How Carnival Motion Pictures has remained resilient in these times

Carnival Pictures started its India operations in the year 2015. It has significantly expanded its footprint in other regions. With a view to produce and distribute quality cinemas, Carnival Group proudly made its presence felt in this sphere with Carnival Motion Pictures. This endeavour of the group has led to the announcement of many movies under the banner and is helping them make a stronger presence in movie distribution.

Carnival Motion Pictures is now gearing up for its upcoming film, ‘Mere Desh Ki Dharti’, produced by Vaishali Sarvankar, CEO, Carnival Motion Pictures. The group’s past movies include Violin (2011, Malayalam), Second Show (2012, Malayalam), Matinee (2012, Malayalam), War Chhod Na Yaar (2013, Hindi), Hangover (2014, Malayalam), Sachin: A Billion Dreams (2017, Hindi), and Thackeray (2019, Hindi), among others.

Also read:  Star studded evening for Sachin's movie, Sachin: A Billion Dreams

In conversation with Adgully, Vaishali Sarwankar speaks about how the entertainment industry is getting back to action after the long period of lockdown, where no production happened, movie industry operations in the COVID era, re-opening of cinema halls, upcoming movie ‘Mere Desh Ki Dharti’ and more.

From the world of finance and commodity trading to the world of movies and entertainment – how did this transition happen? What do you bring to the table at Carnival Group?

My background in trading made me good with numbers. Being in the trading industry teaches you a lot more than numbers. You don’t just have to be good with numbers, you also need to understand the business economy. Small shifts can impact your entire projection for a project. So, let me put it this way, I bring the numbers game into a very entertaining and artsy industry. I have been associated with the Carnival group for a long time now; it has been a great experience. We were already in the industry, so it gave the exposure that I needed. A few years back I handled the distribution and worked on a new format for the APAC market, as well. So, it wasn’t a major shift. It might sound strange, moving from trading to movies. It’s more like a left brain-right brain kind of a shift. Bollywood has had a special place in my heart, growing up, movies influenced my life in many ways. It was always a learning experience hidden in them that gave me hope and a reason to look forward to the future. There’s something in store for you too, so my life is very heavily inspired by Bollywood, even now. I am a big movies buff and I don’t think I’ve missed any Bollywood movies you know! I enjoy watching movies, and who would not want to sit in the driver’s seat and create magical moments? I feel honoured to have had the opportunity to experience the magic of making movies from the front seat.

The COVID-19 pandemic struck the country around a couple of months after you took charge as the CEO & Director. How have you been steering Carnival Motion Pictures through these very turbulent times? What are the prime challenges that you have countered?

I don’t think this year anyone had things go according to their plans. But you make the most of what you get, and that’s what we’re doing right now. We had many things lined up for this year, and yes things had to be put on hold for a while. Things were already in motion when we got hit by COVID-19 and things came to an abrupt halt. No matter what industry you work in, you have to put your employees’ safety first. If we don’t fight this thing together, we don’t have a chance. So, we’ve been doing what the government has been asking us to. When you are in the business of making movies and creating stories, it’s kind of difficult to wrap everything up and move it.

We have to shoot things in real locations and there are a lot of movie parts when it comes to a set. Each scene that you see has had at least 5-10 people who have worked on it. So, that has been one of the challenges that we had to face during the entire lockdown situation. I don’t think in the entire history of the film industry so many projects were put on hold, shoots were canceled. Calendars in our industry are seldom empty, all the rescheduling and readjusting, clubbed with the ambiguity of the situation. We had no clue whether we will be getting back to work tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, a month, or 6 months from now. That uncertainty, I think, was the biggest challenge for us. But we pulled up our sleeves and used this time to sort through some really good projects. If you ask me, we’ve been doing great so far. Wrapped up everything in time, according to the protocols, and got everything done.

What kind of impact are you seeing on the overall entertainment industry in India due to the pandemic? What will be the long-term effects on the movie business and how long will it take this industry to recover?

What impacted the industry, I think, with all the restrictions in place the way we generated content or the pace at which we produced content has slowed down considerably. That would be one of the biggest impacts that the overall entertainment industry is facing these days. But things are picking up. I think it is too early to plan for an alternative profession. The entertainment industry has been strong so far. It has nothing to do with the format of the content, and everything to do with how much the audience likes it. This industry has built itself by winning the hearts of the people. And we plan to continue doing so. We promise to give it our 100% and we hope that it makes its way to your heart. I hope we will come out of this with all the love and prayers of our audience.

