Bimal Unnikrishnan, the showrunner of the popular reality series Shark Tank India, chatted with ‘shark’ Ritesh Agarwal about the prerequisites that a successful creative must have. He also looked back on his experience working with Amitabh Bachchan on Kaun Banega Crorepati, and highlighted the traits that make him tick.
In a video shared by the OYO founder on YouTube, Bimal said, “If you look at the television industry or the media industry as a whole, it’s essentially a freelancer’s gig. If you look at Shark Tank, 99% of the people are freelancers. If you’re already used to a comfort zone, this may not be the stuff for you. This needs hustle, this needs going beyond your call of duty. It needs patience, it needs perseverance. If you don’t have it, it’s probably not for you. It’s a lot of hard work, it doesn’t have regular work hours, no amenities. You don’t get insurance. A lot of stuff is wrong, and you’d want it to be corrected.”
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But, he said, there can be important takeaways from this hardship as well. He said that aspiring creators can get a lot of opportunities to learn. “Take Shark Tank, for example. We aren’t business oriented. I haven’t gone to business school. But we learned. We learned on the job.” Ritesh said that he recently met director Vidhu Vinod Chopra at a screening of his recent film 12th Fail, and asked the filmmaker if he’d received help when he was starting out in the industry. “I told him that my life changed when someone in Mumbai gave me Rs 5 lakh. He said, ‘Mera bhi aisa koi tha (I also had someone like that).’ I said, ‘Who was it?’ And he said, ‘Unka naam tha Amitabh bhai (His name was Amitabh).’”
Ritesh learned that none other than Amitabh Bachchan offered to work with a novice Vinod, after being impressed with a short film that he’d made, and that sort of encouragement was enough for the young filmmaker. Ritesh asked Bimal about the legendary actor, whom he worked with on KBC. “There’s so much to learn, but my learnings are very simple. Work ethics. I have found his work ethics inspirational to another level. Turning up on time is amazing, but the diligence… You respect the value of time, you respect the value of others’ time, and you respect the audience, and give them the best that’s possible. More importantly, the prep that he puts in, so that the impact on screen is maximised.”
Shark Tank India is currently airing its third season, with returning sharks Anupam Mittal, Aman Gupta, Namita Thapar, Vineeta Singh, Peyush Bansal and Amit Jain, alongside several others including Ritesh.
