Mumbai is synonymous to dreams. Considered as a city where dreams come true, it is witness to thousands of young men and women who come to it with aspirations. Some of them get fulfilled while some perish without a trace.
However, for some, location is not as consequential as the will to work for one’s dream and realise them. Chetan Dasharath Giri started his career in 2014 as an Actor and Owner of ‘CS9 Entertainments’ and is now working as ‘Secretary’ of / Maharashtra state. Through his company and his work, he wants to bust the myth that Mumbai is the de facto city to realise one’s dreams of being an actor. He wants Pune to be the next hub of the film industry turning it into a major hotspot, especially for Marathi Film Industry.
Chetan shares his story, struggles and aspirations here.
Why did you choose Entrepreneurship over a regular 9-5 job?
I don’t believe that 9 to 5 job can alone fulfil all my dreams and all the materialistic things that I have wished. And I don’t feel that I should work for anyone’s dream. I would prefer to work for myself and on my dreams 24 x 7.
Tell us more about your company/ startup/organization.
I started CS9 Entertainments in 2014 amid a hoard of challenges and obstacles. Coming from a middle-class family with no background in movies, there was no one to support me and it was a completely new career stream for me. One of the missions of my company is that I want to make it the biggest entertainment company in Pune.
The Chitrapat and Natya Sanstha(C&NS) was established to regulate all the operations of the film industry and other relevant processes and activities. Every other day we hear stories of fraudulent activities that lure newcomers and exploit them. Through C&NS, we help the newcomers to get all their money or any kind of help they need. The organisation helps all the actors, producers and all other department associated with this sector to get their problems to resolve. We give them solution and assistance in their bad times or any kind of problems. The team comprises of very talented and experienced personalities in the industry namely Rajesh More, Swanand Dev, Shubham More, Sanjay Bhosale, Yogesh Tanpure, Omkar Pujari, Abhinandan Basutkar, Ravindra Mathadhikari, Rohit Ovhal, Prasad Ghodekar, Sameer Tadvi, Sankalp Bhosal. They are all the pillars of the Sanstha. This organisation is registered in Maharashtra government (Registered under Society reg.Act.No 1680, reg No. MH/231/2019Pune).
What challenges have you faced as an entrepreneur? How did you overcome them to establish yourself and the company?
As I said this was a very novel sector for me so the challenges were not few but multiple. The first was getting proper support and guidance. Next was recognizing and staying away from fraudsters. I did fell for one, but thankfully recovered my loss and got to learn a lot of things. Funding was another major issue as I had no financial support. Due to financial crunch and absence of Godfather, I had no one to guide me through the process of becoming an actor. Instead of joining an acting class, I used to go on shoots, look at the actors and learn from the way they used to act, the way they used to present themselves. I understood the nuances hands-on and the journey has been eventful. I have tried to enjoy the process as much as the current success. I believe that the achievements that I have got is one of the milestones of my dreams, but I don’t want to stop over here my dreams are many higher and there a lot of milestones, so I will be working harder and will be consistent and will be one of the brightest star/entrepreneur shining in the film industry.
How do you lead your company and help it sustain in a competitive environment?
To sustain in this industry is like grabbing a new order, which is weird if you put it this way, but it is how it is. During or after negotiation sometimes the client may close or may not close, sometimes there are long chains of futile negotiations. Sometimes the youngsters are high on emotions and get angry due to the delayed processes, and give up. Taking everything in one’s stride and keeping cool through every up and down is very challenging but critical to sustaining in this competitive environment. But apart from this, we are focused on sailing through ups and downs, stay calm and stable, and strive our best to get and reach our shining moment.
As with C&NS, it was established to sort the problems of newcomers like during the pandemic our organisation was engaged in motivating them and also helping other departments persons like producers, make-up artist, writers and composers. We just tried to engage them and keep our circle as friendly and as healthy as possible, so we motivate, we navigate and we just make people shine.
What is that one aspect or emotion that drives you at work or keeps you motivated?
The major source of my energy stems from my childhood passion and dream of becoming a shining star/entrepreneur in the film industry and that one day my production house will be there. This childhood dream is one my primary source of energy which keeps me motivated and sees me through my ups and downs and even bright or depressive periods. And apart from this, there are many stories like people used to say that middleclass boy can’t you know you just can’t enter this line and you just can’t go and be a star, to be honest, I don’t want to make them down or not prove them wrong but still there comes a point where looking at me some other person may feel inspired that yes I can also be a star /Entrepreneur.
As a business leader, what is your opinion on the current landscape of business given that the pandemic has been adversely affecting every industry?
No road is exciting without a few speed breakers. The journey then becomes boring. Similarly, life is bound to have hurdles. Going through them brings excitement and joy as well. Same is applied to the pandemic. It has come as a low point in our lives, but one must sustain, survive, overcome this period and shine back or bounce back.
Social Media is an inseparable part of the daily life of youth. Your thoughts about it and how do you leverage its power for the company?
Yes, so social media is, as everyone knows, a very powerful media. I sometimes feel it to be a bit awkward too because you’re too far and have a very deeper reach. Leveraging a platform that is free of cost and has a deep reach is very drastic. Whenever I post content I generally receive queries and interests regarding auditions or any kind of casting which makes me appreciate the platform and feel happier. I feel social media, when wisely used, can be a boon to me and film industry sector also.
We do live sessions for newcomers & we guide properly, we solve all queries that they have, they can interact with us easily & get enough knowledge of this industry.
What are your future endeavours/objectives and where do you see yourself in near future?
As I said the Moto of our company CS9 Entertainments is to make Pune be the next hub of the industry and specialise in Marathi. But to be honest this can’t be done by a single company but will take a lot more efforts from a lot more companies to do so. We have, however, initiated it by engaging with like-minded people. So yes, we will be doing this.
The Chitrapat and Natya Sanstha has been established to regulate the companies and order operations that are related in the sector. As an organization, we’ll be there to mentor the newcomers and help them navigate through their career. So, C&NS will play an important role.
