risks i don't have
17:50a fallback
17:51i can't be taking stupid decisions or
17:54experimental decisions
17:55so every decision has to be
17:58you know i have to think over it 10
18:00times and
18:02with these people also i had to do a lot
18:05of homework
18:06ask around a lot of people then i kind
18:09of figured out the
18:10investment part of it
18:13now when i was doing these investments i
18:16realized
18:17that this is not enough there have to be
18:20something investments done on personal
18:23front also
18:24you know where we women in india are so
18:28dependent
18:29on our fathers and our husbands to take
18:32care of
18:33investments we really don't bother about
18:35uh
18:36you know doing doing all these things
18:38but then i realized that today i'm a
18:40single parent
18:42and if i'm making my company secure
18:45i need to make my children also secure
18:48then started another round
18:49of talks with people from the insurance
18:52part
18:53again from the share markets and
18:55everything
18:56to understand now where do i
18:59invest personally so i
19:03i deviated from the topic a little bit
19:05but this is something very important and
19:07people need to understand this also so
19:11so i figured out the investment parts
19:13also on
19:14on the on the personal front now um
19:18again uh i'm still trying to figure out
19:20a lot of these things
19:21i i couldn't
19:28[Music]
19:29so this was the finance part you can ask
19:33if you want and then then we come to the
19:35people part the
19:37toughest challenge that you probably
19:38faced was your 100 people that you had
19:41it was the toughest part you know
19:44you know what happens is that when you
19:47are
19:47super qualified with the iit
19:50or mit and or some fancy degrees and
19:53when you join the company people look up
19:55at you
19:56you know they respect you they and you
19:59come
20:00with some experience as interns or some
20:0210 years here and 12 years here
20:05they immediately respect you here
20:08i was stepping in from the kitchen right
20:12absolutely no knowledge nothing it was
20:16extremely hard for me to um
20:20to convince them that you know i can
20:23do it you need to trust me
20:27so you know a lot of people thought that
20:29now the company is doomed
20:32now this lady has walked in she knows
20:34nothing
20:35now the company is you know just going
20:37to go down
20:39so uh uh i think that was very tough
20:43how do you work with people when they
20:46don't trust you
20:47how do you work with people who don't
20:49have the faith in you
20:51you are the ceo md and uh
20:54and they don't even uh you know they are
20:56not convinced about it
20:58so that that that took a lot of time
21:02um i had no idea there's actually a
21:05thing
21:06called you know the there's a lot of
21:08tension
21:09there's i don't know if i should be
21:10using this word but there's a lot of
21:12politics also that happens
21:14in the in the organization sort of power
21:16play happening
21:18so i was absolutely new to all this
21:21and um uh it was it was
21:25it was a very different world for me
21:28dealing uh
21:29with with educated people behaving
21:32in such weird manners so yes
21:35it was tough um i remember
21:39when i stepped in within 15 days one of
21:42my key people resigned
21:45i'm still trying to figure out business
21:47and this person has resigned
21:49and i had a panic attack literally i was
21:52like
21:52how is how how am i going to manage this
21:56now
21:56this person has left where am i going to
21:58get the other person
22:00so this used to happen quite a bit
22:03in the first six months or so every time
22:06anyone would put down their papers and i
22:09would go
22:10completely you know in a panic attack
22:13that what now you know it was then that
22:16one fine day i realized that if
22:21the ceo of the company has been replaced
22:24and somebody has taken over boss
22:27everybody
22:28is replaceable why am i getting scared
22:32you know and if a person like me can
22:34come
22:35and sit on his seat
22:38why am i getting anxious with people
22:40leaving
22:41and i still forget this fundamental rule
22:45a lot of times but i have a very good
22:48backing of friends
22:49who remind me this again and again that
22:52neha why are you scared
22:54so uh see ultimately end of the day i'm
22:57a human being
22:58and anything goes wrong i do get scared
23:01but
23:02this is the mantra now that i keep on
23:04repeating my friends keep on repeating
23:06for me
23:07you have replaced the founder of this
23:10company
23:10the mentor the visionary why are you
23:14scared
23:15so that got me very strong on the people
23:19front
23:20combined with an excellent hr team
23:23who uh uh who managed all the
23:26people resources for me i was
23:30able to handle it but it took
23:33some time for people to you know
23:36trust me and and see that i am serious
23:40you know and i'm here to stay so um
23:44i'm not you know i had a chance rajeshi
23:47of very conveniently appointing a ceo
23:51become a chairperson and sit at home and
23:54probably end off every month
23:55see the reports right but if i have
23:59chosen
24:00to get down and dirty that means i mean
24:03business
24:04and i want to learn all the aspects
24:07and people then realized that you know
24:11we better take her seriously uh so
24:15it was a long fight but i think
24:18i stayed yeah yeah
24:21i think it's quite an inspirational uh
24:24part of the story
24:25and uh yes i am totally in awe that
24:29uh i remember probably when i was 22 23.
