How the Next Generation Is Powering the PVR Legacy: Meet the Bijlis For everyone, PVR was a rage in the 2000. As friends if one would buy the tickets, the other would compensate with popcorn and cold drink as both would almost cost equal

Cinemas are as old a form of entertainment as far as we can remember. The millennial in me was awestruck watching DDLJ come alive on the big theater. However, for me the real movie thrill was watching a movie at PVR Naraina. For everyone, PVR was a rage in the 2000. As friends if one would buy the tickets, the other would compensate with popcorn and cold drink as both would almost cost equal.

In fact, PVR was in its best phase pre- Covid. 2019 would count among the best year the cinema chain had seen. However, everything changed for humans and businesses alike as Covid struck our lives. Being confined not only meant screen closures, it also meant newer forms of entrainment coming via different channels. OTT saw its rise and our smartphone screens served us well. The cinema chain which grew over 25 years to become the biggest in the country suddenly saw its competitor in a handheld device. But things do not always remain the same.

Post-Covid every business and human was back with full force to live their best life and achieve the maximum they could in the shortest period of time. Though revenge retail and travel zoomed back, movie hopping wasn't back on the map as old habits die hard. The rise of digital entertainment during Covid further gave a new way of entertainment to audience who don't necessarily feel the need to spend time and money to go to a theater. However, bigger the challenge, bigger the opportunity that's what entrepreneurs tend to do.

Entrepreneur India had the opportunity to sit down with Ajay bijli, MD, PVR INOX and his three kids Niharika, Nayana and Aamer to witness how the future will unfold for entertainment and experience.

The Showman- Ajay Bijli, MD, PVR Inox

You ventured into the family business and now your children are also part of it. How different is it from the time you got inducted to that of your children?

When I joined the family business, we had a single screen cinema and the transport company. It is very different when you have to join a listed company. At that time my father was the one who was guiding me to make sure that I navigated, in both the businesses right from the grassroots up to a management position. He wanted me to understand everything. And I understood how the operations worked before I could think about revamping the cinema. And similarly with the trucking company, he wanted me to understand everything that happens in a booking office and a delivery office.

How were the roles allocated to each one of your children? Was it a natural process?

You can't impose anything on anybody these days, let alone your family members. It's just wherever they showed the right aptitude. Niharika, for example went to study cinematic arts in the USA and fell in love with the idea of directing and script writing. It was very natural that she would work with PVR, after she finishes a stint, with Ayan Mukherjee and Karan Johar (for Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva) that she gets into all the ad films that we are doing, because a lot of directors intersperse between doing films as well as ad work, and even to tell a story in 60 to 90 seconds is not easy.

Nayana for the longest time has been very interested in the distribution part of the company. She became naturally aligned towards looking at the distribution arm of PVR pictures and working along with my younger brother Sanjeev. She has a flare for alternate marketing and alternate programming. Plus she's being very helpful to me while doubling up as my chief of staff.

Aamer was very keen to look at innovation in the company. What the new avatar of cinema should be; how new experiences should be given to the consumer, because those consumers are new. There's a certain way in which they want their journey to the screen happen, like we are selling F&B only post-ticket. He's got some ideas of how F&B can also be sold pre ticketed and how the cinema (foyers and auditoriums) can be used for other purposes. So I think the innovation piece came very naturally to him. And in the non PVR side, he's overseeing other ventures like Bijli Realty.

How is PVR keeping up amidst the growing competition from OTT?

Cinemas will always be there, but obviously they have to become more and more experiential because now you can watch content on the go. So the difference between watching it on any other platform and cinema has to be substantial. I think we all have to work very hard to make sure that when a customer goes out, they say, wow! I can't get this experience anywhere else. Entertainment will always be consumed in home but will also be consumed outside. So I think in the out of home entertainment space, we should not be restricting ourselves only to movies. Movies will always remain mainstream, but we have to find other avatars of out of home entertainment and look at what else can the brand do to be synonymous with entertainment.

The Multi-Dimensional- Niharika Bijli, Lead - Film Production Strategy & Operations, Pvr Inox

When you talk to Niharika Bijli, she has distinct memories of being introduced to the world of cinema, which also happens to be the business she's in. Sharing the same she says, "I have two very distinct memories. One was definitely visiting Priya, watching Lion King on the big screen. Second was with Papa who used to take us on Sunday drives. So we lived near Karol Bagh, Rohtak Road in Delhi and I just remember him taking me on a very long drive to Saket. As we drove in, I remember seeing Anupam under construction, it was a very normal Sunday that just turned into a site visit." As a kid, Niharika was awestruck by all the colors that she saw with massive artwork.

While growing up, drama was her favorite subject. Soon she went to the University of Southern California, and took up a lot of film courses. "When I got there, my favorite part of the entire campus was the film school. I had a cinematic arts minor to my business degree, and took a lot of film classes," recalls the eldest daughter of Ajay Bijli.

Being a part of those classes helped her break down what actually goes into making a film. She fell in love with the process; but again, there's only so much that academics can teach you. On her return, she went to Mumbai in 2016. When she started working, that's when she really understood what flim making was about, what making films like in India is, which is very different, from Hollywood. "That is what cemented my love for filmmaking and also the fact that this is a career path for me," she adds.

She went on to serve as an assistant director on Brahmāstra: Part one. She says, "When I graduated from school, I felt it was important for me to explore other things. I worked in London in distribution at Fox for a little while; and then when I went to Bombay, I completely immersed myself in this process; but when I finished that stint, which was also very long, it was about seven and a half or eight years, which is an unusual amount of time for a film," states Niharika. Post that she knew she has this skill set now, which can further be used to contribute to the family business.

