Director <keyword id="271660" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ram-madhvani" source="Orion">Ram Madhvani</keyword>, who is receiving a lot of positive response for his recently released third season of the Sushmita Sen-starrer crime-thriller show 'Aarya', has said that contrary to the popular belief, he is not in the business of making movie but what he considers "the business of capturing energies" while working with talents. Ram is the creator on the third season of 'Aarya', and is known for his silent sets where yelling "action", "cut" or "silence" is prohibited, and the director feels that maintaining the right energy on set is very important. He told IANS: "I'm not in the business of making movies but in the business of capturing energies. So, what happens is when you're trying to capture that energy, you have to be very careful because it's very delicate. Also, I enjoy the process more than the end result. If you're enjoying the process and are honest about it, the output will be near perfect." Pointing out the irony that has become a norm on film sets, he said: "I've often seen sets where people scream silence before taking a shot, beats the purpose doesn't it? When you scream 'action', 'silence', 'cut', what it does is that it disturbs the peace of the artiste and if they get disturbed, how are they going to perform to their maximum potential? I never say 'action' or 'cut', these have become sort of tense words." For the third season, Ram has taken the onus as a show creator and has his first assistant director from the first season of the show - Shraddha Pasi Jairath taking the flight as director. Talking about nurturing new talents, he told IANS: "A lot of people say that I'm mentor to them but in reality, young people are mentors to me because they come with new energy, new perspectives. There's a lot of reverse learning which makes you reinvent yourself. So, I do this for myself more than me giving new opportunities to them (laughs)." For Ram, who has been in the field of advertising, every new season starts with active listening -- listening to what the audience is trying to tell him. He shared: "The writing starts by listening to what the audience wants, what was their feedback on season 2, a lot of this comes from my advertisement background, I believe in research and in marketing. Like we got to know that the audience wanted Aarya to take control in season 3, they wanted her to be the don. So, we went with that and it put us on the right path." He also spoke about the origins of his 360 degree system of shooting where an entire set is like a live theatre making the experience for the actors very immersive. Explaining the origins of the 360 degree system, he said: "The 360 degree system began years ago with my first film 'Let's Talk' when I decided to make the film with a limited crew. Now, I'm constantly making commercial cinema but I come from a very independent cinema thought process. I want to make independent films but if I do that I won't be able to reach a lot of people. So, what I have done is that I have mixed the two. While my thinking leans towards independent cinema, my means to reach the audience are commercial and the indie stories have commercial sensibilities." Created and co-directed by Ram Madhvani and co-produced by Amita Madhavni, Ram Madhvani, Ram Madhvani Films and Endemol Shine India, 'Aarya 3' streams on Disney+ Hotstar.

I'm in the business of capturing energies: Ram Madhvani

One of the most popular digital series '<keyword id="320555" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="aarya" source="Orion">Aarya</keyword>' is coming back with another season! The show has <keyword id="6358170" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="sushmita-sen" source="Orion">Sushmita Sen</keyword> in the lead and along with her, Sikander Kher has also kept the audience engaged with his stellar performance. Recently, Sikanadar was snapped with director <keyword id="271660" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ram-madhvani" source="Orion">Ram Madhvani</keyword> as they commenced prep for the upcoming and highly anticipated return of a brand new season of the show. Sikandar expressed his excitement and said, "It's wonderful to be back with this incredible team and I'm so looking forward to starting to shoot soon. We have begun workshops for the new season and from whatever I have read so far, I'm excited to take the audiences on a thrilling new ride. This is one of the most impeccably written characters I have played. Can't wait to bring Daulat back on screens". The first two seasons of the show got impeccable responses from critics and viewers alike, with <keyword id="11176" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="sushmita" source="Orion">Sushmita</keyword> Sen helming the show and Sikandar playing a pivotal lead in the front for which he earned several awards earlier this year. 'Aarya' marked Sushmita Sen's comeback on-screen and her Digital debut. Earlier, speaking about her role in Season 3, Sushmita said, "It is a new dawn for Aarya Sareen, and she is fierce. In season 3, she is going places and starting her own story free from the obstacles of her past. Reprising the role of Aarya is like slipping into old jeans but for a brand-new journey. It feels great to be back with Ram Madhvani and the Disney+ Hotstar team, can't wait to return the love and appreciation viewers have showered on Aarya." The first season was even nominated for the 'Best Drama' series at the International Emmy Awards. Apart from Sushmita Sen and <keyword id="14700" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="sikandar-kher" source="Orion">Sikandar Kher</keyword>, the series also stars Namit Das, Manish Chaudhari, and Vinod Rawat among others in pivotal roles.

