Spirit W | Like to continue doing my artwork: Red Chilles' Shailja Gupta

Shailja Gupta, a woman with many different talents began her career as a web designer and later went on to create a vast technology company.  She writes and directs films and is also an artist. She has handled the international marketing for films like Choker Bali, is the woman behind developing the merchandise and toys to promote Ra.One and is presently head of Red Chillies Entertainment USA. Red Chillies, is Shah Rukh Khan’s production house, which is now expanding to the US.

With her background in technology, web and graphic designing are her forte. She started this company way back in 1999-2000. At that time she was one of the first people who got into designing film websites. She has done websites for films like Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, Biwi No. 1, Badshah, Hindustan Ki Kasam and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Initially her career  started in Bombay and this is when she came into contact with actor Shah Rukh Khan. She also started a technology company and after which she went to the US to expand that company wanting to explore other interesting avenues in her career She took a break and dabbled for a while into pottery, sculpture and painting that is when she decided she wanted to direct a feature film. Her first film ‘Walkaway’ released in the US in 2010. She wrote the story, the screenplay and directed the feature film. It is about four Indian men living in New York and how each one of them is at a different stage in their relationship – single, engaged, dating and married. Currently Shailja is working on two comedies and busy writing the scripts for the same. One of the films is touted to be a quirky woman-oriented film while the other is going to be a road trip comedy film.

Currently she is working towards getting it into the digital space. Her company is   also planning to launch,  the digital platform for Red Chillies, where they intend focusing on creating content purely for the digital platform, which includes the web, mobile, iPad, tablet market, etc.

Adgully caught up with Shailja Gupta of Head of Red Chilles , USA. In a fascinating and in-depth conversation, Shailja spoke about her career, her foray into film making, her hobbies and more.

Shailaja is an Independent film maker. ‘Walkaway’ is her maiden venture as a film maker. Sharing her views on the challenges women  face in this profession Shailja said, “Since I am just one film old, I am hoping to experience filmmaking at various levels. As an independent filmmaker with my first film “Walkaway” I experienced quite a few failures and success. Lots of struggles but if I had to do it, would definitely do it all over again. As for special challenges being a woman, I don’t think I  experienced things any different than any male filmmaker would. Maybe this had something to do with the fact that I made my first film in New York. Since this is the capital of independent film making I have seen quite a few filmmakers go through all the challenges that come with being a first time filmmaker.

She has been in the arena of digital and social media marketing since 2010. When asked about the progress she has witnessed in this field she said, “This is one field which progresses on a daily basis. I have been part of this revolution for almost 10 years and not since 2010. Social media is not just facebook and twitter, it has transformed itself from phone to sms, from bulletin board services to Instant messenger and finally from static pages to real stream of status updates. Social media is just a tool for expression and till it remains that, it will be a constant evolving platform for millions of people around the world.”

As a woman and an independent film maker her take on love, companion ship and the importance of tradition in the life of a modern woman, she opines that one cannot distinguish between a man and a woman when it comes to love, companionship or the importance of tradition in one’s life. She considers it as a matter of personal choice. She said, “I feel love and companionship are as important as one’s career and I personally give importance to all of it. As for tradition, I felt that how you mould your principles and embed them into the social setting defines as tradition. There are lot of archaic traditions in our society which I strongly condemn hence I don’t follow it blindly just because my ancestors did.”

Shailja’s creative expression has led her to be where she is today. When asked how important creative expression is in one’s life she informed that it was her pursuit of a  creative dream  which made her switch her career in her mid 30’s. She goes on to say, “  However, I do feel that economic independence and success is as important so it’s a must to make sure that the creative expression is just helping one’s growth and not stifling it because after a while one starts resenting it because it didn’t bring in commercial success.”

Much research work is always involved when working on a particular project. Elaborating on this she said that it depended from project to project. “Certain projects need guts, creative expression and passion. Projects which are remotely related to marketing and branding surely need quite a bit of research and knowledge,” she said

Where a woman’s personal and professional life is concerned there is no doubt that it is her spirit that counts to make it all the more worthy. Sharing her personal views on this Shailja emphatically said, “Personally I feel that professional life is as important and at no point should a woman apologize for being over ambitious and should be unafraid to express that. I also strongly feel that if at any point a woman feels that she had to sacrifice her professional growth for personal satisfaction and is unhappy about it, she should immediately act upon it without hesitation.”

Her journey in the media industry has been a learn-as–you-go experience for Shailja. All the more because she took on each project before it became a rage. She further added, “ I was quite fortunate be a little ahead of the curve be it web design, launching one of the country’s first entertainment portals or jump onto social media marketing or franchise building for a movie.”

Shailja also spoke about job satisfaction in one’s career and when asked if her career fulfils her dreams of  what she always wanted to do she said, “Considering I work on completely different line of projects simultaneously I pretty much experience multiple kinds of emotions. Job satisfaction has never been a problem for me. I mostly work on things that I enjoy. And if by chance I find myself working on stuff which I am not too thrilled about, I try to extract the element which I can identify myself with and get the job done.”

Hence given her strong beliefs and ideals she says that she has set very high standards for herself and there is no doubt that she wishes to succeed tremendously in whatever she takes on . “But I don’t obsess about it. Since I always follow my passion vehemently after a while I don’t get bogged down by the goals I set, I just continue with the set task in front of me hoping that the hard work will yield results in some form,” says Shailja.

The women of today especially in metros and big cities have evolved rapidly and are seen as key decision makers. When asked to what she would attribute this change she said, “Western influence, advent of media, increased exposure because of education and general knowledge. Am sure education has played an important role which in turn has led more and more women to jump into the corporate world.”

Her aims and aspirations as of today constitute being known as a good filmmaker and a good visual artist. She enthusiastically adds, “To also of course earn tons of money so that I can travel the world!”

She does not consider it particularly necessary for women professionals in media to have inherent characteristics  to help them excel in their particular line of business.

Being a hardworking and enterprising individual one needs to unwind so when asked how she spends her leisure time and if she indulges in any particular hobbies Shailja said, “I watch films and television and dabble with digital art. More than hobby I feel painting and sculpting is my parallel profession and I love trying out new things in that field including glass blowing, printmaking etc.

On an end note Shailja shared her personal thoughts and said , “ I would still like to continue doing my artwork, but I use that more like an inspiration. When I know I’m getting writer’s block I kind of dabble with some art and then I get back to my writing.”