Nitin Jai Shukla, the Creative Head of Life OK's Mahakumbh, hails from Bhopal and holds a degree in mechanical engineering. After finding his inner calling, the guy left his promising career and joined the entertainment business. And now after a bit of struggle and hard work, he is enjoying his position as the Creative Head at the Arvind Babbal Production show Mahakumbh. In a conversation with Tellychakkar.com, he takes us through his journey and his future goals.
How did your journey start in this entertainment industry?
After completing my graduation and earning a degree in mechanical engineering, I joined Thomas Cook. After that, I worked in various other companies like Wipro, Hero Honda and also in call centers. At that time I was doing many things but was not very sure about my aim in life. Finally, I found my inner call and decided to join media. Then I came to Mumbai and started working over here. My family was not aware about why I came to Mumbai and I was determined not to tell them anything, before I did something constructive in this field. And finally after doing the show Boogie Woogie (Sony TV), I decided to tell the truth to my family.
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After Boogie Woogie, I worked on Sony TV's show Kulvaddhu as a writer under Aniruddh Pathak. Later, I joined the creative team of the same show. After that I also did shows like Bhabhi (Star Plus), Ardhangini (Zee TV), and few other shows. Then I received an offer from Star Plus to join their creative team but I rejected that and expressed my wish to join Star One instead. I believed that Star One was more youth-based where I had the opportunity to experiment. On Star One, I worked in the creative team for shows like Dill Mill Gayye, Miley Jab Hum Tum, Rang Badalti Odhani. Then the channel was rebranded as Life OK and I again joined hands with Aniruddh Pathak for the most popular show of the channel Devon ke Dev- Mahadev. Then again I did another show on the channel, The Adventures of Hatim. After that, I was searching for some new shows and received the chance to work on Mahakumbh.
How has your experience of working with Arvind Babbal been?
Arvind Babbal is a man who posses vast knowledge and knows his work very well. The kind of preparation he does and the way he executes his work is unique. He is very particular about his work. Even if he has to wait for hours to make a scene perfect, he will do that. It is a learning experience to work with him.
What do you think are the most important qualities that one should posses as a creative head?
I think a creative head should have sound knowledge in four departments, that is, script, costumes, art direction and music. A creative head should have in-depth knowledge of script, which drives the content and he or she should also be able to visualize the way in which the scenes have to be executed. At the same time, costumes are also very important for a show. Same importance should be given to art direction as well. And music also plays a very important role these days.
What according to you is the most challenging part of your job?
I think for me the most challenging job for any creative head is to keep the team together. A creative head is like the captain of the ship. He or she should be able to coordinate properly with every department. Creative heads should have the proper planning in mind and should be able to execute the shooting properly.
Television industry is changing nowadays, it has started experimenting with different shows, what is your take on that?
Yes, definitely the industry is gradually changing and it has started experiment with different shows. I believe that television is a big medium and one should use it properly. It was proved with the path-breaking show Mahadev, that audiences are ready to accept different kind of shows. If one continues to make similar kind of shows just because it did well with the audience, it means you are not providing them with something new. So, we have to make new kind of shows and television can receive that respect.
Who are your inspirations in the industry?
I think my own tale is inspiring enough, where a small town guy found his inner call and joined the media, giving up his engineering degree. But yes, I have many Gurus in the industry, from them I have learnt a lot of things. I have learnt a lot from Rohini Singh, Arvind Babbal and Aniruddh Pathak. Apart from these few people, I don't think there are many whom I can call as inspiration as such.
What's next for you?
Well I have planned to do a travel show after this. I think everyone has a bohemian call inside us and I think that people will like it. And apart from that I am a storyteller, so I will continue with telling refreshing stories in forms of fiction shows.
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