Sikandar Kher, Sushmita Sen begin preps for 'Aarya 3'

<ul><li>Our weekly virtual chat features some of the most loved creative heads and directors who take us on a walk down memory lane, talking about some of the most talked-about and well-appreciated ads they have worked on.</li><li>In the latest episode, <keyword id="271660" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ram-Madhvani">Ram Madhvani</keyword>, Founder and Director, Equinox Films spoke to us about Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite film, <keyword id="2510610" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Airtel-Wynk">Airtel Wynk</keyword>’s ad and Happydent’s well-known Palace campaign.</li></ul>For Ram Madhvani, Founder and Director, Equinox Films, the world of advertising has been a great teacher. While the ad world helped people meet people who have all become a very important part of his life, including his wife, Madhvani, during a recent conversation said that advertising had also taught him work ethic. “I get a sense of responsibility from the world of advertising. Here things happen on time. Apart from that, I have also learnt a lot about communicating with the audience and the idea that its about what you say, how you say it and how you make people feel. I have learnt a lot of the craft of reaching out to the public, thanks to advertising,” said Madhvani, on the latest episode of BTS with Insiders. Madhvani who is known for his feature films including Neerja and Let’s Talk is also credited with directing some of the most loved ads in recent times that include multiple ads for Airtel including Har Ek Friend Zaruri Hota Hai, DOcomo, Coca-Cola, Asian Paints and Bisleri among many others. On BTS with Insiders, Madhvani spoke about 3 ads that he holds dear. <div type="javascript" title="Facebook" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FAdmedia.businessinsiderindia%2Fvideos%2F265560761224557%2F&show_text=true&width=552&height=421&appId" width="552" height="421" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe>]]></cdata></div> Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite More than a year after Amazon launched Kindle in India, it came out with a campaign to introduce Indian consumers to the e-reader through a long-form film. The ad was a celebration of people who love stories and books and depicts the joy of reading through the journey of a young man who travels to a village to leave children spellbound with the stories he narrates to them, the same stories he reads on his Kindle device. Speaking about why the campaign was special for him, Madhvani said, “Since Kindle is all about stories and filmmaking is all about stories, the Kindle film was a demo film about stories. And that’s how we sold it to the client. It was a tremendously exciting opportunity for us too. The film had amazing music by Tajdar Junaid with lyrics and the voice of <keyword id="21050" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Swanand-Kirkire">Swanand Kirkire</keyword>. The ad has been shot real, without any lights. Many of the shots have been done without permissions, even the one on the plane. I was scolded by a lady on the plane too. We wanted to make the shots real. My producers were able to set this up in a way that we were able to do this in a very small unit.” The intent was also to make the film feel real and more like a documentary. “While the ad is shot in Sri Lanka, its not meant to look like Sri Lanka. We had to shoot there because we didn’t get permission in Lakshadweep. But I have this quest for the Indian eye. I wanted to understand what an Indian aesthetic is and I realized when you’re framing stuff, apart from it being emotional, its chaotic. The West has told us about the S curve, the rule of thirds or about minimal framing. I had all these conversations with <keyword id="3945289" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="raj-deepak-das">Raj Deepak Das</keyword> who is a great motivator. He said, ‘We need a new language.’ So we decided all our frames should have foreground, mid ground and background and all the compositions are going to be chaotic,” he shared. The ad was well received and had over 5.3 million views on Amazon’s official Youtube channel in just 7 days and today Kindle is seeing a huge adoption among Indian readers. Airtel Wynk In 2014, Madhvani worked with Taproot on a campaign for Airtel’s music streaming app Wynk. The setting of the film was larger-than-life. It brought together over 700 musicians under one room and featured around 14 different genres of music. All the music featured in the ad were original compositions. The campaign also featured Sanya Malhotra. “A lot of this is thanks to Agnello Dias, Gopal Vittal and others from the marketing team of Airtel who allow us these acts of madness, believe these ideas and embrace them. That only comes due to the relationships you build with people. Great work comes from a certain creative greed and I can’t lead that. I can only smell that greed. I have realized great creative directors who want great work, people like Dias, Das, Prasoon Joshi and Sajan Raj Kurup, are all mast in their own creative zones and all I did was held on to their tail. In a way they are my co-directors,” added Madhvani. The film was shot in a day. All the musical parts were rehearsed and pre-recorded. “There were so many people, we had a lot of rushes and so many different genres of music. So it was a lot to handle. However, the entire team handled all of that really well and <keyword id="194866" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hemant-Chaturvedi">Hemant Chaturvedi</keyword>, our director of photography, gave it a rock concert feel. It was also Sanya’s first ad. She came with a completely spontaneous, unfrazzled talent and I would love to work with her again,” added Madhvani. Happydent’s ‘Palace’ In 2015, Happydent’s Palace commercial was named as one of the World's 20 best ads of the 21st century by the Gunn Report. The ad was conceptualized by Prasoon Joshi and directed by Madhvani. Speaking about how Joshi’s grand vision was executed, Madhvani said, “Its great working with Prasoon because he has a poet’s mind. It was meant to be a montage film and we had presented a commercial in Delhi which wasn’t a great commercial. And I had thought he would never give me Happydent. But it was really nice of him to trust me. I asked him if we could make a narrative film rather than a montage and he agreed. It was tough. The music was done by <keyword id="73991" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shantanu-Moitra">Shantanu Moitra</keyword> and the song was sung by Kailash Kher. Composers Vishal-Shekhar were in the next studio. When the duo came to see the commercial, they said they wanted to be a part of it. So they ended up giving the Qawwali claps in the film,” added Madhvani with a laugh. He also shared the day after the ad was released, Madhvani visited the Ogilvy office and he got a standing ovation there. “That was a really sweet moment. Also, Sameer Suneja (who is now the global CEO of Perfetti Van Melle) really supported us. We showed him an 85 as well as a 60 seconder because originally it was originally supposed to be 60 seconds long. But after watching the 85 seconder, he said he did not want to watch the other version. It took a lot of courage from the client as well as from Prasoon to back the idea and back me. So I take no credit except for just made sure that I executed it in a cussed kind of way,” explained Madhvani. While the shoot was supposed to happen in some palace in Rajasthan, it finally happened in Panvel due to lack of funds. However, that hardly affected the final outcome and the ad is still one of Happydent’s most iconic ads.