24:33and joining any firm you you you're a
24:36small fly
24:37yeah and you have no clue what's
24:38happening and what you're saying is
24:40right why are people behaving like this
24:42why is the politics like this why like
24:46and uh slowly slowly learning the game
24:48etc
24:49and today probably it's easier and i
24:52accept it but
24:53to come laterally on top and it is a
24:57challenge
24:57yes so i think you left a question
25:00unanswered in my head
25:01tell me exactly why
25:05did you choose that you do it
25:08and it probably must have been the
25:11easiest thing to say
25:12yes
25:15let me get a good talent i want to take
25:18care of
25:19what my strength is which is not the
25:21office but you took the difficult call
25:24so i think what is the poem with the
25:26road less traveled
25:28why why
25:32ah that's so that's so i don't know
25:34jameth
25:35um you know what actually during his
25:38last days in the hospital when i used to
25:41spend
25:42time with rajat i used to see him very
25:45worried because you know that time i was
25:47taking him to london for
25:49a blood transplant and he was
25:52constantly worried not about his kids
25:56what will happen to the kids for those
25:57six months he was worried about the
25:59office
26:00so he would constantly think that i'm
26:03going to he so he what he did was
26:05he made a core team in office and he
26:08said
26:09that he set in a rule that whatever
26:11decisions will be made
26:12will be made by this core team i used to
26:16see him constantly
26:17worried about his work his office where
26:20will where will the work go
26:23once when you know when it hit me that
26:26he's no more
26:28i realized i can't give this baby away
26:32to somebody else it was very easy
26:35but somehow i don't know my heart just
26:38didn't give me the permission
26:40i had to get inside this
26:43on my own and i didn't i i had no idea
26:52this was his passion till the day he
26:54died and
26:56i couldn't just give it to anybody to
26:59handle though that was the easy way out
27:01considering that even my
27:03kids had gone through a huge tragedy
27:05that lost a dad
27:06and mom was not available full day oh
27:09easy
27:10but then i looked at it this way that
27:13there are 100 kids in the office and two
27:15kids at home
27:17so they need my attention more probably
27:22and and also you know um somehow
27:25uh you feel responsible for them you
27:27know you are responsible today to
27:30to run the company and to make sure that
27:32these people get their salaries by the
27:34start of the month so uh all these
27:38100 pairs of eyes looking at me how
27:41could i just give it away to
27:43somebody i don't know if i've expressed
27:45myself correctly
27:47no no it's absolutely right at the end
27:49of the day it's it's
27:50it's it's a shared vision and it's
27:53something that you feel very strongly
27:54about and
27:55it's something i i believe that you felt
27:57very strongly
27:59and it's quite it's quite interesting
28:01you took a very
28:02hard call but it was rooted in a lot of
28:06emotion
28:06right and then handling people
28:10uh what were you few key takeaways on
28:13people how do you now look at people
28:14versus how you used to look at them and
28:18sitting on top and just learning the
28:20ways of people
28:22any key takeaways oh
28:26takeaways yes so
28:29first thing i did was jam it that i
28:32became
28:32friendly with them um i need when i sat
28:36with them
28:36i asked them what do they do in office i
28:38also asked them
28:39what who all are there at their you know
28:42at home
28:43they are married they have kids and all
28:45i had to make them comfortable
28:47so first thing you have to definitely
28:50make them
28:50comfortable that the person you are
28:52dealing with is a human being
28:55she's a female she's not going to eat
28:57you up
28:58so relax and you know talk to me
29:02so i have to be very tally with them
29:05very friendly
29:06with them at the same time
29:10there is there is this no-nonsense
29:12boundary also
29:13but i am valley with you but was end of
29:15the day i need work
29:17you are here in this company not because
29:19i like you you are here in this company
29:21because of your performance
29:23so um uh i figured out
29:26the uh i think i have that in name
29:30quality
29:31of reading people um
29:34and and i i can very easily read
29:38uh them i know their strong points their
29:41negative points
29:43so this is where i think this is very
