HOME/SEASON 2/EP8: How to build a Multi-Faceted Career: Actor, Producer & Entrepreneur ft Vishakha Singh

EP8: How to build a Multi-Faceted Career: Actor, Producer & Entrepreneur ft Vishakha Singh

15 May 20257K viewsTHE INNOVATORS & DISRUPTORS PODCAST

EPISODE NOTES

Super excited to share the Episode 8 of The Innovators and Disruptors Podcast with Vishakha Singh! 🔥 Check the video out and let us know what you think! Vishakha is an actor turned award winning producer, as well as an entrepreneur and investor. Apart from that she can contributed significantly to a lot of social causes! 😱 In each area, she has managed to create a significant impact and I wanted to understand more from her about how did she manage in a single lifetime to create such a diverse journey of impact! 🌟 Did you know the following about Vishakha? 📌 Nominated for her roles in films like Fukrey, where she played the sorted 'Neetu Ma’am', and in critically acclaimed films like Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey! 🌟 📌 She is a producer and co-producer on award-winning films like P

FULL TRANSCRIPT124 sections · auto-generatedShow ▾
0:00

I remember after fukra I rejected almost 22 scripts. Oh wow. You just know which ones are not going to do well. How did your journey change uh from business, advertising, PR to get into movies and acting? Biggest push that my parents have always done is push us into participating. And do you believe in underdog stories? 100%. My parents are an underdog story. I'm an underdog story. Ashar wants to test you. You feel there's something special about you. And I was on the short list for and I was on hold for four months until he told me that you look too young next to the main

9:05:19

protagonist which is Shah Rukh Khan. What what inspired you to start producing? You know you you can have all the fame and money in the world but when you've created that impact and you know your voice is heard and you know you are helping people it's it it just makes you you feel like women participation is at max 15 to 20%. Where can I create a difference wherever I'm involved? But I want women to not always have stories of survival, right? Just be a hero. Stop apologizing. And I know that marketing emerging tech is not easy. Yeah. And you were able to create such a big impact in

19:21:20

the world of NFTs by democratizing access to NFTs so much easily. If you want to build something, don't just be lowkey, be no key. Build in silence. [Music] The Hustle Group Company. Let me introduce you to the Hustle Group Company. It's a lifestyle brand that's redefining street wear through the power of fashion, self-belief, and resilience. The second one being Discover Dollar, which is an AIdriven tech company that helps brands and retailers recover hidden dollars from overp payments and leakages. Docs Now's intelligent

29:25:20

platform empowers businesses of all sizes to rapidly collect, manage, govern, and collaborate on the data front, transforming your documents and making sure there's an impact on the business bottom line all in a secure and a single environment. Hello everyone. Uh welcome to yet another episode of the Innovators and Disruptors podcast. I'm your host Ab Tundan and today this episode is going to talk about a lot of impact too. starting with or revolving around the world of movies, production, acting, media, entertainment, entrepreneurship

39:19:59

and investments and to talk about such a multiaceted career and the world of impact. We have an amazing guest with us today, Vishaka Singh. Thank you so much Vishaka for joining in. Thank you so much A. I'm really excited and looking forward to our conversation today. So for folks who do not or I'm sure most people would know Vishaka but for folks who have not seen Fukray yet please do that. She's known for Fukre. She's known for haram course. She's known for building the first NFT marketplace on uh India's first NFT marketplace. So I have Vazer. So welcome to the show Vishaka.

48:22:40

Thank you. Thank you. So thank you so much Vishaka once again for joining us. Uh you've had a fantastic career very multifaceted. So let's first talk about this right. I do want to get into your early life in terms of who you become but I understand that you know you grew up in Abu Dhabi and then from there you came to India you had a career I want to talk about what were certain pivotal moments what was your early life like before you before you got into a professional career certain pivotal moments in your life which taught you things certain elements

57:54:40

certain character traits which you have still taken with you till today um so you know when when I was growing up. First of all, I'm the youngest child. I think uh the youngest in the family are are just different and they're very lucky. So, I've always carried the lucky girl syndrome with me. Always. Uh I've been very very sheltered, very protected at home. Um and whatever I am today is a sum total of what my parents are and my siblings are because I'm not an original. I'm a copycat of my parents. And uh so I think my earliest memories especially in Abu

67:53:20

Dhabi and then from Abu Dhabi we came to of all the places a place called Gazyabad right and even you know my schooling was in Abu Dhabi and Gazibad and all throughout my schooling years. I remember there was a lot of love, a lot of nurturing, a lot of protection towards me. Um, and I remember being bullied in school uh for for the way I looked, for my complexion. I remember my sister who was much older than me literally coming into the class and, you know, taking me in and protecting me. I've had moments in school when I was once um uh a vice principal, you know,

78:54:40

scolded me for something and I felt extremely humiliated because I was a very popular kid in school. And I remember coming out of the school and just crying because my brother had come to pick me up. And my brother just turned the car back into the school, went into the vice principal's office, literally, you know, pushed his door open and said, "What did you say to my sister?" Wow. Right. Um, so those were the kind of people who have always protected me in my life. Um, and when I was in school, I remember one of the biggest push that my parents have always

87:16:00

done is push us into participating in competitions. M my earliest memory has been of participating in class 2 in a storytelling competition and my right leg was shaking you know and I managed to just complete the entire story and I came second and I remember coming back and telling my parents I mean I was of course very happy but I I didn't really want to participate and my sister who was the head girl of the school sorry the the house captain of my own house so every time she didn't have anybody else to you know rope into a competition she

96:47:59

would come and just write my name especially if it in my class category. So I had no escape and I would get very angry because I didn't want to participate and I remember my father always said even if you don't win you've got to give them some competition you know so I think all of that made a lot of sense and my final years of schooling I had the best teachers so from home it was my parents who were pushing me my siblings who were always protecting me right uh so there was this level of nurturing and confidence that was there and in school I got so many

104:52:00

opportunities especially in my final years of school my English teacher Sonia Takur ma'am she's no and her husband who was my principal sir. The kind of competitions they organized in school you know it was just amazing with the kind of importance they gave to extracurricular activities to you know develop a child's personality and I remember my principal sir's final letter uh when I was applying in universities which now when I look back I keep thinking my god how astute what an astute observation he wrote. Vishakha is a

113:41:20

fantastic actor and a director and she's extremely uh good at public speaking and she'd be an asset to your institute and because I was a cultural captain of the school I used to write plays in school. I used to direct plays. Um so a lot of that has uh been very consistent in my career choices and has helped me in my career choices. Wow. So I think the dots always just connect. No, I mean that's fantastic right and uh like you said it was a very astute observation early on in life. Uh fantastic to hear uh you know a bunch of these stories that you spoke about it. I was just wondering I

123:13:19

have personally heard and this is where I I think that you contradicted that popular belief which says that the the subsequent children or child I mean second or the third one they're normally overlooked. I think my siblings would probably agree uh and they were not overlooked but I think my parents were perhaps stricter with them. I I think my siblings were more disciplinary towards me than my parents because I I can tell you I remember in class 12th when I was studying for balls and I was awake the whole night studying and my father came

