No matter what path you choose, destiny has its own plans. Technology and Entertainment are as different as chalk and cheese and yet Abhijeet Satam dared to strike a balance between the two, working closely in two diverse fields of computers and cinema.
He began his journey in the entertainment industry with a play in an intercollegiate festival, which won him the best play and best actor awards. Following the success of his maiden venture, he began a theatre production company with his college buddies and tasted commercial and professional success. The highly successful film ‘Tyre Ki Hawa’ that he directed created waves in both national and international film festivals.
With numerous highs in the entertainment field, he also attained great heights in technology by co-founding an IT firm Comcomm, where they built programming platforms for consumer markets both retail and government.
Playing a perfect juggler in real life between his creative aspirations and his professional achievements, Abhijeet is going strong with a movie lead role in the pipeline. He is looking forward to take a higher leap into the creative field while cruising through technologically. We at iCynosure got an opportunity to speak to him, here is an excerpt from our conversation.
ICynosure: From computer software to television and films, did you ever visualise this journey?
Abhijeet: Officially, I was a student of MD college and unofficially of IIT Mumbai. I used to always hang out with my techie friends to get a deeper understanding of software and tech. The love for entertainment runs in the family with my father being a popular actor. That’s the reason I think, I work closely in both the fields. While I am active on the entertainment front, I am closely working with my company teams on tech ventures, one of them being Ticketees.com which we cofounded few years back in the year 2013.
ICynosure: How did your family react to your decision to simultaneously take both your interests forward?
Abhijeet: Well, they were quite okay with it as they know that I am someone who works with a calm mind. I am not afraid of taking decisions. Also, I work with a good team, who are pretty supportive with me multitasking in both fields.
ICynosure: How did you take the first step towards your cinematic journey?
Abhijeet: It all started in the final year of college. Along with some friends who had similar interests as me, we started a theatre production company. We produced several award winning plays like Mukkam Post Bombilwadi, Sangeet Lagna Kallol, Makeup, Sakhya etc. In spite of being the youngest producers we consistently ranked at the top in terms of Maharashtra theatre circuit. Our got us few prestigious awards also. Some of the recent plays which we produced are Mr and Mrs, Strawberry, Ek Shoonya Teen and Bye bye bayko. Simultaneously, I was working as an actor and director for shorts, documentaries and feature films. One of the shorts which I directed and produced ‘Tyre Ki Hawa..’ got selected at coveted international film festivals and won awards in National level short films competitions. This was seen by several known personalities from advertising fraternity and that opened doors for me to the advertising world, and I started working as a freelance director and producer for various reputed advertising companies and brands. I also co-produced and directed the Marathi feature film Haapus, which went on to become one of the biggest box office grosser of that year. So that’s how it is.
ICynosure: Which has been the most difficult role you played and why was it tough?
Abhijeet: I guess my role in my friend’s upcoming movie Lagi Toh Chaggi was quite challenging since I was facing the camera after a 4 year break from acting. So, portraying the role of Aalap Sahastrabudhe, a simpleton from Pune was pretty challenging and fun at the same time.
ICynosure: Are you a method actor or someone who is more spontaneous?
Abhijeet: I guess a bit of both, sometimes a particular role demands spontaneity and some roles demand a more methodical way. I feel am a director’s actor so I believe in following the director’s game plan.
ICynosure: Which are three roles across the film industries that you would have loved to play?
Abhijeet: Am a total sci-fi films and video games fan so all three are from the sci-fi world. Captain Spock from Star Wars, Tony Stark and the third am thinking would be Mario from the Mario bros video game.
ICynosure: If and when the opportunity arises, would you like to venture into mainstream Bollywood?
Abhijeet: Yes, would love to do.
Abhijeet: I have enjoyed wearing all these hats equally.
ICynosure: What can your fans expect from you in the future?
Abhijeet: Well along with the just released Lagi Toh Chaggi, there is another film which is scheduled to release soon with Mr. Mahesh Manjrekar and another one which have just given a nod for and won’t be able to disclose details. Completely different genres and again pretty fun stuff. There would a new theatre productions, yet untitled and in pre production phases, which would be announced as things fall in the right place. On the tech front, there is lot of interesting tech stuff which we are developing, there are direct consumer platforms and also something for the government.
ICynosure: So what according to you should be the next level of tech in the field of entertainment?
Abhijeet: Tech always has been at the core of entertainment, like right from electricity to cameras to computers to internet to smart phones etc. Let’s take a small piece from the big world of entertainment; web content platforms like Netflix or Prime have as just taken off and I see bigger things are on the way like we feel virtual experiences will impact the way we binge on such content, yes lot of augmented and virtual reality stuff on its way you see.
ICynosure: Also you being a techie, are you working on somewhat same grounds?
Abhijeet: Yes kind of similar can say. We are working on few platforms which would empower digital producers and digital audiences both. Would surely talk more about this as it’s ready.
So we leave you with the trailer/stills of Abhijeet’s upcoming movie. Enjoy!
Until next time,
~ Heena
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