What I love about our Bollywood Superheroes is that they have so many inspiring stories to tell. In fact, every time I talk to someone from behind the scenes who has played a major life in making a celebrity what they are, I only learn a thing or two from them. This week our superhero is talent consultant Mahak Brahmawar. An athlete-turned-talent consultant, Mahak has worked with the biggest of sports celebrities in the country, be it, Virat Kohli or KL Rahul. And now, she is the manager of actress Nargis Fakhri, it has been a decade already and Mahak has a trunk full of memories to share from her journey.
Talking about how she started her journey, Mahak shared…
I started my talent management journey in a reputed agency that handles India’s top cricketers including Virat Kohli. Being an athlete myself and having a deep passion for sports, the job profile was extremely exciting. With the huge acceptance for sport as a career in the last decade I always saw a great future in it. After working in the agency for 5 years, I began consulting celebrities independently and with OTT becoming larger than mainstream media, the future seems brighter than ever.
Mahak even shares the list of amazing celebrities she has worked with…
My first ever client was Virat Kohli. I have also represented KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Paralympic athlete Mrs. Deepa Malik amongst others. I worked on various brand endorsements and strategic partnerships for all these athletes. We worked on Virat’s logo – one8 which is the first ever logo of an athlete in India to be licensed to a headphone brand, sports apparel brand, innerwear brand and cafes. I led the project on selling the life story rights for Padmashri awardee Mrs. Deepa Malik who won the historical silver medal for India at the Paralympics in 2016 to Excel entertainment to make a biography. I took Nargis Fakhri to attend the New York fashion week in 2019 to support Asian deisgner Bibhu Mohapatra – that was special too.
Sharing what’s the most thrilling part of her job, Mahak says…
The most thrilling part about my job is to constantly keep looking out for strategic work opportunities ranging from films, songs, brand endorsements, events, and appearance for my talent. Always getting to meet such talented people from different industries and learning one new thing everyday keeps me on my toes and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Mahak even opines on how the game has changed today for Talent Consultants, she shares…
Back in the day all talent was being managed by agencies but nowadays celebrities are choosing to work outside of the agency and have just one business mananger who handles everything for them. These days we are constantly planning what must go up on social media which is an integral part of talent positioning. Even the amount of scripts that come to us have increased due to the OTT platforms – so many talented writers send us scripts which we constantly review which was not the case when the number of theatrical releases were limited back in the day. There’s literally no end of day – in todays time, work is always happening round the clock.
An advice that Mahak gives to those who aspire to be in this industry is…
Firstly, get to know your celebrity client well. What work do they wish to do, what roles would they want to play, what brands would they would like to endorse. Once you understand that, you must with your own experience, backed with knowledge, suggest what could be good for their positioning. You need to have a very deep understanding of the celebrities needs. Also, there’s a lot travel involved so ensure you enjoy that. Trust is the foundation of this business. In the end, everything is worth it.
It truly is worth it, if you have a spirit like Mahak who doesn’t give up but hustles through every day like a boss. Having said that, I wish Mahak all the very best in all her future endeavors.