Boredom drove me to open my own company: Chaity Ghosh
Tell us a bit about yourself
I started my career in corporate. My first job was in one of the multinationals (MNC’s). From there I moved to western India for two years, where I was heading the region with the health insurance industry and then I came back and was the finance industry, Kotak Mahindra and then with the entertainment industry.
How did the idea of opening your own company come by?
I was in the entertainment industry for eight long years and had made a lot of contacts. With these social contacts I thought that I can do something differently on my own and with the help of my contacts I was able to acquire and from there the decision started. I forayed into the entertainment industry with Priya Entertainment.
How did you get in touch with Priya Entertainment given what you did earlier was so different?
Priya is actually a very old name. It was a family business and they wanted to grow and corporatise the entire thing. They wanted a change in their trend and looked around for professionals who would help them to grow. Priya wanted to be a house hold name. And that’s how I came in. I joined there as operations head but within three month’s time I became the general manager there. When I joined, Priya had only five screens including Priya Cinema and when I left, we had twenty-six screens. That is what me and the other team members did there. This growth took place within seven years.
Is it the reason you fell in love with the entertainment world?
No, my job in Priya was different. I never looked after their films. Priya is not just about film and entertainment. They also undertake government bodies and manage them. I looked after them. I am not a very close-celebrity person. As the GM of Priya, I over saw a couple of gatherings but I was never into them completely. I also handled the cricket match (Blue v/s Red) and it was a big event. It started during my tenure though it was initiated by Mr Dutta (Arijit Dutta)
How different is your job now as compared to when you had started?
I started my career with DHL. It was a hard core multinational, with the headquarter being in the USA. Still now I follow my initial training, their discipline, their rules and regulations. I worked there for seven years and it was a completely different experience. I believe, whatever I am today is because of the training I received there. It was my first love and I’ll never be able to forget my first job. I have been handling people for 14 years now. The leadership has changed a bit as I evolved as a person. In DHL, I had somebody to rest my soldiers on, here in my own company I don’t have that luxury. If I take a wrong decision it is a wrong decision
So is it advantageous in that way, running your own company?
It is a mixed thing, it is not an added advantage at all. It’s all your liability at the same time you gain a lot. That is also the reason why in my company I don’t take the decision alone. We have a team. It’s only the very important bit and a bit of financial thing that I solely decide upon. I allow my team to talk. I have three very senior people working with me, I also have juniors working along. It’s a culmination of their ideas that helps me a lot.
How difficult was it for you to leave a well settled job and open your own company? Were you scared at any point?
No, I was never scared of it at all. I won’t say I was sure of it either, but, I love taking challenges. I am a risk taker. In my previous company, everything was under me. After working there for seven years I realised that everything was just so well set, my job was getting over within four hours, I had nothing new to do. I was getting bored, so I moved out. I never know how event management, which I an doing now, came into my mind. If you ask me I’ll not be able to tell you. I had never done event before, yes, I was in Priya, but I looked after the management and marketing, but this just came into my mind, and like I said, I am risk taker, so I started out with managing events.
I must say that you took a lot of freedom in changing f into ph (her company name spells phreedom 4 ever), is there a reason behind it?
Yes. I was very sure that I am not going to work under anybody any more, that is the reason it's freedom for ever and I wanted to give more stress on the ‘ph’ part. ‘Ph’ is a double letter as compared to ‘F’, hence it has more weight and I wanted to give it more weight. This is also a first generation business, so I wanted to give myself a bit of confidence, maybe that is why I decided to go with a different form of freedom.
How was the reaction from your family when you told them about your decision?
Very scary. My parents were very hesitant. My husband on the other hand was fine with it, because he knows that I am very confident and throughout my career I have never failed. My husband was a great support to me.
Monologue is our brand property. My friend and creative director Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee conceived it. When he started this in the first year (2012), he raised money from few friends of his and he did it in Max Muller Bhawan. I went to see that and next year he came to me. I did not know from where to raise money because it’s hard to get sponsors for these kind of events, nobody comes forward. But I believed in his work and said fine we will do it. Fortunately we were able to get sponsorship and till last year (2015) it happened. I think we grew every year. This year we are going to have it in the month of December. We generally have it in the month of August, but in rainy season it becomes very difficult for us.
Monologue’s format is completely different. It is a solo art festival and far as I know, the only one in India. It can be any form of art. It can be dance, it can be music, it can be anything, but solo.
What are your plans for the future? Do you plan to foray into the world of sports?
No. I will be getting into movie production. I don’t know when, but I would like to expand in a certain way. I have Mumbai, Dhaka, Bangalore and Delhi in mind. I want to have my offices in these four places and once the offices open, I’ll start with the movie production.
I keep hearing people talk about Dhaka. What’s this constant obsession with Dhaka?
It is a big market for us. They have money, they like spending money unlike Kolkata. Kolkata people have money but they don’t like spending it. There are lot’s of work in Kolkata, but they are not ready to pay for it. They only want quality. In Dhaka, they want quality and is ready to spend on them. That is the reason many friends of mine have opened offices in Dhaka. Earlier people used to divide their time between Kolkata and Dhaka. Stay here for 20 days and the remaining over there. The trend has reversed.
Why do you think such anomaly exists in Kolkata?
See, in any place, the people are the main thing and in Kolkata their tendency is like this. It is wrong to say we don’t have work here and we don’t have money here, we have everything but the tendency is to squeeze. They demand quality equivalent to Mumbai’s but is not even ready to pay one-fourth of that wage. You do something and people will complain, ‘Bombay te to erokhom hoy’ (in Mumbai this is how it happens).
What type of films do you want to produce?
Sensible films. I want to make movies which I as an audience would want to watch.
Being a female, is it difficult to direct or head a company?
As a female I have never faced any difficulties at all. Maybe because I had a set rules and it helped. I knew what to do when. I prefer working with ladies. Out of the seven employees, five of us are female and so far I haven’t faced any challenges. I always tell them that if you have a gut feeling always say so, never shy away even if I oppose it. I want people to be expressive.
What’s your advice for the budding entrepreneurs?
Never take a decision while you’re angry, you’ll end up making a big mistake. Also it’s important to take chances and be expressive always.
(Image by Subhodeep Sardar/IBNS)
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