132:51:59

out and he was like what are you doing? I said I'm studying. He's like first relax. So I've never had those pressures of oh my god exam. I just don't understand the concept of taking pressure you know. So that's that's very refreshing and yeah, but my siblings had to go through that. I'm sure I didn't have to go through that. Yeah, I'm the first child. I am a first child of my parents. So I know what I had to go through versus that of my younger sister. I've seen that with multiple families that the parents are a lot more relaxed with the second or the third

142:04:00

child saying that also you know I think it's a very privilege position of a third child or the the youngest in the family because you know you have that safety net you always the baby of the family I was able to take so many risks one after the other in my life because I knew I had a comfortable home to go back to I knew I had my siblings and so that that I think is a great position of strength to be in. That makes a lot of sense. You spoke uh very inspiringly about your parents in the past also. You have me mentioned it a few times. Do you

152:08:00

want to talk a little bit about some of the key uh learnings from your parents early in your life? Oh, I think if I was to make a a YouTube channel on my parents, I think it would inspire an entire generation. And I get very emotional when I speak about it because I think they are um the biggest driving force in my life. Um so my father actually you know when he was 16 when he lost his father and he started from rock bottom and he's really really built his life. my mother who actually comes from a she came from a home of privilege and and uh wealth and they both got married

161:44:00

and I remember when I mean my mother always telling us that when she got married to him people asked why they were marrying somebody who was not that rich you know why she was marrying and my my grandparents were very clear that as long as the boy is smart and intelligent he will make money that is secondary but she needs to marry somebody she loves and she needs to marry somebody who is intelligent enough and that's something I I think that highlighted the importance of the fact that you should not run after money. That can't be your sole factor for

170:09:20

choosing a life partner. So that's something that stayed in me. And my parents again uh so they we had a comfortable life in Abu Dhabi. But my dad decided to be the first entrepreneur in the family and came back to India and set up his own company which didn't do well. And I think that was you know a tough phase for for all of us because uh you know I had to see him and my mother struggle through bankruptcy um struggle through a period of 5 to seven years where we had people knocking at the door and that that was a that was

180:34:39

quite a testing time because you know I I was Veronica Lodge one day you know the most popular girl in school with all the cars never flooy though you because I think my parents really ensured that we were all always grounded, right? Uh but to suddenly not have that and then suddenly, you know, when you're going to college, you're taking those DTC buses to go to college, etc. And now looking back, I feel my god, that's the I think I'm so glad it happened so early on in my life because again, there was no I understood the value of money, but I'm not attached to it. I don't uh I don't

188:46:40

run after it, you know. It's a byproduct of everything that you do. But my parents incidentally when this happened they were around you know in their mid-4s and uh early 50s and everybody in our circle told them what will they do you can't rebuild life at 50 and they defied them you know so uh my father rebuilt everything after the age of 50 he's like the phoenix who rose again and he's literally built an empire uh empire of you know of the assets that we have uh and he and my mother are famous in the family for getting you

199:20:40

know my mother 10 years ago at the age of 65 learned computers and she is one of the most u renowned Indian raiki practitioners with students across 33 countries so I can go on I can go on about them does that uh make you a stronger and you did mention this right uh which is you know you don't run after money follows right which means that you are a firm believer I'm assuming in the fact that value creation and impact is the most you know primary or basal thing to do and money is a byproduct of that money fame everything and do you believe in underdog stories 100% my parents are

210:20:00

an underdog story I'm an underdog story um I love underdogs a lot of my friends are underdogs so in fact you know even when it comes to investments the moment I know somebody is an underdog and I see them trying harder and going that extra mile. I I really feel like then you know supporting them. That's amazing. Yeah, probably that's the reason you never invested in my startup. Well, we'll get to that. We'll get to that. But if you see the films also that I produce are all underdog stories. In fact, I've had friends in in my industry tell me and I'm like, you got to tell real

220:33:20

stories. You know, the audience taste is changing. But anyway, we'll get to that. We'll get to that. I love the the the verbby edge of it saying that I mean yeah so if you're not going to tell their stories I mean you can definitely tell aspirational story but I know why where they're coming from because you know if you are not the biggest studio in the country right and if you are an individual uh and you are not a big studio so you are at a starter phase in your

229:09:19

personally right uh you are also making stories h independent stories of underdogs of quote unquote gi people just target addressible market tam is very small right so it's not a smart business idea then you need a lot of jo and you need a lot of conviction which I have in n oodles so that's amazing that's it I I think uh along with the you know perspective that you shared what is very interesting for me to always Whenever I have this conversation with you, these kind of conversations with you is interesting is you have been an actor, producer, of course you're an

240:34:39

entrepreneur as well, but not often do you hear in a conversation where you know you have an actor sitting in front of you use the word tan, right? So that's so refreshingly interesting for me every time I have this conversation because you understand the fundamentals of business. In fact uh in if if I'm not wrong uh early on in your career or your studies academics you were you know you were a business grad and you also took up advertising and PR. Yeah. Right. So how did your journey change uh from business advertising PR to get into movies and uh uh you know acting. How

250:24:00

did it happen? Um I I knew very early on I was never going to be in STEM. All right. Very early on because the whole impression was what and I told my mom engineering because the entire family is full of engineers. Got it. So the next best thing was graduation business studies or commerce or whatever which is something that comes naturally to me. So every summer and winter breaks everybody would be relaxing. I would be doing internships right and of course that was a time when my parents were not

260:21:19

doing so well. Right. So I was very clear that I want to earn my own money. So I have been an intern at the Taj Palace in New Delhi. Oh wow. You know where I was putting newspapers in the business center and going and putting newspapers under Lon Kazaki and I remember once Mr. Pratish Nandi opened the door when I was uh putting the paper there. Uh I have been an intern at uh ad agencies at PR companies which is that is when I realized I enjoy PR the most. Got And again the dots connect because if you if you see throughout my life I've been doing public speaking it comes

269:13:19

naturally to me now right I understand brand management or at least brand positioning or so to say but I got that so I did that and as luck would have it uh some people spotted me people started telling me that I should do modeling so I came to Bombay to visit a friend got spotted by uh Mr. starguar's assistant who asked me to audition and this is 20 years ago for ses of all the films and again I've never been a person who you know kind of woke up in the morning I mean I'm a child who was bullied for being dark right uh my parents are attractive people but I knew

279:40:00

I wanted to be on camera right right so I said okay fine now when Ashto go wants to test you you feel there's something special about you and I was on the short list for and I was on hold for four months until he told me that you look too young next to the main protagonist which is Shah Ruk Khan and that's when I was like well if Mr. Ashoto Garikar Oscar nominee director has spotted me special. So anyway, again, as luck would have it, I got a lot of modeling offers. I consistently acted uh uh in in all over I think 180 commercial, sprint, TV, small, big, cataloges, whatever you call

