Reaching beyond dreams

telly talk

He could have been a doctor or an engineer and settled down in life with a secure job. But that was not what he wanted and thus took the risk of coming to the city of dreams at an early age.

The desire was to make a career in the entertainment industry. And, he did live his dreams. Today, Yash Patnaik is one of the most sought-after producers in the world of television and his production house,  Beyond Dreams, is producing the two most popular shows of television today — Veera and Junoon.

Interestingly, both the serials are quite different from each other. While Veera explains a unique relationship between a brother and sister, Junoon is about reverse migration, a topic hitherto unseen on screen.

Ask him about the secret of his success, and he shares his credit with his wife, Mamta Patnaik. “She is my better-half, in the true sense of the word. She conceives most of the shows,” says Yash.

Yash, who hails from Bhubaneshwar, came to Pune first in the 90s, as he wanted to study in FTII. Symbiosis Institute of Mass Media was taking in students at that time and thus he enrolled his name for the course.

“During those days, if you did not become a doctor or an engineer, the only other option was to open a shop. I did not want to do either of these and I could not see myself growing in Bhubaneshwar. It is a lovely place, but very slow. I was a little different from my contemporaries,” Yash remembers.

Even as he was studying, Yash started working for Maharashtra Herald as a sub-editor. “I didn’t want to put pressure on my father and thus started working.” Yash’s mother, a writer, supported his decision of becoming a filmmaker, while his father was surprised.

Yash moved to Delhi for an internship with the UNI, but soon realised that Delhi was not the place for him. So he moved to Mumbai and helped Manju Singh who was responsible for Showtheme. “She was making a show called Swaraj and I was appointed as a researcher. I used to spend a lot of time at Mani Bhavan researching on Gandhi, Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. It was such an eye opener for me.”

Post this, Yash was jobless for a year and struggled a lot. He remembers, “I used to cook and clean the house for my roommates. As a result, they stopping taking room rent from me.”

In the next few years, Yash worked with a television channel and a production house before joining the man he adored a lot — B P Singh. “I was the first one to become an executive producer of the Fireworks production house. I worked there for seven long years.

I had worked in shows like Aahat, CID special bureau, Akela, Raat Hone Ko Hai.”
Yash also wrote close to 80 episodes of Raat Hone Ko Hai. Yash fondly remembers his days at Fireworks, “In 2006, I realised I should do something on my own. I wanted to use my talent, so I resigned and Mr Singh refused to accept it and this went on for quite sometime before he let me go.”

Yash named his production house Beyond Dreams. “My aim is to reach beyond my dreams because once the dream gets fulfilled, then we have to move to the next. My dream is much bigger now.”

In 2007, Yash and Mamta started their production house with just three people. Now the company has an employee base of over 200 people. “Our first show was a unique one. It was a combination of horror, crime and comedy — Babban Bhai vs Bimla Tai, and then we did shows like CIA, Chehra, Monica Mogre Case Files, Jamunia and Rang Badalti Odhni.

In Monica Mogre, we did a complete episode on local trains with a popular face like Mahesh Manjrekar. But Rang Badalti Odhni was a landmark show which was on widow remarriage based in Kutch, Gujarat.”

The two new shows are getting a good feedback from the viewers and Yash is relieved about that. “Veera is based on Punjab. But I want to show Punjab differently — not like the way it is shown in Yash Chopra films or other shows. Junoon has lots of action scenes with lots of cable work and we have appointed a qualified stuntman for this.”

So, what does the future hold for Yash? He is a very excited person as a maker because after his first supernatural thriller, Kaalo, he has written a new script which will be for the younger generation.  “There will be a new cast completely, as the script demands fresh faces,” he says. The film will see the light by the end of next year.