29:45feminine in this habit
29:47you know we we we we can we can guess
29:50what
29:51what what this guy's thinking and all
29:53that so i use
29:54that and i've been able
29:57to tap the best qualities
30:00out of my people i know
30:04how to manage the so-called politics
30:08i know when there is some game being
30:11played
30:12and um there are times when i take a
30:15back seat
30:15because i have to remind myself that i'm
30:18not one of them
30:19i'm above them so sometimes you have to
30:22take a back seat
30:24you have to push your people to do the
30:26best
30:28um i am not the best in everything but i
30:30have hired you
30:32you are supposed to be the best so
30:35you do it so i have somewhere showed
30:38confidence in my people
30:40and i have got that back you know that
30:44loyalty
30:45that uh that confidence so
30:48it's a give-and-take relationship with
30:50your people
30:51you know initially when i had come in
30:53german there was this one more problem i
30:56used to have
30:57my entire team was my husband's team
31:01and they had a habit of comparing me
31:03with him all the time
31:05so i used to do this but she does this
31:09listen if two siblings can't be same
31:12how can the husband and wife be same
31:14show me one husband and wife that are
31:16same
31:17so how can you compare me so
31:20um uh i i used to get very
31:23uh uh you know very very irritated with
31:26this
31:27uh with this thought process the guy who
31:30was your boss
31:31he was the founder he had a vision
31:34and he was passionate about this and he
31:37had no other job in this world
31:39he was only coming to office full day
31:42i am not the founder i don't have the
31:44passion
31:45i don't have the vision also at that
31:47time so
31:48um how are you comparing me i am
31:51here right now first and foremost to
31:54manage you
31:55all manage the company business finance
31:57people god knows blah blah then
32:00don't compare me now
32:03people who didn't have trust in me or
32:06who felt
32:08they started leaving i was very happy
32:12please leave because i need to build
32:15my team i need to get people in
32:18who don't know my husband who cannot
32:21compare me to him
32:23so um it needs to be
32:26my people who have seen me from day one
32:29so
32:30uh so over the last four years
32:33very gradually very nicely
32:36some of the people the troublemakers i
32:38would say have either left
32:41or have been asked to leave my team has
32:44come in
32:45they have their loyalty towards me
32:48and the old people who have stayed back
32:51have are now taking me very seriously
32:55yeah it's it's
32:57quite amazing what you're saying you
32:58know i love the very
33:00i love the way you're saying that you're
33:02a lady and there's a lot of challenges
33:04but you have this resolve and aggression
33:07at a very
33:12as much as i think you don't want to
33:13admit it
33:15you have a very strong aggression and
33:18i'm
33:20i don't think anybody wants to be on
33:21your wrong side
33:37where you require that softness and then
33:39that really toughness and yes
33:41whether you have to understand the
33:42people but you also have to tell them at
33:44one point of time
33:46yes but i think i think you've been able
33:49to transfer
33:50into this situation and really work
33:53if just if i were to change tracks at
33:56the end of the day
33:57you know raj entertainment holds a very
34:00special place in my heart i'll tell you
34:02why
34:03my wife refuses to teach my daughter how
34:04to cook okay
34:06because i think my wife and daughter are
34:07designed never to be in the kitchen at
34:09the same time
34:10and it comes to me as a father to learn
34:13to teach my daughter how to cook
34:14the first thing we actually cooked
34:16together was dal khichdi
34:18okay and this dal ki chidi i can proudly
34:21say
34:21is part of rajri's dal kitchen
34:25i'm so happy to hear that you know
34:27you'll be
34:28you'll be really surprised but a lot of
34:30people actually think that if i
34:32am uh managing that street food probably
34:36i eat everything that is made in the
34:38studios
34:39i have taste everything or probably uh
34:46now what do i tell them i eat tinda and
34:48aloo every day
34:50i am not i am not a cook
34:54i was a cook i used to cook for raja but
34:57now this is pure business
35:00what has been cooked in office so in my
35:02studios i don't go home and cook that
35:04and neither i'm eating that in my
35:06studios