With strict SOPs for cinema halls as they re-open, what does the movie viewing scenario look like in the new normal? So far, the audience footfalls in the halls haven’t been encouraging at all, what can the cinema halls and the entertainment industry do to woo the movie fans back to the halls?

I have immense faith in our medical professionals, and the entire world has come together to fight this crisis. We will soon have a vaccine, I am very positive. And there will always be two kinds of people – those who are too cautious and those who want to get back with their lives. We are taking all the measures and safety precautions that are advised by the government. For some people, it will take a little time to get comfortable and come back to the theaters. The ones who love watching movies and miss going out will come back and watch movies. Cinema halls will take the utmost precautions and follow all the norms so that our viewers have a safe entertainment experience. It has been missing from our lives for a long period, I don’t think people have taken such a long break before. It has been the weekend family get-together, a hangout for friends and colleagues.

Please tell us about your upcoming movie ‘Mere Desh Ki Dharti’. What made Carnival come out and support this film, what scope did it see in this film?

A lot of youths go through depression and different kind of stresses in their everyday lives. Things are not like they used to be 10-20 years back. Life these days is very hectic, very fast, and it’s easy to lose track of things. Sometimes you find yourself in a situation that is not in your favour. Many jobs that we have today did not even exist a couple of years back. The progress that we are making is not something that we could have projected. There is a gap between the stresses that the youth of today faces and what has been experienced by the previous generation. So, there is this lack of guidance and lack of communication sometimes, when we are going through something we don’t know how to express our self and our society is not very welcoming when it comes to subjects like depression and stress. So, how do you find your way back? I think I’ve said more than I should have! You have to watch it to know that. Seriously, I won’t do justice no matter what I say. ‘Mere Desh Ki Dharti’ will take you back to your roots, who you are as a person, and how to find that fire within you. It focuses on some subjects that fall on deaf ears most of the time. This is our way of shedding some light on those topics. ‘Mere Desh Ki Dharti’ has the message that our youth needs to hear in today’s time. The story was what won us over. And after seeing it, I am even more convinced. Now the rest is on our viewers.

The shooting for the film was wrapped up recently. How was the entire experience like – especially shooting amid the pandemic conditions and observing all Government SOPs?

It was a good experience even with all the chaos, the pandemic, and all the government SOPs. And honestly, I believe that we all need to maintain a certain degree of hygiene even if it was not a protocol or a set procedure that we are supposed to follow. I think washing your hands and basic sanitization is something that we all need to make a habit. It should be a part of our life rather than a temporary solution due to the pandemic. Even after all of this is over, I think we should continue taking our hygiene and personal space more seriously. It’s a good habit; it won’t do you any harm. It will only add to your health and your overall lifestyle, it’s time to make a change.

How has the pandemic situation impacted movie-making budgets? What kind of challenges does it pose in a movie’s production and distribution, especially in the new normal?

Of course, there have been a couple of challenges, especially on the production and distribution front. But more than a challenge, I would say it’s a strain. Things are chaotic, and when you are making a movie it has a lot of moving parts involved. It is not a 10-15 people job, it’s a 100-200 people job. Everyone from the director to the actors, the makeup artist, the sports boy to the cameraman, there are so many people involved in making a movie. It puts a lot of strain on the production and the distribution side of things because again it is very important to make sure that the safety of your people always trumps. People are concerned about their health and safety. Some of our crew are located outside Mumbai. Many have gone back to their homes due to the pandemic and lockdown situation. There are a lot of precautions that are set in place and to maintain the safety of everyone on the sets, so of course, there is a strain on the production side of things. But we are doing good so far, we are taking all the precautions and trying to make the entire situation work.

Could you tell us about your vision for Carnival Motion Pictures and what direction do you want to give it in the future? What would be your focus areas? Please tell us about your upcoming projects.
I want to make responsible and meaningful movies. Moving forward, look out for a message in our movies as we plan to focus on topics that our aam aadmi faces. It is tough out there and so many stories that the world needs to see. Hopefully, we can bring you good content that everyone would enjoy. We are focusing on a Bollywood masala project, a regional movie and a couple of more projects that are on the drawing board.
What does the road ahead look like for India’s entertainment industry?

As long as we will continue to make good movies and shows, I think we should be fine. Good content always has an audience. A movie with a fresh storyline and catchy-meaningful dialogues will always find its way into people’s lives.