An Interview with Tejas from ‘SHE’

Another day, another insightful session… 

On the 19th of August we were joined by none other than Tejas who has an enriched experience of more than 18 years that embodies choreography, event managing, film-making, performing arts among many others. His passion for creative arts makes him raise the bar with every endeavour and has enabled various artists to reach their audience.

One among many of his entrepreneurial ventures is ‘Shadowz one Dance Company’ which was not only founded by Tejes in 2003 but was also made one of the most sought after teams in the whole of South India performing for the best in the business like A R Rahman and Prabhudeva.

At SHE the aim is to make the entire process of production easier for the customer while creating visuals that capture the eye and seize the attention of their audiences.

 His Journey

Tejas found himself drawn to the world of dancing back in his college days when he along with his group of friends would spend their time dancing at one of the more popular dance clubs back then. His love for dancing led him to discontinue studying engineering and he began his choreography career in 2003.

While that lasted till 2010, Tejas reached out to explore the spaces of dance workshops and staging dance shows across various avenues. In 2018, he founded SHE that was predominantly focused on  live production. 

More about SHE

To personify his love for filmmaking, line production for feature films, ads, artist management and casting for feature films ads and web series, Tejas envisioned and founded SHE( Sanguine Holm Entertainment ) where he started working as a casting director and live producer for films and corporate videos since it was founded in 2018.

As someone who is a huge film buff, Tejas decided that there needed to be an artist/casting agency that was genuine towards their commitment in building artists and in helping them achieve their true potential while making good films in the process.

Today, apart from running SHE, Tejas also runs Shadowz one Dance Company where over 250 students are taught various dance forms. While a few years ago his focus was on training and performing, today he works towards teaching and helping young passionate dancers find their rhythm and style.

More about Artist management/ What makes SHE different?

From managing their films and public appearances, Tejas’ sole intention while creating SHE was to manage actors and artists in the south Indian film industry- while focusing on providing good quality artist management. Establishing a standard of professionalism is what he believes is the need of the hour and today plays the role of a mediator to bring directors the right budget while assisting the producers with the right film.

From managing line production such as scouting for locations, negotiating with artists, and everything else that needs coordination, SHE does it all. Exclusivity being their USP, SHE is one of the very few artist management companies of its kind in the country today.

How did the pandemic affect them?

Tejas is looking forward to starting back soon and is excited about working on some new projects and proposals. In the meantime, with most of their dancers not wanting to discontinue dancing, he has been conducting online dance classes and while the response is not nearly as good as the live sessions, it is the only option given the situation.

Apart from this, Tejas goes on to mention that a few members of his dance crew have decided to try out alternate career options while in the pursuit to stay afloat giving the sudden economic downfall.

While this makes him sad, he sees a positive outcome in terms of them being able to explore new avenues and earn a little more in the process. 

While the lockdown has been hard on everyone, Tejas is quick to point out that, this time has given us the chance to really appreciate the small things in life and not take anything for granted. The key is to stay positive and reinvent while making the most of what we have. 

When do you think the pandemic will be done? Have films started and when do you think things will resume?

Tejas hopes that by the beginning of 2021, most things should start back and that it is in developing herd immunity towards the virus that we will be able to come out of these distressing times..

While the impact of the pandemic is sure to continue into the next year, Tejas is confident that its consequences will be less adverse towards those suffering the most. 

Parting thoughts

“We are all going through it and personally without the support of my team I wouldn’t have come as far as I have today and am really appreciative of their consistent support and loyalty. 

As a community, we need to learn to co-exist and be optimistic about the future. It is a phase and we need to take it as a challenge. Do not let yourself get into a negative mindspace. Explore more positive ways of working on yourself rather than worrying about what is not in your control.”