35:07so this is foreign
35:18i used to try these um earlier i oversee
35:21the recipes and everything
35:23but uh i think full day if i'm looking
35:26at food
35:27i can't come home and cook it also
35:31but the point i was making is that you
35:34really managed a beautiful niche
35:36i think uh the cooking and all your
35:38channels i somewhere have that
35:41beautiful quality and i think for some
35:43reason me and my daughter are able to
35:45relate to it and i'm so billions of
35:46views
35:47uh account for it but uh just to
35:50peek into that heart of that so i
35:52understand the finance bit i understand
35:54that people management bit this content
35:57fundamentally it's a content company
35:59creating content is going to be the
36:01critical part of it
36:03growing how is it that you can put a
36:06pulse on it and how do you know what
36:08content to back and
36:09you spoke about your science background
36:11and experimenting if you could just help
36:13us understand a little more
36:15um um
36:18[Music]
36:20i come from a family where we were
36:22dwellers
36:23and into garments now i've come into a
36:26family i got married from family where
36:28they were talking
36:29movies all the time so um
36:33when i stepped into this work
36:36it is simple it is so simple all these
36:39things are so simple because
36:41um i'm i i you know i feel i'm making
36:44content for myself
36:46what do i want to see and uh
36:49what is it that i am not comfortable
36:52making
36:53you know sticking to the ethos of rajri
36:56which is absolute clean entertainment
37:00and something where there's a takeaway
37:03from each movie that they make you know
37:05that is
37:06you know that's there in my in my brain
37:08all the time
37:09so when i look at content um
37:13i i somehow cannot make content just
37:16for the sake of it just to get some
37:18eyeballs
37:19put some misleading pictures on the
37:22thumbnails
37:22and all that uh it needs to be true
37:26it needs to be you know heartfelt
37:30be it my animation be it
37:33my bollywood story that am giving out uh
37:36simple thought behind it i cannot give
37:39out
37:39rubbish i cannot give out something just
37:42for the sake of views
37:44views i tautique this is my reporting
37:47so i have i think stayed true to the
37:50content that's that that's the mainstay
37:54there have been lot of opportunities
37:56where people have offered big bucks
37:59to uh mold the content in a certain
38:01manner or
38:02or you know take certain decisions but
38:04somehow i have stuck to
38:06certain rules i am not going to
38:09uh play with these rules and
38:13uh again as i said i'm an observer
38:16i observe what uh or what people around
38:19me are doing and if you look at my
38:20content it's food
38:22lifestyle it's entertainment it's
38:25animation
38:26so i take you know i observe what my
38:28kids are doing
38:29i sit with my animation team and i plan
38:31out the content with them
38:33you know that this is what my child is
38:34doing this is what other children are
38:36doing can we do this
38:38this is how i sit with my animation team
38:40with my fourth team when i do the
38:42content planning
38:43you know i put in my housewife skills
38:46over there whatever little i have
38:48so um you know i i'll tell them that you
38:50know
38:51i want this to be cooked i want this
38:53recipe the other day i want to i saw
38:56somebody making this recipe i want this
38:58over here
38:58what are the problems i face in the
39:00kitchen this is how i want the recipe to
39:03be presented
39:04so i pretty much get my housewife skills
39:07over there my animation as i said my
39:09mommy skills come in
39:11and entertainment again the kira the
39:14entertainment kira that the whole family
39:16has
39:17that comes in so i it's an amalgamation
39:20of pure observation around
39:23me this is what uh i'm giving
39:27to people you know so
39:30and uh if i were to just ask you a
39:33little more trade secrets
39:35what kind of content seems to be working
39:37what do you think is the pulse of the
39:39people
39:40because i think people are consuming
39:43content
39:44on demand it's not like you're forcing
39:46them they have hundreds of
39:48content on choice and i think if you are
39:50able to
39:51succeed with billions of views you have
39:53the pulse of the people what is the
39:56pulse of the people
39:57in your view okay i'll tell you what
39:59this is small um
40:00this is a small uh thing i'll tell you
