Global Sports Entertainment and Media Solutions (GSEAMS), chiefly involved in film production, started creating content for OTT players beginning with their first project “Samantar” streaming on MX Player from 13 March 2020. The company hit its stride ever since, with a successful run of series on various platforms including “Raktanchal” on MX Player and “Naxalbari” on Zee5. This year, they are yet again collaborating with MX Player on three projects, two of which are successive seasons of their hit franchises. A new web series is also in the pipeline for the OTT platform Voot.

The company was founded in 2013 by Arjun Singgh Baran and Kartk D Nishandar who quit their corporate roles to get into the content business. The duo saw an opportunity to create films for Marathi-speaking audiences, who at the time was only served by two major companies Zee and to some extent Viacom18. In a short span, they produced about 15 Marathi films with hits such as “Mogra Phulaalaa,” "Ranangan,” “Tula Kalnnaar Nahi,” “Bhikari,” “Vicky Velingkar,” “Bonus,” and “Bali” and produced more than 500 episodes of a popular TV show “Nakalat Sare Ghadale” for Marathi general entertainment channel Star Pravah.

GSEAMS is now involved in the production of films, TV shows, and web series content for various media platforms. Their original Marathi films are available on Amazon Prime Video and the latest film “Bali” was released last year as an Amazon Prime Video Original.

In his past tenure as a corporate executive, Baran was associated with Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd as West India business head for BIG 92.7 FM. He’s been in the media industry for over two decades, has produced numerous hit films and provides strategic direction at GSEAMS. Nishandar was also at Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd in the role of national head and has a background in marketing. During their tenure in the production business, they have produced three web series, 11 films and nine television shows, becoming prolific showrunners.

GSEAMS directors Arjun Singgh Baran and Kartk D Nishandar talk to IndianTelevision.com about their journey into content production and their foray into the OTT space.

Edited Excerpts:

On the inception of GSEAMS

Arjun: Kartk and I started this company in 2013. We had been professionals working in different media companies. I was a business head and Kartk was head of marketing. GSEAMS started off as a company providing marketing solutions for films and managing talent but we quickly moved into production. Unlike other production houses that first get involved in TV production, we got into film production from the get go and started making Marathi movies. At that time, not many corporate companies were making Marathi films with only major producers being Zee and to some extent Viacom18. That’s when GSEAMS came into the picture.

We have worked on about 15 Marathi films since 2013 and today half of the Marathi directors either work with us or with Zee. We’ve worked with Swapnil Joshi on many films that appear often on TV channels. We also began purchasing a lot of Marathi films and today we have a bank of 80 films that most of the Marathi channels are airing.

In time, we realised that we need to move into the OTT space. Any project takes us about two years to develop and we got into the OTT space at the right time in 2019. We got in touch with MX Player and produced “Samantar,” which was a hit with 100 million views.

Kartk: Now, we’re producing another three shows for MX Player. We’ve done one for Zee5 that is “Naxalbari” and we’re doing a show for Voot.

Arjun: We started shooting for “Naxalbari” when the whole world was in lockdown. The shooting happened in Goa with 250 people and the cast included Rajeev Khandelwal, Tina Dutta, Shakti Anand, Satyadeep Mishra, Sreejita De. Our main lead Rajeev Khandelwal was staying in Goa at the time. We discovered the entire team from the director, DOP, and artists in Goa and were shooting there with Covid tests and checks. The show began streaming on Zee5 in July 2020.

Arjun: We are partnering with Voot and Jio Studios for our next web series. The show is called “Rafuchakkar” and it has Maniesh Paul, Priya Bapat and it is directed by Ritam Shrivastava who’s also done “Raktanchal 1” and “Raktanchal 2” for MX Player. It is a story of a con man.

Kartk: Amazon Prime Video is our partner for Marathi content and hence all the movies that we’ve produced are available on the streaming service. Our latest film “Bali” released in 2021 was a Prime Video Original.

On the hits produced under GSEAMS banner

Kartk: Our film "Fugay" released in 2017 starring two superstars of Marathi cinema Swapnil Joshi and Subodh Bhave was well received. We also released a film called “Tula Kalnaar Nahi'' in the same year that did well. Another film of ours “Mogra Phulaalaa” released in 2018 cast Swapnil Joshi and Sai Deodhar in the lead and did extremely well with the theatre audience. We made a remake of a South film called “Pichaikkaran” into a Marathi film called “Bhikari” which was released in 2018. The production had a huge scale with ace choreographer Ganesh Acharya as the director.  Our recent release “Bonus” featuring Gashmeer Mahajani and Pooja Sawant in lead roles received 12 nominations from the Maharashtra Times Sanman Awards.

On their content philosophy

Arjun: We want to make films that appeal to everybody and have done that by continuously studying what the audience wants and understanding the art and science of production. There are few production houses like ours who are creating content because they know what the audience wants. We’ve had hits and misses like everybody else. But the people who survive in this industry are the ones who continuously work on one project after another. If you wait for something to become a hit then you’ll never become a big company.