290:08:00

it. I mean I've done it all and primarily in the south of India over a period of 10 years that happened and then from gradually from there films happened and again films were never on the agenda never. So 2008 to 2010 I did act in films all of them bombed 2010 is when Mr. Ashto Guar called me again for kill Jani that bombed took a break and then as luck would have it two and a half years later 2012 to 2014 I acted in nine films across India because all these directors had seen my flop films. Wow. No, I mean you you call them flop but a lot of those movies have been very

300:48:00

good. I mean Kilm Gans has been a very good movie, very very uh a clean movie, right? uh for for the kind of work that came out of it, the story line, the narratives, right? Uh and I mean fate is so interesting. You said that you you did not do sues but then eventually you did come back to work with the Ashto as well, right? So it was amazing uh to see that journey but very importantly what I've noticed is that you know you mentioned that you did not have mentors in the industry. Uh a lot of people struggle very hard to get into this industry. It's one of the most

309:58:39

difficult industries to get into uh as per my understanding which is which is something that a lot millions and millions of people aspire and they struggle they move to Bombay they just don't get those jobs right that they aspire to and without having anyone in the family who's been in that industry you carve a niche for yourself and that that journey itself is very impact creating right because not everyone can do that or not everyone has been able to do they would like to but they've not been able to do what what were some key traits that

318:26:40

worked out for you? I mean what what helped? I think um deciding not to be part of the crowd really helped and again I think that comes back I always come back to family because that's my core strength and um you know film industry it you know not just the film industry any place is is can be very very competitive right the film industry is more competitive it can take a a toll on you because we are so looks driven right you have to have certain looks now of course things are changing things are changing you have uh you know normal I

328:12:00

would say normal people like you and me being you know playing central characters but back when I started uh in 2007 you had to be a certain look you also had to network a lot back then we would get calls at 10:00 at night saying you'd like to attend this party these directors are coming and I would say no you know and not many people had the courage to say no right so I think that has helped And I have been very very clear I will I will get it my way or I won't get it and I'm okay with not getting work. I've been very very clear on that as well. So um and hence I think

338:38:40

especially with after working with Ashu sir uh again I was very intentional because you know prior to working with uh Mr. Ashto Guar I was working in regional cinemas. While the experience with was good uh you know with working with these different production houses when I worked with Ashur I realized what it is like to work with within a professional setup a very international way of working and then you simply can't go back you know like once you've raised the bar you simply can't go back to working in any other

346:58:40

way right so um I think that being intentional really really helped me standing my own ground helped me a lot uh and telling people that this is the way I work also helped me because I think it was good for my mental piece. I I remember in uh 2012 I shifted to Na'vi Mumbai and everybody told me you can't get work if you shift to Na'vi Mumbai. You are supposed to be in Bollywood and I remember telling them that's it. I I think the other thing that has again helped me is that time 2012 to 2015 when I started doing more

358:03:59

work it was the time when Indian cinema was changing right uh 2008 and 9 Anurag had already created that dent right an Rakasha where and and all these normal natural looking actors were taking center stage so I think that also helped me a lot that's amazing two three very clear call outs for me right uh one is humility at its best when you say normal normal looking people like us right come on that's amazing to hear in fact you've gone ahead and you know produced movies like Haramur Nazuin Siddiki and a lot of other actors are beautiful amazing actors right their

369:56:00

acting speaks louder than anything else right but they're not typically classified as the heroes of the yester ears Right? That is how we perceived the main protagonist, male protagonist to look like a hero with a certain physique and certain skin tone or looks and whatnot. Right? But they're beautifully amazing actors. I've loved their movies. And you're talking about the the whole shift, right? Uh I remember I was in France. I was in a city called Leil which is like a town from my Indian standards, right? North of France. I was studying there and in one of uh on one

380:27:59

of the days I was told why don't we go for this movie and for the first time in France and in Leil specifically there was a Hindi movie that had come up which one was it? Uh, Gangs of Vasipur. Oh, of course, of course. France. Yeah, we were there for the all of us were there. Yeah. In fact, uh, Gangs of Vasipur 2012, it did so well because Anurag and Gon had taken an entourage of I thinkund was it 40 actors or 140 actors. But we really said because peddlers were also screened at the same time and and again you know you mentioned you mentioned Haram but Haramur and Peddlers I would

390:42:39

give full credit to Bonit Monga. You know, in fact, one of the reasons I became a producer, uh, I think she was one of the reasons, she was one of the people who inspired me because I just knew there was a role model out there. And Gon is, she's such an inspirational hustle story, you know, from where she's come and what she's built. Similarly, again, in the startup space, it would be Richakar who's a very dear friend of mine from Zivami because she was one of those early entrepreneurs, you know, who basically I think literally opened doors for a lot

398:38:40

of us. So yeah but we anyway we'll come to the start of space later but yes it's it's been Gon who's really been inspiring. In fact very interestingly you mentioned another point right which was uh around how you cut off yourself from getting into a frenzy. Yeah. When I say that I mean for example it could be as simple as not going and attending a particular party when you get a call. I do all the time. I do all the time. I don't go to parties. You don't go to parties at all at all. So I mean but but I think it saves people from that frenzy because you get into that loop where you

407:17:20

know you are constantly trying to be there. Yeah. Get that validation and validation has multiple way. I mean there are multiple ways to get validated right. Uh your work can be validated in so many other ways. It doesn't have to mean that you know you have to adopt the most obvious ways of doing that. But a lot of people who do that irrespective of the industry that they are in, you get into a loop, you get into a frenzy and that frenzy drives you crazy. Absolutely. So I think that was a fantastic message for a lot of people out there who are trying to break into

415:32:40

that you know if you are in a position where you can say that you know I'm willing to not get a particular project but I'm not going to necessarily do things which would land my brain into in a frenzy. Then you have a higher probability of maintaining sanity. Yeah, which will lead to the right kind of doors opening for you. Absolutely. That's fantastic. That's profound. In fact, uh you know, I think it was in 2013 that Fukray happened. Oh yes. Right. I mean a fantastic movie. I've seen it multiple times. I love that uh movie. Uh and coincidentally you said

425:41:20

that you know you you were not good at accounts. I was accounts teacher. So you know again this is another story I think life comes full circle because I wasn't great at accounts right and then I end up playing this accounts teacher and this line of you know debit what comes in credit what goes out becomes this iconic line and piece becomes another iconic line true and I've realized that every time as an actor you know when we are doing uh a character playing a character we sometimes we of course bring our character to the table and bring bring elements of our character

435:22:40

into the character we're playing. Right. And sometimes we take away the elements of the character that we've played. And I think Nitu ma'am has stayed with me. Oh, nice. She has stayed with me and I've grown and now that I am I've been an entrepreneur and a producer, I kid you not, I've realized as a business person, accounts and legal are my two best friends. I can't do without them. Like every decision of mine is hello, call the accounts the CA and call my lawyer. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing. In fact,