40:04you know when you see people making
40:05digital content they
40:07they they are um they are experts
40:11in that one type of content they are
40:13either making food
40:14they are either making animation or they
40:16are only hardcore entertainment
40:19here we are serving you a thali an
40:22indian thali
40:23of everything i have bollywood
40:26entertainment spiritual i have
40:28kids also i have lifestyle also so
40:31since i am making content across all
40:33these genres
40:34if you ask me
40:42there is a season when there's a huge
40:44controversy happening in bollywood then
40:46immediately my bollywood content gets
40:48pushed
40:49then exam season my animation content
40:52gets pushed because it's general
40:53knowledge content
40:55immediately during the festive seasons
40:57my food content gets pushed
40:59because everyone suddenly wants to cook
41:00at home and they all want to cook
41:02traditional things
41:04so we keep focusing on our content
41:07as per the seasons as per festivals as
41:10per
41:11requirements as for trends i know
41:13festivals are coming up
41:14my entire content is going to be focused
41:17on religions
41:18i know christmas is coming up my entire
41:20content will be somewhere focused around
41:22that across all genres
41:24so um so we i you know we keep up
41:27uh uh an eye on the pulse of what's
41:29happening around us
41:31and at any given point uh something or
41:34the other
41:35is up so during the last four months of
41:38lockdown
41:39uh my entertainment went up uh a lot
41:42because people were sitting at home
41:44watching movies
41:45movies went up food went up because they
41:48were forced to cook at home
41:50so food also went up animation again was
41:53up because children were studying at
41:54home
41:55so that was also up so there is
41:58no one thing that works because i am not
42:00doing one thing
42:02i'm doing too many things and yeah one
42:05of your
42:06passions really has been animation
42:09i think the way you've gone about
42:11building out the animation
42:13can you talk a little about that what
42:15excited you about animation and what
42:16have you done
42:17in that so rajasthan you'll be surprised
42:20but when i stepped in
42:22my animation channel was at
42:2670 000 subscribers we were making only
42:29general knowledge
42:30content over there everybody else was
42:33making dinchak
42:34content you know some uh entertainment
42:39somewhere i was not convinced that i
42:41need to i want to make that because
42:42everybody is running in one direction i
42:44will not run there i was
42:46somewhere very convinced about what i
42:48was making
42:51as soon as i stepped in within 15 days
42:54my person resigned the person was
42:56looking at animation
42:57now animation now is a completely
43:00different ballgame
43:02it is very different how you make a
43:04movie and how you make animation it's
43:06complete technology
43:08right from the time you make the
43:10character to the time you give life
43:12to it the the you know there are
43:14hundreds of things involved right from
43:16the scripting the voice over the dubbing
43:18i don't know there's so many things
43:20involved i had to first and foremost
43:23uh give attention to the animation
43:25vertical
43:26um i i had to understand
43:30what exactly is happening here who does
43:32what
43:33who is and who is more important
43:37how how do all these cogs work over here
43:40um at one point uh since it was not a
43:44profit making
43:45uh content there were suggestions that
43:49let's close it
43:50we don't understand animation it's very
43:52very expensive let's just close it and
43:55concentrate on other things
43:56but somehow i wasn't convinced because
43:59the content was beautiful
44:01i i i i stayed on
44:05i experimented a lot with the content so
44:08from 70
44:09000 subscribers in 2016 when i joined
44:12today i'm at 1 million subscribers
44:16it has been absolutely challenging
44:19understanding this genre
44:20it is not normal there are not too many
44:22people who are doing animation
44:24to stick to it to continue growing it
44:28it's expensive um but
44:31i think i was just convinced about the
44:34content part of it
44:35it's it's beautiful please check it out
44:39absolutely i think dr binox is is a
44:41particular
44:42winner i think yes so uh two years back
44:46we were awarded the best animation show
44:49on digital
44:50and i'm so proud of it that's one of my
44:53first
44:54trophies i have gone up to receive and
