A Step Ahead

Young entrepreneur Gaurav Gandhi, founder of Cinematic Spaces, talks about his latest venture with Realty Plus A Correspondent How did you begin your journey and what was the inspiration behind it? I started preparing for Chartered Accountancy post high school and believed that it was the way forward as I had secured the requisite marks in various examinations. I realised very soon that I wasn't doing it for the right reasons. I need to feel strongly and passionately for any work that I take up which is why I made the tough choice of opting out and taking up mass media while most of my friends carried on with the course. In hindsight it was one of the best decisions I've made as I was drawn towards the world of media and everything around it immediately. During the second and third year of the course I developed my skills at photography and film making and felt that architectural photography was a space I wanted to explore. Since reality stimulates my imagination more than fiction, this field appealed to me over the obvious choices ahead for a film maker. What is it that got you started towards working with Architects’? My family's venture Jaya Advertising, headed by my father Jaideep Gandhi services many real estate clients, one of them being Hiranandani. I started approaching them with my concepts. I credit Mr. Niranjan Hiranandani and Mr. Manish Gupta for providing me the best platform an architectural photographer could have asked for. It has been an incredible journey and I have been given a lot of support and encouragement by their team. I attribute my growth in the field to these two individuals as they have placed an unbelievable amount of faith in me. To be honest, that faith has been the driving factor to take Cinematic Spaces to where it is today. What is the USP of your website and product? Cinematic Spaces is an extended arm of Jaya Advertising which has a presence of over 40 years in the field of real estate advertising and that experience has been invaluable to us. It lends us a sales-driven perspective compared to others in the field. We offer photography, filming and virtual tours to our clients. We are now entering interactive media along with our tech partners 4dea (a startup incubated by IIT Gandhinagar) which aims at revolutionising the concept of virtual tours in real estate by incorporating audio-responsive techniques, inventory management systems, location assistance and other features. Please tell us something more about your project? We are looking to expand our work to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities by the end of this year and targeting international markets next year having already serviced Indigo properties in Dubai. We are in talks to collaborate with well-known international photographers for upcoming projects. How many people work with your brand today? We have a team of forty as of today which includes photographers, cinematographers, directors, retouchers, visualisers and animators At 21, how does it feel to be where you are in this market? I get overwhelmed once in a while but never get carried away. It feels surreal to be working with such big names but I quickly remind myself about the responsibility on my shoulders . At the end of the day people invest in the person, in his work; not his age. If I don't keep up and evolve then there will be someone else ready to take up the opportunity, which is why at Spaces we keep trying to reinvent ourselves. Could you name some of the leading people you have worked with? Hiranandani Developers, Evershine Group, Rustomjee, Lokhandwala, Regency, Chandak, Sheth Creators, Indigo Properties, Kabra Group, Raunak Developers. You spoke about the backing you received at Hiranandani group. Could you let us know more about your equation with them? Hiranandani was my first client and that's never going to change. They have backed me to the hilt. I was taken aback by the assistance provided to me and it has been that way since day 1. I would like to credit my success to Mr. Manish Gupta from the group. It's not easy to do justice to beauty. This journey with them has taught us how to do so. Would you like to share anything else about you and your company with our Reader? It feels great to have learned from an institution like KC College as it has widened my horizons and actually given me my team without whom this wouldn't have been possible.