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Ex-Lowe staffer Rahul Sengupta ventures into production
Sengupta has started a production house called Mad Box in partnership with film producer Sunil Manchanda
Rahul Sengupta, ex-executive creative director, Lowe Bangalore, has launched his own production house called Mad Box in partnership with film producer Sunil Manchanda. Manchanda has produced films such as Cheeni Kum, Salaam-e-Ishq and Kyon Ki.
Mad Box aims to create content for most of the existing general entertainment channels (GECs) in both Hindi and English. Sengupta says, “We are largely targeting the mainstream television audience that speaks both Hindi and English. There will be no focus on the regional GECs.”
Rahul Sengupta |
Mad Box is targeting broadcasters such as STAR, Sony, Zee, NDTV Imagine, NDTV Good Times and 9X for its content. However, the production house has not initiated any talks as yet. Apart from Sengupta and Manchanda, the other members of the team include Shouvik Dutta and Anil Kumar. Both Dutta and Kumar have been hired as creative directors. Sengupta says, “It’s initially a compact team. But we are seriously looking to hire more creative, film and production people.”
He says, “The television industry in India is booming at the moment. There are ample opportunities for various ideas and different show formats on various channels. Television has been a dream for me since long. I think this is the perfect time to realise it.”
Will he ever return to advertising? Sengupta says, “You never know. I might very well come back to advertising. It’s like ‘never say never again’.”
Sengupta holds a degree in economics from St Xavier’s College in Kolkata and an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies in New Delhi. He has 15 years’ experience in advertising. He started his career in advertising at Mudra in 1993. He spent four years with Mudra – two years in Mumbai and two in Bangalore. From Mudra, he moved to Lowe and has been there ever since.
Sengupta has worked on brands such as Britannia, Indya.com (cricket chat), Kissan Jam (Jammy), Maruti, LG, ICICI Prudential, Bajaj Calibre (Hoodibaba) and Bajaj Wind (Discover Wind Biking). His recent work includes the Bengali setup ad for Tanishq and the Fastrack ad with Hindi film actor John Abraham.