445:07:20

uh was I mean if I'm not wrong, that was probably one of the bigger uh hits in your career from an acting standpoint uh in Bollywood. And I think uh that must have led to a lot of other offers also. It did. It did. So um and and especially at the same time in 2013 I had another huge hit in South India. It was called Canala Dutanasia. I don't even know whether I'm pronouncing it correctly but it was one of those chashadu types u uh hit super hit comedy films you know and where I actually danced and that's something I'm really scared of but so that was a moment when I started getting

455:26:40

a lot of offers and uh I remember after fukra I rejected almost 22 scripts. Oh wow. Because you know uh you just know which ones are not going to do well. You just know right even in the in the startup ecosystem or in the V the VC space uh a VC fund will invest in I don't know say 10 20 startups how many will do well do well which one will become a unicorn what percentage very few I mean I mean there's a very low problem right you invest in 10 maybe two right maybe one not even not right maybe 100 same thing with films right you got to act in at

465:53:20

least 20 30 40 films and then unless of course you are you supported by a big studio that has access to the best of script writers etc. So almost 50% of all your films will be successful. But to get there you need to as actors especially you need to act in a lot of uh mediocre content as well. And that is why I feel that's one of the reasons I pivoted because you know uh while I have this attitude in life okay opportunity I whether I'm prepared or not as long as it's exciting me I will take it up. I'll learn to figure it out along the way. But from

474:50:40

acting to producing actually happened because I realized that uh I I was not enjoying the offers that were coming my way, you know, and and especially I remember in 2014 and I I got this offer from a director who was like, you know, I've got this great script for you. And I'm like, he's like, she's waiting to get married. And I'm like, but ma'am, she's got great costumes. I said I said I can't do this anymore you know I simply can't fortunately parallelly I was investing or co-investing so to say in in peddlers

485:17:19

and haramore and that had opened the doors but I just knew I knew I said I would rather just be remembered for fukray than do things that I'm not okay with and this is where I agree with what Nawas once said in an interview Navas said that you know when people ask him why did you not give up. You stayed on for 17 years until you got that one big break. He said, right? So he had nothing to look forward to there and he stayed on and he made it big. Whereas I came from a home of privilege, right? And that is where I think

495:08:40

weak but I just knew that as a person it was not giving me that kind of satisfaction. That makes a lot of sense. That makes a lot of sense. I mean at the end of the day we are seeking that satisfaction, right? It's not just fame. It's the satisfaction of doing what you're doing. Fantastic. But you said that you know you're known for for but you actually won a award as well recognized award for Gans as well. How is that experience? Well, it's it's nice. I think um it feels nice but I think the biggest rewards for me lately have come from my teachers. Wow, that's

503:42:40

amazing to hear. Uh you know, but you've also acted in so many different industries like you mentioned, right? I think it was not just Hindi but Tamil, Telu and others as well. Did you find that the confluence of these perspectives and the learnings from different industries in the movie side movie industry too but different regional industries? Yeah. Did that lead to better content creation the learnings from there? Because see with every project you have your set of learnings right I think the south film industry they're technically far superior right

513:24:00

um they have a great eye for they're just very talented creatively as well extremely talented from my perspective because you're the actress right uh unfortunately your your stake in the project is very small or your role in the project is relatively lesser than the other stakeholders I think on a personal level what I learned to do was memorize dialogues in languages that I didn't understand and why that is important is because people would change lines on set right and I had to emote while the camera is on ensure that the work is finished on

524:43:59

time and I think that's the biggest takeaway I've had is you got to finish the work on time because there's a lot of money attached to what we doing that is something I got trained very well very very well for and the second thing is every time I was on film sets if there was something that I didn't like I made a mental note of that and said I would not do that on my set for instance I was on a a film set in in Bombay wouldn't name the the producers uh and I was there at 7:00 a.m. call time and we had packed up at 1:00 a.m. last night like 6 hours later I was on

534:06:39

set again and I'm sitting for my hair and makeup and I'm like get me my breakfast and they get me breakfast and my team is not eating breakfast and I asked them I said why aren't you guys having breakfast and they're like producer biscuit I'm like I couldn't eat my breakfast I was so of course I ordered but who how many people can I order food for so that is something I made I made very sure of I said no matter what there'll be always good food on set and there wouldn't be you know category A B the kind of food demarcations that people do because you

543:01:20

know our light men work the hardest. They come at like I don't know the 1:00 we packed up they must have gone home at 3:00 and they're again at 5:00 or maybe not even gone back just slept there. So you got to ensure that at least people are wellfed. There's another set that I'm aware of in a Marathi film that I was associated with and it's funny uh a friends a couple of friends of I wasn't there but a couple of friends of mine had visited the set and they went their food and they were given one chicken piece and they said egg bi roti is all you get. Oh wow. So food

551:33:20

rationing and I understand where budgets come from then don't do that. Yeah. you know, so those things really really irked me and I've ensured that I don't repeat those on my set. Wow, those are amazing learnings and uh it also talks about ethics, right? Uh which is which is very uh critical I think uh something that more often than not we see are seldom being utilized today things are changing and I'm thinking that you know there's constant thought in my head about Jenz is changing the way we are talking about today. They are absolutely. So that that's good to hear.

561:45:20

In fact, quick anecdote from my life, right? Uh there was this movie back in the day that I was that I had auditioned because Oh, yes. I think the I think the audience needs to know that you've been an actor too. It's a small role. Uh but yeah, I mean I I give it a shot. I love theater back in the day. So I give it a shot. My neighbor and very close friend Shri Khan's uncle is Shakhar Kamula. Oh me. Uh so he was making a movie called as happy days. Yeah. And Shri told me uh one you auditioned two you what year was that? This was probably 2007 six seven must

572:21:20

have been seven because I think I don't know no happy after that some somebody had called me for Shikhar Kamala's film after and they referred uh they gave a reference of happy days. Okay. Interesting. So I was I was doing my engineing so it has to be seventh year. You're correct right because uh I was in my third year and I auditioned they selected me for a role they asked me to do a as a 120day contract and I was 120day contract yeah I mean they were like you know we can call you at any point of time and I was very worried because I had never had backlogs in my

580:39:59

life and exams and I was like you know what about my third year second exams and they were like screw it if we call you you yeah that's it I'm like I'm sorry I can't do this so I didn't act in it except for some side roles But I remember in one of the days the ad money man Gopal he called me up and he said Shri Khan gave my number to him and he said Abbe will help you in terms of filming a few scenes and figuring out the right locations in the society that we lived in. So that's when I met a lot of those protagonists including Tam that was the first movie that's

589:27:59

fantastic. No in fact uh uh it's I I was just lucky to be at the right place at the right time. I was like like you said it the lucky girl syndrome. I don't know. I was lucky but I obviously didn't pursue it. Uh not seeing that you know it could have been any different. Maybe I would just been one of the struggling actors who wouldn't have gone further. But yeah I mean that happened. So it was interesting for me as an experience. But coming back to you uh uh very interestingly I uh noticed that you know there was a transition into production. You said that you know while you were