We also thought about ‘how do we do production in a much smarter way’ because the industry is very unorganised. If you go and shoot in Goa, Satara or in the North it’s not compatible for everybody. We are able to manage costs while comfortably completing the entire shooting process. We approach production with the mindset of a corporate company and every project that we do is a little better than the last one. That’s helped us survive over the last nine years. God has been kind.

When the content is good people will come and watch it. Word of mouth is extremely important. That’s what Kartk and I are looking at ‘how do we create content that will have word of mouth?’

On the expansion of GSEAMS

Kartk: Around 2018, we created a writer’s room where we took on close to 10-12 writers. To date, we’ve also blocked around 20 book rights. “Samantar” was a great example for us which showed that a bestselling book will work out as a screenplay. Today, we have a large team of writers working across genres and languages, writing screenplays for production. We also began developing our own content by investing our own money before we approached any platform. We would never wait for the platforms to give us approval for content and that’s why we are managing to produce series back-to-back.

On content that resonates with digital audience

Arjun: As filmmakers, everything is 120 minutes long and larger than life stories are told where you shoot in different locations. Television is about telling stories that revolve around characters in a single location.  

When we look at OTT, you see shows that have done well like “Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Mehta Story” to “Samantar.” It is about taking the audience to a particular place or time period and getting it as real as possible. On digital, the audience wants to get immersed in the characters’ lives. In the case of “Samantar” to get it as real as possible we visited 42 different locations and shot in chawls and ‘thanas’ so when you watch the show you get transported to their reality. The basic difference is how real and interesting you make the setting.

While our strength is in creating Marathi content, recently we’ve been making Hindi content like "Raktanchal" and "Naxalbari." The setting for these stories is in Maharashtra and Goa so even though the language is Hindi we’re able to depict the cultural nuances.

Kartk: Every OTT platform has its own audience base. For MX Player, their major markets were in Maharashtra and the Hindi heartland. We study a platform before we create a piece of content. We dive into the culture, say for example a Maharashtrian couple who are staying in a Lalbaugh chawl and how they function. In the end, it is about understanding the dynamics and how the audience relates to the content.

Recently, a lot of shows based on books have been working in the OTT space. From “Sacred Games” to “Scam 1992,” “Rocket Boys” to “Samantar.” We’re also looking at the biopic space that is becoming popular with digital audiences.

We’re going to keep creating content that is based in Maharashtra. The show “Raktanchal” was based in the Hindi heartland and did really well. But our core strength is in Maharashtra and we have a dedicated writer’s room that works writing Marathi stories.

On creating more shows with OTT players

Kartk: In the two years of Covid, we transitioned heavily towards producing content for OTT platforms and we have kept that process going on. In 2020, we produced two series, followed by three series in 2021 and six shows underway in 2022. Our web division is growing. Films are also coming back. Currently, we’re working with director Vishal Furia of “Chhori” fame who recently created the web series “Forensic” featuring Vikrant Massey and Radhika Apte for Zee5. He’s going to direct the Hindi remake of Prime Video Original film “Bali” in collaboration with a top Bollywood actor. This year we have two theatrical releases, six web series and a major biopic starring a top Bollywood actress.

We also do a lot of work on TV but only in the form of finite series. We have a finite series in development for a TV channel. Our scope of expertise is in telling finite stories though we produced 500 episodes of a successful show on Star Pravah called “Nakalat Sare Ghadale” which was the Marathi remake of the show “Yeh Hai Mohabbatein.”

On their business model

Arjun: When we are producing films the Intellectual Property (IP) always belongs to us. We have put in the investment and are taking the risk. Then we sell the media rights for so many years to various channels or platforms. For our web series, the IP belongs to the platform. Initially, we took the risk and made content because we didn’t want to wait for funds to get started.

Still, we are continuously buying book rights and investing in screenplays. You start investing in a project on the basis of your faith in the writers and the content. In the content business, out of ten things that you’re working on, only three may go to production. As a production house, you need to keep investing money and pitch to platforms because they expect ideas from you. So, there’s a lot of investment that goes in.

On the growth of the company and future outlook

Kartk: We’ve been growing steadily since 2013 at an EBIDTA of 30-35 per cent annually. The biggest growth for our company comes from the IPs that we create. We keep adding new films to our library including ones that we create and acquisitions. If a web series is successful, platforms commission us to do the second and third seasons. Hopefully, we will be able to get to a stage where we create bigger series that are our own IPs like to do with our films and syndicate them to OTT platforms. Developing IP that we own is our ultimate goal.

Arjun: There are around 300-400 people working for us every year on various projects. Every project has about 250 people working on it. We want to keep creating good content for TV, OTT and theatres which entertain people and give them something to talk about.