turned out to be a two-and -half hour long conversation, where the yoga master spoke about things dear to his heart - Yoga, his entrepreneurial ventures and his wife Bhoomika Chawla
It was supposed to be an interview. What was expected to be a regular Q & A with Bharat Thakur was anything but, in the sense that, it turned out to be a two-and -half hour long conversation, where the yoga master spoke about things dear to his heart — Yoga, his entrepreneurial ventures and his wife Bhoomika Chawla.
COMPACT FILM PORTAL
The interview takes off with the Bharat Thakur, BT to all his close friends and associates, talking about the venture that is currently keeping him busy. The web portal – mayanagar.com according to him is a one–stop wellness, lifestyle and film portal. The portal covers the A to Z of the film world. From the latest gossip and movie reviews to wallpapers and interview of the stars and movie trailers, the 1, 65, 000 pages portal offers a film crazed fan everything he would want. Fitness buffs might want to check it out too as the portal even carries Artistic Yoga videos and the e-magazine — A Beautiful Life.
He then takes us through a virtual tour of the site, stopping to show us what might be the key highlights of the site: the 4 pictorial novels and the Mayanagar Digital magazine. A click and flip model, the bi-monthly filmi digital magazine is worth checking out. He very readily acquiesces that there was a lot of research that went into creating mayanagar.com. Citing figures for the portal, Bharat Thakur says, “We have got about 40 lakh clicks within 7 months of the launch. What’s more, our rank is 14,000 out of the 2 billion sites worldwide.”
While he has ideas to better the portal by adding more features, it is the Mayanagar Talent Hunt that gets him excited. The idea came to him when he went through a lot of difficulty in finding talent to cast in his movies. He cites instances of being impressed with photos of wannabes only to find that they looked a lot less attractive in real. I lost 26 lakhs just searching for new faces,” he reveals and adds, “Just as there are producers and directors looking for fresh faces, there are aspirants looking for roles but I realised that the right people didn’t have the platform to approach the filmmakers. That is the gap I hope to close with the Mayanagar Talent Hunt portal.”
YOGA IS MY IDENTITY
Even as the conversation hovers around his ventures including the two Telugu films that are underway and Elixir, his mineral water company, this MBA holder who likes living on the edge, self-confessedly admits that Yoga will always be his favourite venture.
“At the end of the day I am a Yoga teacher,” and while he may consider selling his other ventures, he will never say goodbye to Yoga because, “it is my identity and I can’t sell my identity.”
Ask him the secret or reasons for his astounding success, given his humble beginnings as a yoga disciple in Himalayas and he attributes it to his people whom he prefers to call ‘his family.’ “My success is my people,” he declares.
BHOOMIKA, MY OTHER HALF
Other than his brash confidence, which is very obvious when he makes statements like, “I make my own way” or “I don’t think luck can make my life”, it is his love for wife actress Bhoomika Chawla that comes across through the entire conversation. There is a tinge of fondness when he says stuff like, “My wife is a big actress in Telugu films and she is one actress who has done only good, clean roles.”
Bharat first saw Bhoomika in the Tamil movie Roja Kootam and as he tells us, “I told my friend then that I want to marry this girl.” My friend told me to get real as, “I was only a yoga teacher earning Rs 20,000 and riding a scooter.” Later while in Bombay, Bharat got her number through a good friend who had worked with her, and Bhoomika wanted to learn yoga. Well, the rest, as the done to death cliché goes, is history.
As two individuals, successful in their own worlds, what is the essential ingredient that goes into making their marriage work? “Faith, faith, faith,” he pronounces thrice and says, “You need to have faith in your partner and that is all that is needed for a marriage to work. Fights and tiffs are a common thing in any relationship, it is faith that keeps the marriage going.”
MAYANAGAR TALENT HUNT
Aspiring actors, directors, models, writers, editors can upload their portfolio including photos, promo films, ads they have done, just about any work that showcases their talent. For free.” I am planning to tie up with all big film production houses in the country. Anytime they are looking for fresh talent, they will just need to get online and look for faces at the site.” Bharat hopes that MNTH will be the bridge between the film makers and the talent out there and also do away with middle men, who according to him “are responsible for the tarnished image of the industry.” The Mayanagar Talent Hunt portal is all set for a launch shortly.