I take no credit for the Happydent Palace ad, except for making sure I executed in a cussed kind of way: Ram Madhvani

<ul><li>In our series, BTS with Insiders, we take a walk down memory lane, and give you an insider's view of some of the most iconic Indian ads.</li><li>This week <keyword id="1112320" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="KV-Sridhar">KV Sridhar</keyword>, Global Chief Creative Officer of Nihilent Hypercollective takes us back in time and tells us some brilliant stories from the sets of Taj Mahal Tea's Waah Taj, Saint Gobain's Invisible Glass while he also talks about the <keyword id="9297051" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Fevicol-bus-ad">Fevicol Bus ad</keyword> that he considers to be one of his most favorite campaigns. </li></ul> KV Sridhar aka Pops has been a part of the Indian ad industry for about 42 years now. Unsurprisingly, he is a chronicler of all things advertising in India. With his book 30 Second Thrillers that he launched a few years back, Pops took us behind-the-scenes of some of the most iconic ads our country has seen. We tried to do something similar on our show BTS with Insiders. Currently the Global Chief Creative Officer of Nihilent Hypercollective, Sridhar is a treasure-trove of anecdotes from the fascinating world of advertising and he regaled us with some stories during our conversation too. <div type="javascript" title="Facebook" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[<iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FAdmedia.businessinsiderindia%2Fvideos%2F947879425654635%2F&show_text=true&width=552&height=465&appId" width="552" height="465" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe>]]></cdata></div> Taj Mahal Tea’s Waah Taj In the latter half of the 80’s, Brooke Bond’s Taj Mahal Tea was facing a slowdown in terms of growth. The brand’s advertising, like most other brands during those days, was completely westernized. The task at hand for the brand at that time was to make the brand more Indian, and therefore more relevant and appealing to a far wider set of audience. KS Chakravarthy who the ad world lovingly calls Chax, has been Pops’ long-term partner. So the two of them along with account planner Dhiren Chadda used to work on the brand. Chadda had, time and again, told Pops that there was a need to attune the brand to middle-class Indian sentiments. And he used to say, “It should be fine and refined like a Chiffon saree.” However, Pops shares that his idea of Indianness was very different. “I wanted it to be like a cotton or a jute saree, which is the fabric of India,” he explained. The agency wanted to Indianize the brand as well as make a statement that its quality is impeccable. And that is where <keyword id="8925" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Zakir-Hussain">Zakir Hussain</keyword> came into the picture. Pops added that Hussain and his tabla were an analogy for the perfectionism that goes behind making the perfect tea, and the critical role of a tea-taster. And while not many people knew what Zakir Hussain looked like (since TV was just making an entry into Indian homes and most people had heard the maestro on the radio till then), Pops said that he was completely Indian in the way he looked, smiled or when it came to his music. Pops also shared some treasured moments from the time they filmed the ad, when Hussain played ‘Happy Birthday to you’ on the tabla for Chax whose birthday fell during the shoot days. “Those days, it took us a lot more time to finish work on films. But at the end of the day, if we enjoy doing it, people will enjoy watching it. Even today, Zakir Hussain says people use <keyword id="9297050" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="waah-ustad">Waah Ustad</keyword> when he performs and he secretly cherishes being called that,” shared Pops. Saint Gobain’s Invisible Glass This was an ad that Saint Gobain did in around 2000. At that time, Pops was a part of Lintas. On a trip to their Chennai office, he discovered that the creative team there had spent all the money that the client had given them on the announcement of a factory inauguration on double spread newspaper ads. And the remaining money was then used on newspaper campaigns announcing a visit by the French ambassador. “That’s when I realized they had used up their 2 years’ budget in 2 days. I felt very bad and asked