597:49:20

doing movies you also gradually started co-producing movies right. How did that transition come in? what what inspired you to suddenly start producing movies? So, you know, uh so uh I was always interested in the story of the underdogs, right? If something is already a success and you're creating more of that, that's great. I think and back then, of course, I wasn't thinking like that. I was very instinct driven. Uh Gon had put out a Facebook post uh saying, you know, we're trying to have a Kickstarter and we're trying to crowdfund, not Kickstarter,

606:32:00

we're trying to crowdfund this film. And peddlers was a film that never really released. We did sell it off to iOS but it never released and it had Nimrat Kore, it had uh Gulchin Deaya um some very interesting actors in the film and it is a story of four immigrants. Okay. Okay. It was a beautiful story and that just called out where I wanted to invest and it was small monies you know and I had enough savings and I think thanks to my father's teachings I always was good at savings. So I had enough money to invest and we were a lot of us I think we were

616:01:20

initially we were four co-producers and became eight you know and then we could sell it off successfully to but the film unfortunately never released okay and then she was making Haramore with Nawas and by then I already had an equation with Dawas because I'd done a film with Nawas that also never released that's another part of the film industry right you can act but a film may just not release so u and haramur again was an interesting thing and I said okay fine let's do this. But by the time I decided to stop acting and I had shifted to Rome of all the places, I got such a macro

625:25:20

view of the world, you know, uh I was exposed to European cinema and uh I was on the jury of a couple of uh international film festivals and I just knew that you didn't need big monies to make the kind of films you wanted to make and uh and as again as as destiny would have it uh Mr. Praep Kurba the asamese uh director reached out to me and my my partners in the business and he wanted to make this film and this story Onata actually touched me because it was a story of a a rape survivor and I said this has to be told and this story broke so many barriers and molds

636:40:00

you know and it won the national award in 2016 right so you know you you can have all the fame and money in the world but when you've created that impact act you know and you know your voice is heard and you know you are helping people it's it it just makes you you feel like you know because how much I'm not going to get into again how much money can you earn etc but just the joy of creating impact and making a difference is is something it it's at another level alto together I'm sure u then of course in 2020 I produced atkan chutkan which is a

646:34:40

children's film with uh which Mr. Arman presented and Bachan sang a song in it for just 1,100 rupees. Wow. Uh you know uh and that is again a story of underdogs. It's street children who want to become you know they want to have their own band and it's it's on YouTube now because he has released it on YouTube as well and um I'm just so glad that I was I was able to follow my heart in all of these films you know. No but uh you know what is very interesting is you did not give me the titles of 20 movies right? You give me limited titles but each of them have done well. They

656:17:20

have been awarded at various places. They've got a lot of very interesting people participating in it as actors or presented by like for example Arkin Shutkin by Raman Mr. Bachan you know singing a song there. They've all been very critically acclaimed movies. Yeah. And uh I personally know because I'm a content buff that I love watching meaningful cinema because of amazing societal messages. And I think with all due credit you have been producing or investing in those movies which can potentially create so much of a you know such a strong positive impact in the

667:49:20

society through the the narratives through those messages. So that is so wonderful to see because there there's a lot of cinema out there. There's a lot of content out there. A lot of that is very crass as well. Uh I'm not sure if I would particularly watch that. I watch movies. A lot of movies. A lot of content inspires me. Yeah. Right. It gives me so many different perspectives sometimes and I realize that you know wow this and that is why I also love underdog uh you know stories. So with with you producing some of them and you winning so many accolades for that. It's

676:16:00

so wonderful to see uh that you know you've you know spotted those scripts early on and kind of decide to you know co-invest in I was actually I was looking forward when I read about peddlers. I was actually looking forward to seeing that it's just it's it's so disappointing that it didn't happen but uh you know and in fact that brings me to another question right uh so one all the very best for the upcoming series. I'm sure I'm going to be watching that. Uh I'm sure a lot of others are going to as well. they must be excited about it. Uh I saw on Facebook

684:48:00

um I was researching and I was coming I saw your photographs over the years. I think there was one set of photographs which you had labeled year after year. Oh yes from 2010 onwards. Yes. So 2010 was KHN for the first time. Yes, that was Khan for the first time. I I was actually noticing 2010 Khn versus 2012 Khn. There's a lot of difference in the photograph, right? It looked like the first photograph was that of a excited I was an excited and I'll tell you why I had manifested it early years was all about heels and looking good. Now it's like wear your flat shoes because

694:54:40

festival is all about networking and walking. So if you see somebody in you know high heels or really debt up you just know that they're fresh off the boat. Wow. Okay. No. And and when I saw the 2012 p Yeah. where there was a lot of poise, gravitas, you know, there was this transformation from the eyes being so excited to a lot of poise, you know, like someone very seasoned in there. Uh, what's your best moment across these years? Uh, you know, in terms of accolades or achievements. Um, it's funny that's not been in the

705:17:20

film industry. Mhm. At least in terms of the joy that I've experienced because and I've experienced quite a lot of joy, right? And quite a lot of accolades so to say. I think my the maximum amount of joy that I drew was from the NFT marketplace under a Z-Rex. Wow. I I definitely wanted to get into that as well because uh the joy and sorrow both. Yeah. Unfortunately. Yeah. But that that comes you know I mean it's like a hand and glove kind of situation you know. Uh but yeah I mean across the journey that you've spoken so far of the movie industry both acting and production I

716:21:20

could see so many anologies of entrepreneurship and the learnings right how did certainly entrepreneurship happen you know all this while production and of course production is entrepreneurship in that sense of absolutely absolutely so you know um again going back to my parents because I've seen them take so many risks and rebuild life so risk doesn't scare me. I mean what is the worst? You will fail. H right. What will happen if you'll fail? You will learn. You will learn right and you will grow again and life no matter what will always be this.