44:57it's i'm very proudly displaying it in
44:59my cabin now
45:02excellent content uh it's been shown not
45:05only in schools
45:07it's been shown in all over the world
45:10rather we keep getting requests from
45:12so many people that they want to dub it
45:14in spanish they want to dub it in french
45:16they want to show it in their schools i
45:18mean what other endorsement do i need
45:22one of the other challenges which
45:25i think you would have faced would have
45:28been also
45:30going out internationally traveling
45:32internationally i think
45:33uh was another element where you have to
45:36sell your content you have to find
45:38buyers
45:38how was that experience so rajeshji when
45:41i talk about the third
45:42part of business the people
45:46they're two types of people one is in
45:49your
45:49organization and one is when you step
45:52out of the organization
45:54that's another challenge because they
45:56know she's replaced rajat
45:59now who is she does she know the work
46:02you know will she be able to talk people
46:04don't know about me
46:06so that's was another challenge
46:10so the first year i had no guts to
46:12actually
46:13actually travel to the international
46:15market so we do these international
46:17markets twice a year thrice a year
46:19in france and in singapore where we go
46:22and sell our content we buy content
46:24i used to travel with rajat at that time
46:27so i
46:28knew these markets i used to be there
46:30helping him out in the booth
46:32i used to handle the uh walk-in clients
46:35but that was more fun because i used to
46:38just handle the clients and you know all
46:40that
46:41now i was actually doing business
46:44so first two times i just didn't have
46:48the guts to
46:49travel on my own internationally the
46:52thought of staying in a hotel alone
46:55the thought of going and talking to the
46:56people what am i going to talk to them
46:58i don't even know what we make what am i
47:00going to sell so you know i was just
47:02trying to figure out things so
47:05it was very difficult by the time it was
47:07the
47:08third market i said now i need to go
47:12i was extremely nervous taking that
47:15first flight
47:16but i managed um
47:19first two days i had my i had my
47:22colleagues with me and
47:24first two days i said i'm just going to
47:27sit and watch you
47:28what do you talk how do you negotiate
47:31what do you talk to these foreigners
47:33understanding
47:34you know understanding that accent also
47:37is uh
47:37is is difficult when you're not used to
47:39it so i just sat
47:42in the two days i saw what they talk
47:45negotiate and all that
47:47and i think i was on a roll after that i
47:49i could manage
47:51um somewhere when i talk about people
47:55you know um maybe i am not
47:59i'm i don't talk fancy language i don't
48:02talk
48:03to lovely technical jargons but
48:06when somebody is talking to me
48:10i am able to convince them they know
48:12that
48:13she is talking from her heart she is not
48:16trying to sell
48:18or she is not trying to pin her content
48:20on us or whatever
48:22they know she is talking sense
48:25somewhere i talk in a simple language
48:28but
48:29i'm able to do it
48:33so this uh are you i know you've spoken
48:35about um
48:36ability to handle people and understand
48:39finance as a this thing
48:41and understanding content and i think
48:42you've managed to juggle that and it
48:44comes out very clearly
48:46um which skill set do you think
48:50now that you are uh looking at uh in the
48:53future
48:54is something that uh will help you or
48:57this is the skill set that i want to now
48:59improve
48:59or this is the skill set that i think
49:01that the company probably needs
49:03if i were to talk about the future
49:06that's so that's a tough one jameth
49:13so skill set you would mean like uh
49:16like like like in people like i don't
49:19know
49:20maybe in people maybe something else
49:22maybe analytics
49:24[Music]
49:26something else i don't know uh what is
49:28it that you say that okay let me make it
49:30easier
49:31for the firm now going forward where do
49:34you think
49:35is the big challenge
49:38going forward going forward okay so if
49:41you
49:42so basically are you trying to ask me
49:44the future plans
49:46uh i am i'm assuming you're not going to
49:48tell us too much about your future plans
49:50but i can assume that you can tell me
49:52about the challenges you see
49:54future okay so