the team to take me to the client. Lintas is the most audacious agency I’ve ever worked with. I went to the client. B Santhanam was the Managing Director of the brand. And I apologized to him. I told him we had wasted the money and this is not the way we use available funds. I told him we needed to build the brand and make sure the right people know about your brand. There was a need to tell people about the products they were making, it was our job to turn those products into brands. So I told him, tell me what money you have and we will try and make up for the silliness we have done,” shared Pops. That’s how one of the brand’s most well-known campaigns in India came about. “We did this commercial at a time when the average cost of each commercial used to be between Rs 30-60 lakh. However, I produced this commercial for 6 lakh with one of the best directors we have, <keyword id="271660" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ram-Madhvani">Ram Madhvani</keyword>. We shot the ad in Renaissance Hotel in Powai. The woman in the ad was actually a carpet exporter with a permit to work. She did the film almost for free. The two men in the ad are actually cooks in roadside carts. We virtually spent nothing on the ad, we had actors, we created an original music track. Suzanne Caplan Merwanji, who is one of the most well-known production stylists in Bollywood styled the film for us. Everybody did it because I said there was no money, and they wanted to do it for me. Ram used to call it a Pops Relief Fund,” added he with a laugh. The strategy was to own a generic benefit and talk about what they are good at. The strategy worked, and did wonders for the brand. “We shot the ad in less than 8 hours but it went on to make them one of the most successful brands in the company. We wanted to make it look international because it was the first time a brand came to India and said it wanted to look international. Otherwise most brands would say they wanted to sound and look Indian. But we had to desperately do this because a lot of dealers used to think that its an Indian company and they used to think the name of the company was Sant Gobin and that it was a Ludhiana-based company. So we added that international touch and the ads that followed also had a bit of an international look and feel,” added Pops. On <keyword id="6375200" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="PIYUSH-PANDEY">Piyush Pandey</keyword>’s Fevicol Bus ad While every episode creators talk about three ads they have worked on, Pops said he also wanted to talk about one of his most favorite ads of all times. And that’s how we got talking about Fevicol’s Bus ad, that has to be one of the most iconic ads created by Piyush and <keyword id="1397913" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Prasoon-Pandey">Prasoon Pandey</keyword> for brand Fevicol. “I love advertising and I consider myself belonging to the family of Indian advertising. This is one ad I have loved because of the craft of it. All Fevicol ads are brilliant but this craftsmanship is flawless. That year when this campaign was released, I was a part of a lot of international juries and I had spoken about the culture of India and why this was so relevant and I defended the ad at a lot of juries,” he reminisced. About what he found unmatched about this ad, Pops said, “Apart from the colourful world that the ad creates, there are a few more things I like about the ad. The ad was shot in Pushkar which is a favorite place of both Piyush and Prasoon because its half the coloufulness of Rajasthan and half desert. But there were a lot of stories. There were close to 120 people sitting on that bus, with animals as well. But it wasn’t just about getting people, it was also about placing people where they were placed. The bus needed to sway to make the entire thing more beautiful. They could only shoot for 3-4 hours in the day to get the perfect light. So to get the sway, they dug the road, but it did not exactly sway. They then put speed breakers but even that did not make the bus sway the way Prasoon wanted it. Then they went and created ditches on alternate sides, leaving some gap. And that’s what made the bus sway the way it did in the film.” The effort which went into making the campaign made it what it is, and even today Fevicol’s Bus ad is one of the most iconic gems to come out of Indian advertising.

