Inspiring Journeys: Cinema, Philanthropy, Social Impact with Vivek Oberoi

In this lively session of IGF UAE 2022, Bollywood star and entrepreneur Vivek Oberoi spoke about the trends in the OTT (over the top) space, especially in India, during the Covid period, the impetus behind his philanthropy efforts and his journey as a co-founder of four social impact companies.

“In India, cricket and cinema are deified. You achieve this mania. But the love and hate are equally personal. The critics build you up and tear you down. When you are about 25 year old, it's a lot to take in. I went through my own journey in my career. It was a difficult one,” said the Actor and Investor.

Here are a few key soundbites from Oberoi:

• “Covid has had an interesting effect on viewing patterns. All the OTTs were going through the biggest boom that they have ever seen. OTTs were always trying to compete and pitch in against theatrical releases. When Covid happened and theatres shut down, the numbers on theatrical drastically dropped. People went to OTTs and they saw a flood of content and more reasonable pricing. People went to OTTs a lot more because they were spending more time at home. That led to extreme viewership.”
• “My mom took me to the paediatric cancer wing at the Tata Memorial Hospital. That day I learned two things. First, I realised that my problem was nothing. The second understanding was more profound. I just walked into the room, these kids were smiling ear to ear. I realised that I can leverage the celebrity status to ease their pain and bring joy. That started my journey into philanthropy.”
• “I think there's a fatigue associated with giving and asking. After some time, people don't want to take calls. I thought that there has to be a better way that is more sustainable in terms of giving and creating measurable impact. If you have a social impact for-profit model, you can exponentially scale up. In the last four-and-a-half years, I have co-founded four companies that have social impact, for-profit as their identity. Most of the companies are growing 20-30 times. So, it's great for investors and great for impact funds. In some places we are returning more than they [investors] are getting from their conventional investments.”

Catch all the India Global Forum UAE – Partners for Global Impact action here.