The Hindu Business Line : Where all work is fun

Twenty-six-year old Rohit Gupta, chemical engineer from IIT Kharagpur would have been the ideal candidate for a well-paying job in a corporate house of his choice. Or at least that is what his parents and friends thought until one fine day the young man left his house in Jaipur and landed bag and baggage in Mumbai in search of his dream. The last few years Gupta has done odd jobs by the dozen including a stint at an IT magazine and is currently engaged in a pursuit completely different from what he set out to do-script writing for tele-soaps and feature films. "It is hard work and a lot of sweat and grind but entertainment is the future and there is lots of money to be made here," says Rohit.

Socialite-columnist and now brand ambassador for a hotel chain, Shobhaa De has her own sound byte on the entertainment world. "High risk, high returns, challenging, dynamic and lots of fun," she says. "As an industry that is poised to take off in the next decade, there is immense scope for all sorts here -what you need is talent plus guts".

Thousands of men and women, young and not-so-young, across India have suddenly discovered that there is more to life that punching a time card, sitting at a computer desk for hours together, pushing files or keeping track of somebody else's money in snazzy, new age banks. Welcome to careers in the ICE age.

Ever noticed how that smart young guy down the road always seems to be at home and relaxing with a coffee and his pair of earphones, keeping time with the music when you are rushing off to work all hassled because you are behind time? Well, that chappie also happens to be doing his work, though you might not quite like to believe it. He happens to be that hot, hot radio jockey on that new FM channel, and is currently the only topic of discussion between teenagers.

The last decade has brought about a sea change in the way we look at entertainment. Gone are the days when entertainment in India meant a family trip to the cinema theatre where you watched a movie, had an ice cream and headed back home. The boom in the television industry and the amazing variety of programming available to the devoted channel surfer has given a whole new meaning to the E-word. Movies, masti, magic, sport, fashion and yes, even an agony aunt to repair your broken heart is all available inside the idiot box.

And for those with a penchant for the outdoors or with oodles of money to splurge, there is entertainment galore too. All you have to do is decide where it is that you want to spend your time and money. Go-karting, ice hockey, pub-hopping, bowling alleys and video parlours are where it is all happening for a country whose people are seeking relief from the throes of a prolonged recession which has left lakhs jobless, pauperised or depressed.

Ironically, these are also the places which are throwing up job opportunities for a whole new generation of youngsters who have what it takes to hold their own in today's dog eat dog world. "In a depressed market where you have to continuously struggle to retain customer loyalty the only way is to add more value for his moneys worth," says Jaswinder Narang, General Manager, Le Meridien, Pune which has kicked off Centre Stage, a series of live entertainment programmes.

So what are the hottest new careers going? Talk to the teenagers in your neighbourhood and don't be surprised if the reply is that they want to be a DJ or a VJ or a talk-show hostess or even a bar-tender. And don't wince if they also tell you that their icon is that endearingly funny, fat guy on MTV, Cyrus Broacha who makes his moolah making bakras out of people. Or his waif-like female colleague and one time beauty pageant winner Nafisa who is one of Indian televisions best-known faces.

A career in entertainment is definitely very glamorous and high profile but there is more to it than that says Rajat Jain, head honcho, Set Max India. "A career in the media or entertainment is by far the most exciting opportunity just now and also the most challenging because of the steep pace at which you have to learn things," he says. The man himself is a most unlikely candidate for the entertainment business, having learnt the ropes of marketing at HLL, launched a few cosmetic brands at a multinational start-up, branching off to join the telecom business at Telstra, before he discovered Sony a year ago. "I love it because it gives a fast growth curve, an unimaginable degree of action and a lot of thinking outside the box since there are no set parameters on how you do a thing. In fact, I like to think that every time you do something, you are creating a new model in the business like our blockbuster movie concept. It is also a career where you get to see the results — success or failure, every day. Entertainment is pretty much a job where you live on the edge and if you can't handle the long hours, the unstructured environment and the hard work, you just cant survive," he says.

Pune's Sameera Singh decided to get out of the advertising agency she had worked hard to build from scratch for 15 years in 1996 and had a three-year struggle organising small events at local hotels and pubs, before her new career in entertainment actually took off.

The Pune-based Sphinx Adonis Events team

Another Puneite, 23-year-old Vikram Waghray and his three partners run a partnership firm Sphinx Adonis Events. "This is a very viable career if you can provide entertainment services in a professional form and there are very few who are actually doing this," says Wagle.

And if anybody still thinks a career in entertainment is strictly for bimbos, think again. MTV's VJ hunt regularly looks for teenagers who could `be live and loud, be knowledgeable about music, be spontaneous, respond to viewers mail, play requests, handle interviews, present MTV news, be funny, entertaining and respond effectively under pressure'. MTV VJ Nikhil Chinnapa studied to be an architect, did his thesis in hospital design and was on the point of signing up with a hospitality company as a bartender (so that he could travel round the world) when he was discovered by the channel. "I am neither in this for the money or the fame. I am having a load of fun and that is what keeps me going . My career has a kind of moving, constantly evolving structure that keeps me charged continuously. I love the travel, the pace, the opportunity to meet people constantly. I would hate to be in a job which would have been settling into a rut," says this self-confessed funaholic.

And the influence that these bunch of gangly young, tattooed, painted and clothed in near-rags youngsters over generation X is overwhelming to say the least. At least 400 people, including housewives, pilots and MBAs turned up for the Mumbai edition of MTVs VJ hunt recently. And then there are all those back-end jobs that are also being thrown up. If you thought that all those smart, whacky one-liners that your average VJ spouts are spontaneous, think again. There are scores of people behind scenes researching, editing, mixing sound and engaged in animation.

Chinnapa sums up the entertainment world crisply, "It is a very viable career though it is very short-term. But the kind of exposure it give you opens other doors for you which, if you are an entrepreneur, you can leverage very well.

But, if you think it is an easy job to make some quick money, forget it. The entertainment business is not just all glamour, it is also lots of hard work and the pressure never lets upon you to continuously perform."

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