725:26:39

That is the life cut thing right. If it becomes straight p you're dead. You're either just existing. So my u and risk takingaking is all I understand. I don't know what it's like to have a regular paycheck. it comes in lumpsums and then I invest right of course regular paychecks come now with all the assets properties that I have that's a separate thing but I'm saying in terms of choices modeling I remember modeling days my checks used to come 3 months 6 months so entrepreneurship happened in 2017 when a few kids reached out to me saying they wanted me to

735:45:20

endorse their app and they wanted to pay me 20,000 rupees oh wow you know and I just thought it was so sweet and naive of them to say we'll pay you 20,000 rupees and they were paying it from their salary which was even cuter. Okay. So anyway as as luck would have it I said okay no and then we became kind of we started building together and this as I said if I'm curious about something I will just dive into it. So um anyway we built something called iconic bot uh which was conversational AI in 2017. Iconic bot happened in 2017. Now that made sense to me because you know why do

747:13:20

we get so scared of technology because we're like stem technology is supposed to be easy right all the devs will fail if it's not easy right how will you have adoption right so the tech team was doing their job and my co-founder said you know let's have let's build something for for you know your space what do you need and I said I need to connect with my audience so we built iconic bot and we we just targeted people on messenger I had I think a million followers on Facebook and you know I would be able to engage just on messenger almost 60 70,000 people you

755:51:59

know I have sold 8,000 movie tickets of fukra via my iconic bot on my own messenger oh wow we were able to collectively like uh we made iconic bot personalized chatbot for kamal hassan's vishwarupam Samantha's U-turn vij talapati vijati vijay's uh mercel a lot of these films you know we sold over 31,000 tickets but I realized in India nobody wants to pay because friend now, you know, so you're like friend, but I'm providing you value, right? And we were so new in the game that we didn't know how to close uh deals with even these uh with PTMs, etc. saying, you know, give

765:55:59

us this percentage of the sales, whatever, right? We didn't know how to do that. We were just excited, you know, we've broken the internet impact value and suddenly news, Vishaka Singh has become an entrepreneur. So that was very new. I was like, "Oh, wow." You know, that short-term validation and all of that, right? Uh then over the years, I realized, okay, if the ticket size is only going to be seven lakhs and 10 lakhs per month, you this is not going to fly, right? Right. So, we pivoted and because I was very active in the the international speaking space as well, uh

774:26:40

speaker space as well. I was invited by the uh by Sheldon Levy from Canada uh to set shop there and we pivoted to we pivoted to making 45 app which was an app for Instagram influencers. So if I had say 400 comments on my page or on my post I was able to give unique persona based replies to all 400 comments u within a span of like 5 minutes. Got it. Right. So that that was value and then in the pandemic we pivoted again and we created uh the NFT marketplace. So if you see the central theme was always community throughout my audience audience audience audience and creators

784:56:00

creators creators throughout makes a lot of sense and then we got lucky because Bazerex then Aqua hired the company. Uh so I I just went by my gut instinct and again apparently films continue to happen because I had a team by then that was doing it. So it didn't require me to do spend 8 hours 12 hours. Vazer NFT was the first time when I experienced uh a little bit of more structure in a corporate setting and something that I was driving on my own. You know uh I was able to pass my own litmus test I would say because I was able to bring build a

795:30:39

strong community. I was able to lead a team. I was able to do everything non- tech you know be it brand building be it PR be it education be it sales be it community building be it content management and all with a team of just four people under me. Wow. Uh and of course I loved the structure of of you know that was the first time I got exposed to KA software you know that was the first time I got exposed to Slack Trello and I was like what if I can just copy paste this to the film industry because the film industry is chaos you know and you need more structure and and

805:57:20

I've realized I'm a very structured person I love structure I love to know my start time end time and the advantage of course there was that because I don't have any corporate background. I was not aware of any toxic work cultures and I set my own culture there which was if if your spouse has a has a birthday please take time off. If you're calling me at 7:00 to tell me today's update not happening 5:00 cut off time you know those things but yeah I I enjoyed my face and then I learned so much about blockchain. Exactly. I learned so much about blockchain. I

815:04:00

learned about new technologies. I learned about digital uh assets. I learned about newer technologies. I learned about startups in the space. I learned more about investments in the space. Uh I think another world opened up and I ended up advising startups in this space. I ended up becoming um NFTTC's blockchain advisor for ifiga festival in 2023. Things I would have never imagined and this is all up. This is I have no role to play it play in it. That's again being very humble but you said that you know you uh took care of all business side activities

825:00:00

uh but of a company which is in was or is into exponential technologies right NFD has had not been mainstream then I think it became mainstream it's again gone down uh so is the case with blockchain and these are very very u technical uh in nature as technologies of course technologies have to be technical but not not mainstream yet I mean not not something that layman uh you know could could talk about easily even today majority of the large organizations their MDs would probably if you ask them a question what do you understand of blockchain they'll

835:54:40

probably not be able to speak much about it right so you came into that environment learned that just if you even if you had to market something like this I say this because I've been into emerging tech for for a decade now and I know that marketing emerging tech is not easy. Yeah. And you are able to create such a big impact in the world of NFTs by democratizing access to NFTs so much easily. And I think that is where your whole power of community uh shows up. Do you want to add something to that that whole experience? All I can say is that uh I I did my part but I think it was a

845:09:19

community because 2021 a it was the pandemic right and there were a lot of technologies that that kind of made hay while the sun was shining back then right but it was the community that just changed the game because they were so of course by nature of it being a blockchain uh based community it was extremely democratic there was a lot of participation but the community was very supportive and when after I left and when Vazerx decided to basically sunset the whole uh thing, it was a community that fought and said, you know, we want it, give it to us. And I think that was

854:26:40

a testament uh to our success when a community wants to own a product and is fighting for it. Um so I think kudos to the community what they did. But fantastic. Any other key technologies, Vishaka, that you think uh are going to be super interesting for us to look at specifically when you wear investors hat as well? anything on at the intersection of yeah AI content uh yeah primarily and blockchain of course but yes AI and content very interesting you say this because you have a very strong experience both in

865:09:19

media and entertainment and entrepreneurship web 3 blockchain etc how do you see these fields combining and converging together in the future you know I think moving forward see what's happening is everybody's becoming a creator now right 15 17 years ago when I started off my biggest hurdles on the first day of landing in Bombay and decided to get a gig was how to face a camera how would I prepare I would look at my thumb or put a bottle and say okay this is the camera hi my name is Vishaka Singh blah blah blah blah blah you know just to get used to the fact that

872:54:40

there's a camera and you need to be natural kids are born and they're playing with computers right we have phones so people are very comfortable so everybody is a creator camera is your best friend you can probably sleep with a camera and that's what's happening right people are streaming everyone's Truman's all you have short form content that's coming out connection is going right switch on switch off switch on switch off that's also happening across industries even in human lives etc. Moving forward, I think producers will have to

881:53:59

create emotionally strong content and you'll have to design experiences that can evoke emotions from the audience, right? And the audience will look for deeper experiences if you want them to move out of their homes and their phones to travel in traffic to either come and I think I think traditional format will continue but I foresee a lot in terms of AI helping us create AI actors probably even moving into the metaverse in VR and AR space and probably who knows at some point having a hologram like today I could if I have a hologram that can

891:32:00

probably uh you know be here and we can see Brad Pitt performing, you know, somewhere or or some other actor in Broadway performing there and we can see right here, you know, I think that would be amazing. That's something I'd look forward to. Yep. That's fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. In fact, I remember 2018 19 uh there was this startup called Entropic Tech. Mhm. I think it was that was the name of the startup. Entropic was very exciting for me because uh they had uh these sensors that you would put on your head. Mhm. And it there was a camera as well which

