Shirish Pattanshetty’s phoenix flight

First published July 2013
Business is in his genes and he always had the mindset of doing business even when in school. He always loved to take the risks and venture into unexplored avenues.

Meet Shirish Pattanshetty Producer, Ad film maker, owner of Television channels and what not. He is part of that Glamour world which seldom come to the fore. Shirish is a highly successful serial entrepreneur who believes in “Fast Failure.”
He is currently producing his first movie in Marathi named Dholki. Almost 75% of the shooting is completed and is expected to be released in Diwali. He is currently settled in Mumbai and manages businesses in India, North America, UK and Australia.

Shirish is a Belgaumite who completed his schooling from St.Paul’s and college from Gogte college of Commerce. He diversified from his family business of oil extraction and after having some small stints at businesses he eventually entered into advertising space with Naveen Advertisements in late 1990s. He is now President (Wordlwide operations) Telesky, MD of Naveen Advertisements Pvt.Ltd, Board member of Pundit Junction US based astrology and lifestyle company, MD of Big Ventures and Executive producer for Shakti Films.

Team AAB caught up with serial entrepreneur for whom failure was the path to success.

AAB —– Tell us more about your professional background?

Shirish Pattanshetty ——–> While still in college I started with distribution business which was basically launch of a new brand of Chocolates named “Kandos”, the early young age of business exposed me to practical difficulties and new learnings which eventually helped me in becoming an Entreprenuer. In November 1996 I ventured into Cable advertising which then was a new way of advertising medium on through InCable-net (Riddhi Vision).
The growth journey continued and I moved to Mumbai in 2004 where we currently do advertising on Domestic and regional television channels likeZee TV, Star, Sony, Sun network, Etv group, Vaicom and many more). Diversification of business was equally required and hence I started a DRTV Business in 2008 in the regions of USA, Canada, UK, and south Africa with Mr.Rahul Porwal and Mr.Vijay Porwal and Family as business partners.
In 2012 Mr.Nagesh Chhabria and myself decided in  to come up with a Television Channel in the MENA and is known as Imagine Movies which is a free to air Hindi Movie satellite Tv Channel for the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) 

AAB —- Tell us more about this movie “Dholki”.

Shirish Pattanshetty ——–> Our Main leads for the film are Siddarth Jadhav, Kashmira Kulkarni, Sayaji Shinde, other being Dr Vilas Ujawane, Jyoti Chandekar, Sanjay Kulkarni, Vijay Nikam, Vandana, and Mansi.

AAB —- How did you enter into movie production?

Shirish Pattanshetty ——–> I was into advertising and we were also doing commercial advertising production on a large scale as a part of our media buying which created interest in Film production. Director Mr. Raju Desai has worked with us in multiple advertising projects over 8+ years who got this script which developed interests. Raju Desai and his brother Bittu (Vishal Desai) have worked closely with BR Films for years for films and serials under there banner. 

AAB —– So this is your first commercial production?

Shirish Pattanshetty ——–> Yes  this is my first Film Production, other wise we have been doing advertising production. I liked the script and decided to make the movie. Getting into casting and other production details took about 18 months to be on floor.

AAB —– Which genre of  movies do you like ?

Shirish Pattanshetty ——–> I personally like Comedy, and romantic films, also movies which give a message to the public at large.

AAB —– What is the budget of the movie and who is distributing it ?

Shirish Pattanshetty ——–> The budget of the movie will be around 2 crores and the marketing of the film will be around a crore, we are in talks with the distribution networks if nothing happens we will distribute it ourselves. 

AAB —– A Marathi movie for Debut ?

Shirish Pattanshetty ——–> The story was interesting and connecting Marathi Audience and thought; if this is successful would this would open doors for something in Hindi and Kannada as well. 

AAB —- Tell us about your experience as a producer? 

Shirish Pattanshetty ——–> It is a new way of learning, you tend to come across new people and there way and approach to films above all as a producer you need a lot of patience, having done advertising production has surely helped. 

AAB —– So will the movie be released in Belagavi on the same day as Mumbai?

Shirish Pattanshetty ——–> Yes in fact we would also have a premier in Belagavi with most possible star cast. 

AAB —- Coming from a small city like Belagavi, did it help you in your career or hinder it?

Shirish Pattanshetty ——–> Yes it helped, the early business damages and learning helped so much that todays success credit goes only due to the experience, the ability to use your time wisely and the connectivity to both large cities being equal Mumbai & Bangalore today no longer makes Belagavi a small city.

AAB —– What is the best thing you like about Belagavi?

Shirish Pattanshetty ——–> The People of Belagavi, you meet them in any part of the world the feeling of belonging and being a Belgaumite. 

AAB ——What are your thoughts on this website?

Shirish Pattanshetty ——–> Local updated information reaching globally unbiased, I personally get most of the update information and when I speak to my friends back here they are confused not knowing how the information travels so fast. All the best AAB.