49:57uh gemma to be very honest
50:04okay so uh now i am
50:07very clear on what i have to do
50:11people who might have to deal with
50:14people who need to go
50:16kind of people that need to come in the
50:18route that i have to take
50:20so i'm pretty much clear now
50:24um expansion plans are there um
50:28but it's the people that really matters
50:31end of the day you know it it really
50:33matters i i guess because
50:35if you i i think very fast
50:39now the problem is if i am thinking fast
50:42i need people who can execute faster
50:46so i feel that i need people
50:49who are more at my wavelength
50:53then i can really walk fast then i can
50:56run so skill set in people
50:59the right kind of people
51:03come automatically so
51:08that's it i i think that's what needs to
51:11be
51:11done everything else i feel
51:15i think is in place
51:19so when you look back we are nearing
51:22sort of the end of our
51:24conversation so there are two or three
51:25things which i want to jamit and i will
51:27bring up with you
51:28one is when you look back at the last
51:32four years how do you think you have
51:35changed as a person
51:37rajeshji you have seen my journey
51:40you would know how i have changed from
51:44from somebody absolutely scared
51:48to i don't know um
51:52you know i'm i'm a different person now
51:54so yes there has been
51:56a huge change in me
51:59as um as as as the leader of the
52:02organization
52:04much more confident earlier i would
52:07take time in taking decisions earlier i
52:10would
52:11think more with the heart and less with
52:14the brain
52:15now i've balanced it out i cannot run
52:18the business just brains or just heart
52:22so i have balanced it out more i'm much
52:25more calmer
52:26as a person and of course i do have
52:29times when
52:30i panic but then i said i have a good
52:34backup
52:35you know my friends who keep backing me
52:37up
52:38uh i'm much more confident
52:43yes that's i it shows
52:46it completely shows and uh
52:49so so it's an honor to speak to you but
52:52i just wanted to
52:53leave with one uh question towards the
52:56end
52:57in all of this what are you most proud
52:59about what is your
53:01big achievement that you feel that
53:03possible
53:05jeremy i'm most proud of myself
53:10i'm telling you beautiful
53:14um what i have achieved
53:17or i am achieving is
53:20is is extremely difficult
53:24um from where i see it
53:27i know the challenges i
53:30know the dark days i have been through i
53:33know
53:33how i have balanced everything at home
53:36at
53:37office been a mother been a father been
53:39a mentor been a leader
53:42and keep everybody happy
53:45year on year um you know
53:48it's very easy to make a company
53:52it's very easy to take it to the peak
53:53there are hundreds of entrepreneurs out
53:55there right
53:56but when you reach there there's another
53:59challenge of keeping it there
54:01i have been able to do that
54:06anywhere else or in any other scenario
54:09probably
54:10the company would have gone down
54:13here last four years maybe not hundred
54:16percent
54:17i have shown 20 percent growth in
54:20business year on year
54:22i think i have done a great job
54:25i know the difficulties so i absolutely
54:28deserve a pat on my back
54:30[Laughter]
54:32nobody see i i could never see when i
54:35come home
54:36i i cannot share my problems with
54:39my children i don't have a spouse i
54:42cannot share with
54:43my spouse my friends don't understand my
54:45business
54:46so i have dealt with all the issues
54:50myself i have taken the hardest of
54:54decisions myself
54:55at places i have succeeded at places
54:58i have not failed but i was a little
55:02disappointed
55:03so um i mean this this is other
55:07um i think testing
55:10here i think i'm extremely proud of
55:12myself for doing this
55:14i'm sorry if i'm sounding
55:17uh boastful of course i have known you
55:21but just listening to your story over
55:23the past hour i think has been
55:24amazing nia i think the passion that
55:29with which you have built the business
55:30out and the determination
55:33conquering all the obstacles i think
55:34there's a great title of a book which i
55:36read once you know mountains beyond
55:38mountains
55:39yes it's almost when you climb a
55:41mountain and you think you're done
55:43and then you realize oh there's another
55:45mountain ahead of you
55:46now which again you have to climb and
55:48that's sort of been the journey