900:40:00

would look into your eyes right for retina scan and the sensors would do the brain mapping. Oh the brain wave mapping and they were they asked me to look at a particular ad minute and a half ad. Now we know that a ad typically on TV cannot be a minute and a half. Yeah. showed me that to understand what were what were my brain reactions that I probably would know even if I was put in a focus study group right because I may think of it qualitatively I may not be able to quantify whatever going going on whatever emotions were going on in my

910:10:40

head or my brain but this device was able to detect that and they were able to see the spikes and the kind of emotions that I was going through when whatever scene was going and transpiring where interesting yeah and where exactly on the screen was I looking ad as well. Yeah. So from a product placement standpoint or to cut down the ad to the right kind of highs and lows which have to be created could be captured through that. And I was like there's so much science behind content now especially for kids. Yeah. The colors that they choose everything is

918:02:40

designed to just hook you right. Very true. I still feel that there's a lot of amazing art. I mean uh the narratives the beauty of narratives. Yes. uh AI can tell you a certain key parameters that one needs to look at to make or to touch the lives of people in an emotional way to evoke those emotions. But the beauty behind storytelling is still very human friendly. Absolutely. And that's why you have to use AI as assistants. They can't be the drivers, right? Use them well so that you can bring in efficiencies. For instance, if I have scripts that need to be doctorred, right? And uh even for my

928:41:20

film contracts, I just upload the contracts and sing just find out the loopholes, right? You know, true that's where it helps you. So yeah, AI has to be used as an assistant and not as a driver. Makes a lot of sense. In fact, I wanted to also check on this uh uh you know, you mentioned that people approach you very early in your entrepreneurship career about uh being a brand ambassador. Are you open to being a brand ambassador to Absolutely. absolutely open to being a brand ambassador because I've realized that as a person I love creating I love the

936:42:40

journey okay and you know like we all have a fire number what is that number that we want to achieve to retire early right and that number changes I have achieved the number that I wanted to achieve 20 years ago right and that number changes always greed has no end true so your metric has to change now I'm I'm very open to being because I get to experience by being a brand ambassador being associated with these startups even as an investor I get to experience the the founder journey again true and that gives you the dopamine hit but

945:12:00

there has to be due diligence of course in place and it it has to be people who are similar to me makes a lot of sense you know similar vibe similar ethics etc now I think that is also uh because you're not just involved as a brand ambassador because I've seen a lot of actors today uh male or uh I mean men or women uh invest in startups Yeah. There's a difference between being invested. Yeah. Versus being strategically involved. Yeah. Right. Because I see you in a lot of these journeys that we spoke about as well

954:38:40

being strategically involved, which means you're not just talking about, you know, doing a couple of commercials for them. Yeah. You're talking about helping them build out their brand. You're helping them build their marketing strategies. Absolutely. You know, in fact, commercials is what I want to stay away from. I don't want to be the face. Like I've had a D2C brand, skincare brand that has reached out saying, "We'd like you to be the face of it." And I'm sorry I'm past that stage of maa you know I I I'm just past that stage it doesn't I mean you don't want

962:00:00

to that's not me that is not me it's I have moved on from a space of look at me to learn from me right uh today as an act of resistance I don't post on social media I have deleted apps that's an act of resistance because I will not give into the algorithm and I'll not give into that h you know hamster on a wheel right this So if I'm going to create content, it has to be meaningful and I'm definitely going to be strategically involved. In fact, when I get pitch text, I instinctively know it. My mind just starts working then I have to say okay hold I don't I

972:01:20

haven't even met the founders yet. Stop thinking you know uh Vishaka very interestingly in one of your conversations or talks you spoke about gender gap in the web3 world as well world as well where you said women participation is at max 15 to 20%. And I also noticed that you know you've been contributing towards the cause of women empowerment uh women in tech women otherwise in entrepreneurship as well. Do you want to share a few perspectives around this topic as well? Um I think see the the gap is across industries right where can I create a

982:06:39

difference wherever I'm involved so in fact I remember even in on my film set in 2020 when I was producing chutkan we were in chasi and we were on set and I realized we were 120 of us and there were only seven women including me and that was my wakeup call and I said how could this happen and this is me who's produced a women a womanentric film that has won a national award and I go and produce my next film children's film where there are 120 people so a womanentric film in front of the camera fine but behind the camera what am I doing you know so I said this cannot

992:10:39

happen seven out of 120 cannot happen so when vazer NFT happened um we realized that while behind the scenes of course we had we were 14 of us behind the scenes in the team and there were three women two women but that's okay that that was the way it was you know but in terms of the community I realized that if you know we were we were doing well we had a good set of NFD collectors etc we had good sales but we had some two or three traders who were collecting NFDs women traders and I said if we want to increase this number we need to have role models right

1003:06:00

because I got into the startup space because of richer because I knew there was a role model that I had. Richakar was a role model. As a film producer, I had a role model in Gon u in life. Of course, my role models have been my parents, my mother, my father. Right? If we don't create role models, people wouldn't know what to dream of. So, we said, okay, let's highlight these success stories. And even what we even did was we even highlighted NFT creator female creator stories also because when these female creators were highlighted

1012:33:20

and spotlighted their works they had good savings and they had good sales right with these sales they had savings and they became NFT collectors so we were able to have conversions as well and then we got this number up from 2% to almost at 16% there. That's huge. Yeah. So we had a lot of campaigns and also I want the narrative to change you know we love underdog stories. Yes, but I want women to not always have stories of survival. Right. Of course. Just be a hero. Stop apologizing, you know. Yes. Because and again this is something I learned from

1022:30:40

Sora Shuklaj years ago in 2008 when he said just and and that's true. All of us have sad stories. you know how much do you focus on that positive and then move forward. So now when my niece is a podcaster and she's a climate uh activist right and she's in the solar energy space I keep telling I don't be modest you know talk now I I may probably not reveal numbers but when I am in a close circle with people I tell them how much money I've raised because I want other women to talk about it openly don't shy away from it. Yeah and on top of that

1033:29:19

when you're doing the right thing when you're doing the right thing. Yeah. Absolutely. No, that's fantastic. In fact, uh, you know, a lot of times you talk about certain actors and when you, you know, for example, quoted Suklarj as well, in my head, I could imagine uh the voice with which he would say this, right? Because I've seen him on screen of course and I was a very young actor when he said I doubt if he'd even remember it, but I that stayed with me, you know, I said, "Okay, cool. Makes sense. Makes a lot of sense." In fact, uh your work in terms of uh you know

1042:20:00

impacting lives or impacting people around you is not just limited to women empowerment, right? You've also been involved in a lot of other social causes. For example, you were helping Santi Sundar Rajan as well in securing a job in the Tamil Nadu sports development authority as well. What was that whole situation about and you know what are the other causes? So you know my film my hit film had just released in 2013 and I was invited after that to coat for an event where I met Shanti Sand Rajan and the person that I am I wear my emotions on my on my uh sleeves and I

