Exclusive | We need to keep redefining ourselves: Red Ice's Robby Grewal

With more than a decade of experience in the advertising industry, Robby Grewal, Co-Founder & Director, Red Ice Films aims to bring about a change in the way the ad industry functions. He is confident that change will happen in the industry in the years to come and is already taking small steps... Getting filmmakers like Anurag Basu (Micromax, Visa and Fair and Lovely), Anurag Kashyap (Hero and Titan), Shimit Amin (Nissan Sunny and Evalia), Ayan Mukerjee (Pepsi, P&G and Nissan Micra) to tell a story in 30 seconds has been a remarkable feat His opinion is that with proper communication and guidance a good storyteller can tell a story in any format and duration.

An Economics graduate from Delhi University, Robby always had his heart set on making films. “Movies are dreams you see with your eyes open, and I always want to be dreaming”, an adage he has religiously followed to this day. After a short stint with Romesh Films; he joined hands with Gary and Sameer to launch Red Ice Films in 1999.

To his credit, Robby has directed and produced “Samay”, a crime thriller starring Sushmita Sen, which was not only critically acclaimed but also won several awards including national awards. He has also produced “Yahaan” a film based on Kashmir, which received rave reviews and accolades. Adgully caught up with Robby Grewal to know more about this talented adman. Following are the excerpts of the conversation.

Adgully (AG): Can you tell us something about your journey till date & how it all began? Was it by design or by accident?

Robby Grewal (RB): As all youngsters, I grew up watching and loving cinema. I was fascinated by the medium and wanted to make films but never imagined that one day I would be able to turn my dreams into reality. Soon after I completed college, I settled into full time television software production. That is when things stated falling in place and the whirring sound of the camera soon became an integral part of my life.

My extensive experience with some of Delhi’s biggest television production houses gave me the additional insights into every aspect of film making.  Though television was my training ground, my eyes were set on bigger things. With that vision and desire, I started Red Ice Films in Delhi.

AG: Who have inspired you over the years and why?

RB: Film world is very volatile world. If you rest, you are left behind. Every other day someone is into doing something new, which is an inspiration to excel in itself. With every new and great work you have to admire the people behind it. If it had to be one, I would say “Ridley Scott” who has been working on films in different formats and mediums and delivering kick ass products for a long time now.

AG: How did the idea of floating Red Ice Films come about? Are you satisfied with the way it has progressed, give us a sense about its operations?

RB: As a young team we wanted to make films we believed in, hence we got our limited resources together and started the company. Till date we have done around 1000 TVC’s, 5 films, innumerable music videos and short films.  The journey has also been gratifying because of the recognition that we were able to garner in various forums. Some of these include:

• Nutrela, Nominated for Cannes
• Aids Awareness Album Film, AAAI, Gold
• Saffola, AAAI, Gold
• Breast Cancer Awareness Film,  AAAI, Silver
• HP  Gas, AAAI, Silver
• Coca Cola, AAAI, Silver
• Deutsche Bank, Gold, Sumantra  Ghosal Advertising Awards
• Century Plywood, Kolkata Advertising Club,Gold
• Asian Paints, Abby, Gold
• Add Pens, Abby, Silver

We still feel that we have a long way to go. Going forward we see ourselves as the Opinion Architects of the industry, wherein each ad that we produce is memorable and generates a strong opinion from the audience.

AG: What do you feel is important while communicating the message to the audience via any medium? How do you rate success?

RB: The most important aspect is Clarity of Thought. If you understand the idea well and know what you want and how you want to say it, then medium cannot be a restricting factor.

AG: You were the one who bought many a film makers to direct ad films, how do you feel has this benefited overall?

RB: Like I said if you are clear about the idea then there should be no problem with communicating it to masses. So, getting feature film makers to do ad-films has always been a value addition because of their story telling abilities and propensity to create larger canvasses.

A lot of them were, at first, resistant to the idea.  But, after doing successful campaigns like HERO launch with Anurag Kashyap, Nissan Micra with Ayan Mukerjee and Axis Bank with Shimit Amin; today there is an increasing demand for ad films to be churned out by feature film makers.

AG: What are the growth plans of Red Ice Films? Are you going for moviemaking in a major way?

RB: In this ever- changing world, we need to keep redefining ourselves. This we feel can only be achieved by looking at expanding the creative base and producing more and more distinct content. We, at present, are trying to keep abreast with changes in technology and re-invent processes in order to improve the quality of films. Yes, we have already started the pipeline to create proprietary content which will be made for both B2B and B2C platforms.

AG: How do you rate Indian ad film maker’s vis-à-vis the western counterparts? Where do we lag behind & need to buck-up?

RB: Today Indian film makers are as good as any in the world. When it comes to heart wrenching emotions and rib ticking comedy, we are probably best in the world. But in the genres like beauty and special effects we still need to learn a lot.

AG: What is the role of digital marketing and advertising in your domain? Is it likely to increase in future since experts predict the growth of digital advertising, video and mobile advertising?

RB: I think the entire industry is going to get bigger and bigger. However, unlike the west, where conventional media was stunted by the advent of digital, I don’t see that happening in India. In films the growth will be divided in all sectors- Print, TV, digital & mobile.

But then again we should not attempt to forecast too far ahead, as one technological change, and there will be a paradigm shift.