55:50that you have faced uh i think it's been
55:53a fantastic
55:54conversation i'll have jameth uh sum it
55:56up
56:00yes yes niha i think um
56:03it's it's an absolute absolute total
56:06inspiration
56:07and uh listening to you i'm reminded of
56:11joseph campbell's the monomyth it is the
56:13journey of the hero
56:15a call to action a refusal
56:18uh a crossing of threshold ready to go
56:21into from the
56:22known to the unknown ready to go through
56:24it and in many ways
56:27[Music]
56:29a rebirth happening so
56:32a rebirth happening uh with you
56:35and because of which
56:39you were able to then accept
56:42and work and do a lot more in middle
56:45there were
56:46people that helped you there were people
56:48that led you astray would have taken you
56:50the other part
56:51to keep coming back to your your journey
56:53it is it is the journey of the hero
56:55and you know what it ends with the
56:58journey of the hero
56:59and i'm just as i was talking to you
57:02you managed to get the mastery
57:06the mastery leads to the freedom freedom
57:08from the fear of death
57:10which in turn is the freedom to live
57:13this is sometimes referred to as living
57:15in the moment
57:16neither anticipating the future nor
57:20regretting the past i think
57:23this is what i take away from
57:26it i have met a real life hero who's
57:29taken this entire hero's journey
57:33and brought it alive and yes you say
57:36you're a woman but i
57:37i wouldn't it's not the story of the
57:39woman it is the story of a person
57:41who's managed it is the story of a hero
57:43who's managed it
57:44and at the end the only way you can come
57:47back is if you're ready to go out and
57:49tell your tale
57:50and i'm so happy that you were ready to
57:53tell
57:54this story and no it's not easy
57:57and that you've told us and
58:00hopefully thousands of hundreds of our
58:03viewers
58:03someday will be a billion and
58:08and uh thanks a lot uh
58:11this has been an absolute pleasure any
58:14last words from you
58:15so thank you um jamit for uh inviting me
58:19on this platform this is the first time
58:22i'm actually
58:23talking to somebody when rajeshji
58:25approached me
58:26and asked me to do this i was extremely
58:29nervous
58:30um but then i thought that you know
58:33probably
58:34it's time it's been four years maybe i
58:37need to just sit back and sum it all up
58:39what all have i actually done
58:43um that's why i accepted uh rajeshji's
58:47invitation um
58:50you guys have hosted all industry
58:54stalwarts all
58:55all big people experts technical experts
58:58the gurus
59:00i am no such guru what i have
59:04is but i have been able to
59:07hold up to the company and
59:11just because i had that passion
59:14a do or die situation because i could
59:17not i didn't i did not have the time to
59:19look back
59:20um it's been it's been
59:25a wonderful journey till now
59:30foreign
59:46there is a huge difference in the neha
59:48uh
59:49two years back four years back and now
59:52so i think it's been wonderful
59:56and now um one last thing
1:00:04i was on my toes jumping at every
1:00:06situation
1:00:07trying to touch hundreds of things
1:00:10at the same time now i'm on my feet
1:00:15you know i'm much more calmer and now
1:00:18i'm ready to run
1:00:21so uh that's the change
1:00:24beautifully put yeah i think you
1:00:26couldn't have summarized it
1:00:28we couldn't have summarized what you
1:00:29said better it's been an
1:00:31awesome conversation thank you i'm
1:00:33thankful i think you chose to tell the
1:00:35story it's a story everyone needs to
1:00:37know
1:00:38full of inspiration full of
1:00:40possibilities and like jameth said
1:00:42it's true story of a of a hero
1:00:45back to you thank you and uh thank you
1:00:48for
1:00:48watching yet another episode of hyper
1:00:50brain uh do follow us
1:00:52on youtube subscribe and ring the bell
1:00:55so that you get notified of all the
1:00:57uh episodes as we come in we try and
1:00:59keep our weekly cadence and we try and
1:01:01come up with one
1:01:02brilliant hippo brain every week we've
1:01:05had a
1:01:05great one this time hopefully we will
1:01:08have
1:01:09even better or even even matching to
1:01:11this i would be extremely happy
1:01:13thank you for listening to us you'll get
1:01:14it uh you'll get us on spotify you'll
1:01:16get us wherever you get your podcast
1:01:18nice talking to you nice talking
1:01:27you

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