1050:59:59

heard stories of her being thrown out of her own home. I I started crying on stage and I it was embarrassing for me because I just started I I said sorry to her. I said I'm sorry you had to go through because I come from such a home of love and protection. I can't imagine your family abandoning you, you know, even it's so such a core of who I am. And I said something needs to be done and I only know storytelling. So we made a video uh and we released it and that went viral and the impact that it had was we had these you know those u

1060:20:40

change.org uh you know the signatures petitions that we had we had a lot of signatures that happened because of that video and then we were able to secure a job for her. makes a lot of sense you know that that's very very profound a statement as well. Uh Vijak on that note you know since you're talking about leaving an impact what's the kind of legacy that you would want to leave considering that you know you have done so many different things you know from media entertainment to production acting production technology entrepreneurship investments what's the kind of legacy

1068:06:40

that you think uh you would want to leave eventually your legacy honestly speaking I don't think I don't think one should even think on those lines because the moment you say legacy shaka sing legacy I have zero ego please forget me I don't care as long as I'm able to create that impact that will create a larger impact right maybe I I'm a catalyst in somebody's life and that person is going to do something it's okay because today if you look at it there were when you think of the story of feminism there were so many women who've played a part and we don't even

1076:54:40

know their names it's okay it's okay to be nameless I don't want any legacy I just want to do good work and perhaps be remembered by my my niece and her children when I baky there's no such thing because I think even history can be now changed on the internet, right? True. Very true. So, I may be a nice person now, but who knows? Some AI thing will vilify me in the future when I'm not around. Who knows? Anything can happen. Anything can happen. So, no dreams of any legacy. Okay, that's very modest of you, but that makes sense. Thank you so much for

1084:54:40

sharing that as well. And on that note, we're going to enter the last segment, which is very original segment, which is called the rapid fire segment. Oh, wow. Will I get a gift hamper for this competition? You have a gift hamper. We have one for you. It's personalized, too. So, I'll get to that, too. But before that, we have amazing rapid fire round. The last round of And it has to be rapid. It has to be rapid. It has to be super rapid. So, I'm going to set up state. Yes, me too. And I'm going to ask you a bunch of these very interesting questions. Right. Okay. What's that one

1093:25:19

book that has significantly influenced your entrepreneur journey? None. Uh there is a book called Don't Sweat the Small Stuff. Mhm. If I'm right. Oh god, I don't even Anyway, next question. Okay. If you could have dinner with three innovators or disruptors from any time in history, I mean current currently alive or has passed away back in time as well, who would they be? I can't think of three. I can only think of Haiti Lamar u the actress in she was in the 1930s. She is the person responsible for what was that frequency hopping spread spectrum which is the

1102:58:40

underlying technology for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Oh wow. Yes. You got to look her up. Fantastic. I would love to have some dinner with her and Earth of course. Yeah. Wow. Amazing. What's a common misconception about the NFT space that you would like to correct? Uh NFTs are a product that can survive without crypto as well. Makes a lot of sense. What's morning routine or habit that contributes most to your productivity? Not a morning routine. Just sleep on time, get up on time, have your food on time, and be very clear, intentional with the number of hours you're working.

1111:50:40

I work only 5 hours a day. Oh wow, that's amazing. I would like to get there too. Intentional intention. Done. I'm going to take that piece of advice. What's the And speaking of advice, what's the best piece of advice that you've received uh that you'd like to pass on to aspiring entrepreneurs? Oh yes. So I received this advice in Jan this year on a flight from a stranger who is quite known but I will not reveal his name because he said if you want to build something right don't just be lowkey be no build in silence. Think of Adita Chopra Yash just build. Fame is a

1121:26:00

byproduct. Don't think of your brand positioning and LinkedIn posts. Mm-m. Wow, that's amazing. Favorite impact movie and why? A lot of them, but latest misses. Wow. Cool. Pure play content for the next 10 years or pure play investments for the next 10 years? Both. Both. Amazing. Yeah. Amazing. your most iconic line that you really like as an actor and why? Which is something that resonates with me? Salman Khan's line. Wow, that's amazing. Uh, what's next for Vishaga Singh that that you're really excited about but haven't shared

1131:48:00

publicly yet. So, I'm producing the web series uh which is a sports series in Kashmir. Can't reveal much should come out this year. Amazing. Looking forward to that. Acting or producing which gives you more creative satisfaction? Producing. Amazing. Most embarrassing moment on a film set that you can laugh about. Now I have a very embarrassing moment which I will not share. I'll probably share off camera. Uh but there was another uh yeah there was a dance sequence that I was doing with for my comedy film in South India and the co- actor's wig came off.

1141:17:20

So I don't know why I was apologetic. Okay. Wow. Very interesting. Uh, crypto winter or Mumbai monsoon. Which is hard to Mumbai monsoon? I dislike them. Crypto winter. Any winter I can handle? I can't handle Mumbai monsoons. Oh, okay. If your life had a movie title, what would it be? The sorted missing. Very interesting. The app on your phone you can't live without? Sansama chat GBT. Sansama is my productivity app. I simply cannot do without it. Wow. Fantastic. I think a lot of people would love that. Uh, Bollywood dance sequence

1150:19:59

or boardroom pitch which makes you more nervous. Bollywood dance. I once actually told a choreographer in South India saying 1 2 3 4 and he was like I was like oops you know but yeah I can't do 1 2 3 4. Yeah. Most valuable possession that you own which doesn't have any monetary value. Oh all my family photographs. Uh my mom's wearing sari. My niece's first happy birthday card in her baby language. My spouse bought me the first perfume. Pink Lacost from Dubai 20 years ago. I've still kept the empty bottle. Wow, that's amazing. Strangest pitch that you've ever

1160:35:59

received from an entrepreneur. Sent me the deck and said, I'd like to know how you can add value to my pitch deck. Wow. And I was like, confidence, very good. The last one, the superpower, your superpower in the business world would be patience and no ego. Amazing. Well, that's brilliant. Some amazing answers. Thank you so much for sharing that. I still get the hamper answers. No, no, thank you. But thank you so much. Oh, I thought that was a prop. No, on that note, I didn't want to bring you this. This is a personalized gift hamper for you by Capeek Design. They do

1170:40:00

personalized stationary and they by the way this like like like my modeling days probably. But they coincidentally they're based out of Bombay itself. So they personalize it and ship it to us in Bangalore here for the shoot. How lovely. Thank you so much. This is really really beautiful. But I by the way loved the conversation. It was really amazing. So for folks who listen to all the amazing advice that Vishaka shared again very very thank you. And if you want to build a career in the space know that multifaceted careers are possible today. You have to put in a lot

1179:06:40

of dedication, effort and specifically never to get into frenzy. So thank you again Vishaka for for being here and sharing so many perspectives with us. Thank you so much. It was absolutely fantastic and I hope to come back again in the subsequent season. Oh, for sure. Looking forward to that. Thank you. [Music] Thanks. [Music] Feel free to share your perspectives through comments. Subscribe to the channel and do send us some suggestions as well. Thank you.

WATCH OR LISTEN

Watch on YouTube
Opens in YouTube
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Back to Season 2