#BTSwithInsiders: When KV Sridhar spoke to us about the ads closest to his heart

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/51156611.cms" /> 
 
The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=sonam+kapoor">Sonam Kapoor</a> starrer <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=neerja">‘Neerja’</a> directed by Ram Madhvani which brings to life the tragic real-life heroic act of 23-year-old flight attendant <keyword id="96771" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Neerja-Bhanot">Neerja Bhanot</keyword> who lost her life while saving others in the hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 in September 1986 has been receiving rave reviews since its release. 
 Moviegoers and critics alike have been bowled over by the film’s sensitive portrayal of the set of events and also for its lead actress <keyword id="710" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sonam-Kapoor">Sonam Kapoor</keyword>’s brilliant acting and turns out <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=malala">Malala Yousafzai</a> shares those sentiments too. 
 
As it turns out, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=pakistan">Pakistani</a> activist and youngest-ever Nobel Laureate managed to watch the film at a private screening in London and was absolutely blown over by it. 
 Glad that she liked the movie, <keyword id="34765" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="neerja">Neerja</keyword>’s lead actress Sonam Kapoor shared a picture of Malala standing next to the film’s poster on Instagram and let us know what she thought of the film. 
 
The caption reads: “Malala said ‘I am stronger than fear’ and for #Neerja ‘fear gave her courage! Thank you #MalalaYousafzai for attending a private screening of #Neerja in London. I’m so glad you liked the film.” 
 
While Malala, a Pakistani teengar had survived a brutal <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=taliban">Taliban</a> attack for advocating women's right to education, Neerja saved 359 lives on board the Pan Am 73 flight that was hijacked in Karachi in 1986. 
 
One braveheart standing in solidarity with another braveheart’s sacrifice is heartening, indeed. 
 
And, also is a sign for everyone who hasn’t watched the movie to go watch it.

You Searched For "ram madhvani" and got 5 results

I'm in the business of capturing energies: Ram Madhvani

IANS

Sikandar Kher, Sushmita Sen begin preps for 'Aarya 3'

ANI

I take no credit for the Happydent Palace ad, except for making sure I executed in a cussed kind of way: Ram Madhvani

Samarpita Banerjee

#BTSwithInsiders: When KV Sridhar spoke to us about the ads closest to his heart

Samarpita Banerjee

Even Malala Yousafzai loved Neerja when she watched it, so what are you waiting for?

Poulomi Das