How is the life of a LED video screen rental and digital production house owner in India?

All of us have been to music performances, launch events, and other staged gatherings where we would have noticed huge LED screens at the rear that display visuals and graphics. The aesthetics of the entire event would go down if these huge screens silently running the background visuals are pulled off. LED screens are the thing of the present and the future. Realization of the Importance of visual appeal has led to fancy sign boards on busy streets of most crowded cities.

Most multi-billion dollar companies have invested heavily in extended reality (XR) development. The extended reality market is growing at the rate of CAGR of close to 35% for the next 5 years. You might have seen the latest ads of Nike and other brands that show graphics that look so real that the elements on the screen seem as though they pop out from it. LED screens have even replaced green screens. Movies are shot with curved screens at the rear making the background look indistinguishable from reality.

Many times, we overlook the screens and only focus on the ads. Such is the power of XR in today’s world.

Luckily for me, on my all-India cycle tour, I got to meet Mr Himanshu Mankar, a 26-year young Pune-based owner of a digital production house called Transswag24. Speaking with him in the hostel I stayed at in Goa, I learnt about many things that go into the LED screens business. Fixing the screens, designing the animation on XR software, approaching the clients, and marketing the products are some of them. More than all of this, I learnt what it takes for an individual to enter such a business.

There is no way I can look at these LED screens on the streets and in events the same way again!

So, how is the life of a LED video screen rental and digital production house owner in India?

Profile link: https://instagram.com/transswag24?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Table of Contents

Why start a digital production house and a LED screen rental business?

As a 16-year-old kid, when Himanshu was in his diploma, he was interested in DJing. He had the fantasy of becoming a DJ player. He said his journey began from there where he first invested 250 rupees in a Pendrive. It didn’t take too much time for him to realize that DJ mixing was not his cup of tea. His interests only shifted from audio to video engineering. From here, he went on to complete his BTech in electrical and telecommunication engineering, all the while being passionate and learning about visual engineering. Completing his Mtech in audio-video engineering was the final nail on the head. He had accumulated enough knowledge and information to take his business to the next level.

By the time Himanshu was completing his Mtech, COVID was on the rise in India. LED screens of 2 crores value were being sold at 1.2 Cr. Himanshu sensed an opportunity and immediately requested his family to help him purchase one. Respecting his drive to start an LED business, his family pitched in the money and helped him purchase the same. Himanshu finished his Mtech with the belief that his LED screen renting business would take off one day.

How to run a successful digital production house and a LED screen rental business?

Himanshu said that he started by investing as little as 250 rupees and today he has an inventory worth 12 crores. Only a small proportion if it is on loan and the rest are the assets he owns. He said the money he makes in the business, he invests all of it right back into the company.

The idea is simple. He rents out 1 crore worth of screens for rupees 1 lakh a day. He has 10 boys who help transport and set up the screen at the place of the event. He pays 10,000 for transport, and 1000 each for the 10 boys. The rest of the profit he makes, he puts back into the company to help purchase more inventory.

Apart from the renting business, they also have FX designing team who also design graphics for the event. The designing starts with a basic amount of 30 thousand rupees and can go up to as much as 6 lakh rupees. Himanshu said that he would do all the designing himself initially. As he had learnt to handle the software unreal engine, it allowed him to do the designing in the initial days. Now, he has employees who do it for him.

Slowly as time moved on, they got marketing heads and managers who fix up the events so that Himanshu doesn’t have to run for them each time. The team has grown to a total number of 30 today. They are booked out throughout the year. Himanshu has placed his company in a self-sustaining mode.

When one of the big players in the field, a Chinese company named Enbon was facing tough times in India due to lack of service, Himanshu and his team stood up for them. They helped Enbon fix up their issues with their screens which were receiving a lot of complaints. This has allowed Himanshu’s company to be the official service provider for Enbon.

Now that the team has placed their hands in renting LED screens, designing FX for events, and also servicing LED screens, Himanshu says the next big step would be to purchase and sell the LED screens. He said, getting into sales would allow them to make big money.

Himanshu ran through his entire journey from investing in a 250 rupees pendrive to the hope of building a LED screen empire in India as he spoke with me for half an hour while waiting for his team to arrive at the place of the event, where he was renting out LED screens in Goa. During this period I constantly observed the character he was and asked questions on a personal front with the curiosity of knowing what went on in the brain of a 26-year-old to think so big this early on.

Qualities of a person who runs a digital production house and a LED screen rental business?

Himanshu clearly loved his company. He wore a simple black T-shirt with the name of his company printed on it. He said, “If I do not promote my own company, who will?”. Despite having mangers who could take care of the work, he had come to Goa for the work himself. On asking him why he had to come over when he could easily delegate work, Himanshu replied “It doesn’t cost to be kind”. He told me that he could easily motivate his boys into doing the work. To take a look at what he was saying, I even went to the place where the LED screens were being set up with him. I could see the way Himanshu was handling the workers. He even told me in front of all of them that he is nothing without them. The relationship he shares with people around him must be helping him with good progress.

Himanshu could have easily caught a flight to the venue. He didn’t choose to. He hitched a ride in a car on the carpooling platform ‘Bla Bla’. He even came over and decided to stay at the hostel because it is cheap. He spoke with everyone with a smile on his face and never disclosed the sort of work he was doing. He was leading a lifestyle of simplicity when he could easily choose a lavish one. Nobody could have told that he was the owner of a company.

Realizing the character I had stumbled across, I took the opportunity to ask him questions on the personal front. What was it that was driving him and what was it that was holding him back?

Justifications

I asked Himanshu why does he have to do what he does. I kept quiet soon after I asked the question. Himanshu though, had many answers in his mind, all of which he conveyed passionately. The very first thing he uttered was that he wanted to make his family proud. Being from a family where his father, mother, and brother, are in the construction business, he didn’t seem to have any lack of knowledge on how to run a business. It is because of them that he got the big push he needed to start off. He seemed to respect his family a lot.

He also added he wants to earn a lot of money because he believes in himself. “I want to really work very hard so that my future is bright”, Himanshu said. Entertainment is a field that isn’t ever going to die and so he was willing to give his blood and sweat for his business.

Apart from that Himanshu said they wanted to do things that haven’t been done before in India. They want to be the first to do it. As supporting material, he showed the video of a Tata Harrier ad which was shot with the help of Himanshu’s company. The background in the ad has the LED screen setup by Himanshu’s team.

Validations

Himanshu said he had very few friends. One working as a PR and the other running a travel company. One of his friends who works as a graphic designer has headed to Dubai and with his help, Himanshu is researching the market there so that he can invest there as well. All of them are childhood friends who stand by him as strong mental support. It seemed like Himanshu had surrounded himself with people who could foresee his dream or had one themselves.

Complaints

When I asked if Himanshu had any complaints, within the blink of an eye he said “God gives tough times to those who can hold it. Not the weak ones. I have absolutely no complaints. I am thankful to God”.

Materialism

Himanshu uttered the sweetest thing when I asked him what he would do when he accumulates a lot of wealth. He told he would take his Mom, Dad, Brother, and Grandma on a one-year world tour while passively continuing to earn.

During my stay in the very hostel, I got to meet another well-acclaimed yet humble character Eklavya Sen. To read about how at the age of 29 one could win 3 international and 9 national awards for short film making, head to this article.

Asutosh

I am a 31 year young PhD graduate who has decided to travel the length and breadth of India on my cycle, to document the journey of meeting a vast array of people. In my journey, I intend to understand the characteristic features of the people of this nation and categorize them based on their demographics, age, profession, gender, traditions, and cultural differences.