Indian Garage Innovation : Prime Focus
I have written on number of occasions that what Indian entrepreneurs lacks is Garage Innovation. On the contrast all most all iconic gen. next companies in USA started in garages, be it Microsoft, Google or for that matter Facebook. Today, I want to correct myself, there is an Indian company, very innovative and far ahead of it's competitors not only in India but all over the globe. It is Prime Focus lead by Namit Malhotra. It is into visual entertainment service business and leaders in Global Entertainment business like Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, James Cameron are it's clients. the company has earned neat profit of Rs.265 Crore on revenues of Rs762 Crore last year. The company has 14 offices in six countries.
Namit's father Naresh Malhotra started as Assistant to well known Film Director Asit Sen. Assistant to Production Controller to Film Producer, his journey was very struggleful, adventurous and exciting. So when in the year 1997 Namit started his company Prime Focus from his Garage with his friends Merzin Tavaria, Prakash Kurup and Huzefa Lokhandwala nobody thought that this company will grow so big. They started with first film scanning and recording system. His knowledge about films and film industry proved quite handy. Their initial TV and film projects Boogie Woogie, Ram Gopal Verma's Satya and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black are well known projects. But the company is better known for it's visual effects work done for iconic Hollywood Movies like Avatar.
In the year 2006, the company acquired major stakes in British company VTR plc followed by acquiring, consolidating 3 more international companies. In 2007, the company moved from it's own View-D to stereo conversion process. In the year 2009, Prime Focus launched onCLEAR, world's first hybrid cloud enabled media ERP platform. Another innovation came in 2010, when Prime Focus shown capability to convert a full length feature film to 3D. Last year, the company entered into animation by signing a multiple million dollar deal with a toy manufacturing company to develop an animated series for children's television network.
But Namit's journey is like roller coaster. In November 2007, there was a four month long Writer's strike across the USA, it totally grounded the film, television and radio industry there. o for Prime Focus there was no business for seven eight months. It was followed by a strike by Hollywood's Screen ActorsGuild. To make matter worse, the US economy went into a tailspin after collapse of Lehmen Brothers in 2008. To add more worries, the companies which were acquired by them went into deep losses. With the result, price of stocks also fell.
Namit did not surrender to circumstances, he salvaged company by restructuring, rebranding, downsizing as well as several difficult conversations with the teams sitting in different cities.TheSolution came in the form of bringing all companies under one brand and institute an uniform culture. A management consultant was assigned to visit all the 17 offices in four con tries understand their values, work style and under current sub cultures. It took nine months to integrate.
Key to success is not only quality work but also strict observance of delivery schedules. Warner Brothers wanted to convert Clash of The Titans into 3D, Prime Focus promised 8 week's time while other vendors offered to do it in eight months or more. Namit delivered as per promise!
Apart from Avatar, Prime Focus , also been a part of success behind Star Wars (I, II, III), The Wizard of Oz, Man in Black 3 and rocking. The secret is philosophy that many companies compete with Prime Focus but always feel that we are the biggest competitor and constantly against each of them, it keeps the company going.
Namit's father Naresh Malhotra started as Assistant to well known Film Director Asit Sen. Assistant to Production Controller to Film Producer, his journey was very struggleful, adventurous and exciting. So when in the year 1997 Namit started his company Prime Focus from his Garage with his friends Merzin Tavaria, Prakash Kurup and Huzefa Lokhandwala nobody thought that this company will grow so big. They started with first film scanning and recording system. His knowledge about films and film industry proved quite handy. Their initial TV and film projects Boogie Woogie, Ram Gopal Verma's Satya and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black are well known projects. But the company is better known for it's visual effects work done for iconic Hollywood Movies like Avatar.
In the year 2006, the company acquired major stakes in British company VTR plc followed by acquiring, consolidating 3 more international companies. In 2007, the company moved from it's own View-D to stereo conversion process. In the year 2009, Prime Focus launched onCLEAR, world's first hybrid cloud enabled media ERP platform. Another innovation came in 2010, when Prime Focus shown capability to convert a full length feature film to 3D. Last year, the company entered into animation by signing a multiple million dollar deal with a toy manufacturing company to develop an animated series for children's television network.
But Namit's journey is like roller coaster. In November 2007, there was a four month long Writer's strike across the USA, it totally grounded the film, television and radio industry there. o for Prime Focus there was no business for seven eight months. It was followed by a strike by Hollywood's Screen ActorsGuild. To make matter worse, the US economy went into a tailspin after collapse of Lehmen Brothers in 2008. To add more worries, the companies which were acquired by them went into deep losses. With the result, price of stocks also fell.
Namit did not surrender to circumstances, he salvaged company by restructuring, rebranding, downsizing as well as several difficult conversations with the teams sitting in different cities.TheSolution came in the form of bringing all companies under one brand and institute an uniform culture. A management consultant was assigned to visit all the 17 offices in four con tries understand their values, work style and under current sub cultures. It took nine months to integrate.
Key to success is not only quality work but also strict observance of delivery schedules. Warner Brothers wanted to convert Clash of The Titans into 3D, Prime Focus promised 8 week's time while other vendors offered to do it in eight months or more. Namit delivered as per promise!
Apart from Avatar, Prime Focus , also been a part of success behind Star Wars (I, II, III), The Wizard of Oz, Man in Black 3 and rocking. The secret is philosophy that many companies compete with Prime Focus but always feel that we are the biggest competitor and constantly against each of them, it keeps the company going.
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