Talking about her current role, she says, "The area that I'm focusing on is brand building. The cinema business evolved a lot during Covid and especially after Covid. We felt it's a business that we can't take for granted because people's habits have changed. People are spending more time at home. So how can we now position ourselves as a brand that's also moving with the times? How are we being realistic in this new landscape? How can we position ourselves in a place of co-existing with other platforms with the new habits?"

Targeting this new generation who are not driven by nostalgia to go to the cinema, she went on to launch three brand films featuring social media fame, Orry touching upon pivotal points of what cinema serves and stands for.

Concluding the conversation, Niharika shares, "Papa always says, it is all about the work. You put your head down and do your work."

The Young Gun- Aamer Bijli, Lead - International Film Programming & Marketing , PVR Inox

Aamer Bijli's earliest memories of being in the business during childhood would just be at the cinema. He coyly shares, "My earliest memories were just sitting at the cinema hall a lot because I thought that was dad's office." To him it felt great to be amongst all the action. "Being near the box office when the tickets were being cut with fresh popcorn, running into the projector room, all within safety standards of course was my first induction into what a cinema was. And since then, I've just been hooked onto the big screen," adds the youngest one of the Bijli clan joining the business. However, joining the company post Covid was an eye-opener for him because it provided a lot of perspective with many different stakeholders that need to be managed. "I remember dad and chachu (Sanjeev Bijli, Ajay's borther) having a very open conversation with me about the difference between what I thought about cinema growing up versus actually getting into the business of cinema," adds the new kid on the block.

Aamer's university days were cut short in the middle due to the pandemic, and he had to take a break for about six months. Those months provided him a very deep understanding in terms of what it means to really have an efficient ship running, even when the entire world had come to a halt. "The beginning of my induction was sitting at home, with dad and chachu, just understanding everything that they're trying to do to make sure the business pivots the way it needs to, making sure everyone in the company is taken care of to help the business progress in the dark times and the times where there was a lot of uncertainty about whether the cinema was going to open or not," shares Aamer. It was quite a flash introduction for him at that point but proved to be quite useful eventually, when he returned from university. The introduction after he entered the company physically was quite seamless.

Giving insight into his current role, Aamer says, "My role is to figure out a very efficient way to transform the company into making it ready for what the cinema of tomorrow is while keeping in mind the consumer of today. I think a big part of my role was just to understand what the modern day consumer is like, what they represent, how we can reimagine movie going and the experience that is currently catering to people's evolved preferences, lifestyles, and technological advancements. And where my input has been directly involved is overall strategy."

While shadowing his father and uncle, looking into marketing and innovation his aim is to showcase why there needs to be that extra kick post covid to bring the audience in the theater. And doing the same rightly with marketing techniques. His role involves strengthening relationships with studios and production houses. "We've really managed to collaborate on a lot of wonderful films," states Aamer.

"My work has been more about creating shells which can be molded according to the need of the consumer, whether that focuses on film, dining experiences, experiments like art house formats, technical riders, experiences, events, all encompassing to create something that the consumer can use, agnostic of the film that is being shown at the cinema," he mentions.

The Mighty Middle- Nayana Bijli, Lead - Distribution and Licensing, PVR Inox

In the words of Nayana Bijli, as a family their lives have always been intertwined with the business. "We've grown up with the business and that's because we are all very passionate about films. I just remember we would visit the office a lot after school and go to the office that used to be in Priya. We used to just hang around there and be amidst all the activity. We didn't fully understand what was going on, but we remember there was a feeling of growth," exudes Nayana. Being a movie buff, she witnessed her dad's lens of looking at movies change in the theater. "When we went with dad for movies, there were other things that he always noticed, how the carpet is, how the seat is, how the f&b quality was, and how our customers reacted to things other than the movie. We started picking up on it at a very early age," reminisces Nayana.

After graduating from college in 2016, she worked in New York for two and a half years at a market research firm. But soon, she had a real strong longing to come back to India and join PVR. 2018 was the year that she came back eventually and that was the year where the business was just booming. PVR had huge releases in 2019, including the The Avengers.

Talking about her initial role, she says, "When I officially joined, I started working with Gautam Dutta, the CEO, on different operations. I wanted to get a whole overview of the business; I was working with him on many different projects. We were looking at technology, trying to get new vendors on the technology side, seating, some HR policies, and were also developing a cinema in Gurgaon."

Later, she pivoted to distribution and content acquisition. That's what she has been doing more recently with PVR pictures, the distribution arm. "We buy all rights for foreign films and then we plan theatrical releases," she mentions. With this, she moved closer to the content journey, acquisition and marketing behind it. Concurrently, she is pursuing her Masters from Columbia Business School.

When the business came to a standstill during the pandemic, she worked with Mubi, a steaming platform for a year. "The intention behind that was to understand the digital side of things. How do they operate, how are they bringing the customers? Because when we had a lull, they had a boom. I really wanted to understand how they operate. So I went there for a year before I fully got into PVR pictures. The role was content acquisition and licensing to understand what value proposition streamers offer to get content," shares Nayana.

But her eventual goal was always the big screen, and to incorporate fresh ideas into the industry. Sharing her learning she adds, "With OTT and especially after the pandemic, people are very clear of what they like and what they don't like. We keep that lens on when we buy a film, we know that this may or may not work out, before taking a bet." She has been planning a lot of alternate content and a few film festivals for alternate content usage.

Concluding her learning from her father, she adds, "His attention to detail is something that I hope to bring in everything that I do. Just focusing on smaller things and never compromising on the brand value."