This year’s Entrepreneur Organisation (EO) South Asia’s Annual Regional Integration event saw entrepreneurs from various industries come together to interact, network, share and learn from one-another.
The Integration, hosted in Hyderabad over February 10 and 11 this year, was special as it was the 10th anniversary of the formation of the chapter.
Sheetal Bangur, president, EO Hyderabad, says, “The Hyderabad chapter was definitely a success. We had socials for all the delegates and it went better than planned.” Titled Lead2012, the initiative had on its list several speakers which included Anupam Mukherji aka the Fake IPL player, Barkha Dutt, Suheil Seth,
Dr Rana Kapoor of Yes Bank, badminton player Saina Nehwal and Pullela Gopichand, musician Joi Barua, Tariq Ansari, cartoonist Raghava KK, Shobana Kameneni of Apollo Hospitals and Laxmi Pratury of INK among others.
Offer to act in a movie was scary: Nargis Fakhri
Spotting the beautiful Nargis Fakhri, with her lanky 5feet 9 inch frame and towering heels, among a crowd of bustling entrepreneurs during the recent Entrepreneur’s Organisation: Hyderabad chapter wasn’t difficult.
“What was the topic I addressed?” she exclaims, almost as if taken by surprise.
“Basically she brought the Bollywood flavour to the meet and spoke about what it was that lured her into the industry,” says her manager.
“Wow! I just blanked out there. I mean there were so many smart people and they had come to listen to me. So it was a little nerve wracking. Regarding what lured me into Bollywood… it’s such a tough question. It’s so strange that people are trying so hard to get a job in this industry and I landed it quite easily. I guess it was more like karma (I am a very spiritual person) because it was never my intention to come here,” she says.
Describing her spiritual experience by the end of Rockstar, Nargis says, “It was like holy s***… I just reconnected with myself. I was always used to having people around me, but working in India got me accustomed to being on my own, you know loving my own company. Also growing up, my dad was never around. My mom is more American, so I didn’t really know where I belonged, like culturally. So, shooting in Prague and then India, brought that peace,” she says.
She had burst out crying when she was offered the movie and had almost refused it. “It was so scary. I didn’t even know whether it was worth it. I mean, I had a job and I was sending money back home. And acting is financially very risky,” she explains.
And the outcome wasn’t all rosy as she was heavily criticised for her acting. “I do agree with the criticism because I saw it myself. And I do want to improve my body language. I mean seriously, I love the hand gestures of Indian women. How do you all do it? Perhaps, it’s the kathak or some other dance form that enables you to do so. I will also be taking classes for my Hindi diction,” she says.
Nargis Fakhri is a book that you shouldn’t judge by the cover. The fact that she is beautiful is well-acknowledged. But not many know that this 33-year-old is also an artist, post Rockstar she has picked up a guitar and is also into writing and hopes to publish her own book someday.
“My mom says that I was born with crayons in my hand. I have been maintaining a journal and writing random stories. I am also done with two scripts. I guess right now I am having such an exciting life that making a book out of it would be worthwhile,” she says.
'Fake IPL blog describes me the best'
In 2009, he made headlines with his fake IPL player blog which landed the Kolkata Knight Riders in quite a few controversies. In 2010 he revealed his true identity and the public, for the first time, knew Anupam Mukherji, an ordinary marketing guy from Bengaluru.
Last year Mukherji started Pitch Invasion, an online radio commentary programme for the IPL which he plans to tweak further this year and hopes it will go viral with an expected listener count of 70,000 to 80,000.
Present at the event Mukherji says, “This year, the idea is much bigger than the Fake IPL Player as it can change the way people look at sports broadcasting in India. It’s not a new idea but an extension of Pitch Invasion that started in 2011. An interactive radio based platform where cricket fans can voice their opinions. We started with a mere 1,200 to 1,500 listeners, currently we have a community of 25,000 people and this IPL we want to go bigger.”
Mukherji has been an entrepreneur for eight years now, shuffling between creative projects and ideas. However, the Fake IPL Player tag refuses to leave him.
“I have come to like the tag now. Fake IPL Player describes me the best as I am a prankster,” he adds.
The Fake IPL blogger did quite a bit of damage to the KKR team in 2009. Did he ever realise his little con act would become so big? Mukherji confesses that although it wasn’t supposed to become famous, it was meant to create some ripples.
“Before I started the blog, I discussed it with a friend of mine in China on G-talk. I remember asking him, ‘Lalit Modi and SRK haath dhoke peeche toh nahin padh jaayenge?’ So I had an idea that this could become big, but never thought it would become so big,” he says. In the end, we find out what is it about the fake news market that is becoming so popular.
“I think it’s not the market for fake news but one for satire that is increasing. The idea was never to spread news, it is to highlight important things in a humourous manner that intelligent people should understand,” he says adding that a creative revolution is going on and people who run the country cannot really put a ban or censor one’s thoughts.
