Starry business

The Asian Age.

Entertainment, Bollywood

Gone are the days when acting was a one-stop profession. A strong wave of entrepreneurship is now sweeping through Bollywood.

Jacqueline Fernandez

Just as the success of a film is determined by the response of the masses and box office collections, so is the glamour attached to an actor. While glamour fades with time, owning a business is a long-term investment. And it is only practically wise to safeguard one’s future. Over time more and more Bollywood celebrities seem to have realised this and a strong wave of entrepreneurship is sweeping through B-town. Right from introducing their own clothing lines to starting production houses, filmstars are now market savvy and business wise.

Jacqueline Fernandez and Tiger Shroff recently kick-started their entrepreneurial journeys by announcing the launch of their private label in active wear. Anushka Sharma started a production house and went on to launch her own clothing brand. Sushant Singh Rajput too recently made his entrepreneurial debut with the launch of a start-up.

Actress Shama Sikander, best known for her web series Maaya, believes that celebs have realised that in order to survive for a long time they need to divert their energy and attention to other fields. “It also indicates that people are becoming aware of work fields outside their own industry and trying out new things as acting is a very risky business — and success and fortune doesn’t stay the same always. Being a part of the film industry, I feel the need to expand myself in the direction of filmmaking — something that I have learned all through my life, and that’s the reason why I went on to start a production house of my own,” shares Sikander.

Talking about stepping in the entrepreneurial sector, Sushant Singh Rajput shares, “It feels great to be called an entrepreneur, and since I come from an engineering background, exponential technologies have always been of keen interest to me. Hence, it was about time I launched my own venture.” The 32-year-old actor’s newly launched venture aims to align intellectual property with emerging technologies.

A flair for fashion and a love for fitness came together in Jacqueline Fernandez’s business venture. “As a woman who likes to be active and stylish, I saw that the Indian active-wear space was dominated by aggressive male paradigms. The approach to female active-wear seemed to ‘shrink and pink’ male products.”

For Fernandez, her decision to co-create Just F was a move to break free from this mindset. “I wanted to create something that operated at the intersection of innovative design, function, high fashion, and fun for the style-conscious, trendy, and free-spirited 20-something Indian women. I wanted offerings that were fashionable and unabashedly feminine,” she adds.

Giving an insight into why actors are moving towards this entrepreneurial trend, Abhishek Verma, spokesperson of Mojostar, shares, “Entrepreneurship is about building something by taking higher risk. In return, one can expect ownership of things they create an opportunity to earn better rewards. Today actors are very particular about their brand and realise its potential to create value. They want the businesses they launch, the brands they create to be extensions of themselves.”

“Acting is my passion, as is entrepreneurship,” says the Race 3 actor. “I try to balance my commitments as an actor with my commitments as an entrepreneur. I've dedicated specific days in my calendar to my new venture. It does help to have a partner who has in-depth industry expertise and a strong network, and is as passionate and committed to the project as I am,” adds Fernandez, who feels that starting one’s own business is a long-term investment and quite risky in its own way. “It requires passion to keep going. In a way, it is not that different from acting. I don’t think of either entrepreneurship or acting as a side profession. The risk, for me, is the reward.”

The Indian masses have a certain craze for their favourite celebrities but do they convert into a profitable niche of buyers? Verma feels the popularity does have a strong positive bearing on sales. He says, “Indian consumers are passionate about their favourite celebrities, they treat celebs as their role models, as their benchmarks for style and fashion. This gives us confidence that authentic lifestyle brands co-created by Indian celebrities will be well-received. The greater involvement of the celebrity stakeholders in aspects such as go-to-market strategies, product design, networking increases the prospects of long-term success and growth.”

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