Adgully Exclusive | There is nobody to do what we are doing and this is the space: Prasad Ajgaonkar

Let's take a typical client-agency setting. The client hires an agency for its creative needs and wants the agency to come up with eye capturing and radical ideas to keep the consumer engagement at the highest. The top bosses and the best creative brains get down to their sheets of paper and start scribbling till they think they have designed what could be a solution for that client. The pressure is huge, as every client wants as interesting concepts as one could, well, not even think of! That's what the agencies are there for anyway.

But then, once the creative concept is approved and submitted, a lot of times, its integration with technology fails to be called a perfect marriage. The technological inadequacies, at times, lead to the entire product becoming a mess and the once brilliant concept is left standing as not-so-brilliant anymore. This is where the need for a company with technology as well as creative capabilities is called for. And companies like Interactive Realities fill this void.

"There is nobody to do what we are doing and this is the space that we are trying to fill in. There is no medium as the internet as it is one medium where every individual can be tracked. Internet is becoming a very transparent medium you cannot give any fancy story to the client to sell the idea. We are partnering with giants, as they need a partner who can handle everything like graphics, animations, very high end of technology; provide post production facility, internet and social media. We have an experience of 14 years of pure digital technology. The communication on a digital platform is our strength," said Prasad Ajgaonkar, Founder, Interactive Realities in an exclusive conversation with Adgully.

The last time Prasad Ajgaonkar updated his resume was in 1992 when he was a part of Dataline & Research Technologies in its network admin department. His fascination with computers started at a tender age of 15. But even an 8 year old is hitting the keyboard in today's times, you'd say. We're talking about 1984, now try and imagine the picture. Ajgaonkar was always an IT freak and once he got introduced to programming graphics, he couldn't imagine anything without a user interface and designed and developed probably the first commercial multimedia application and a large video database in 1994.

Ajgaonkar was always modest at academics and hated languages and History (apart from WW 1 and 2). He was chiefly driven towards Mathematics and Physics ' the very subjects that perhaps laid foundation for his inclination towards computers ' and the fact that he always had a creative mind helped beyond measure. "If you start applying common sense then everything is simple. If we don't add cliché to anything then we can do everything very easily," he said.

Having started his career in the space of online news gathering of the stock market, Ajgaonkar believes that technology is for the people. Making a point with an ever-smiling expression on his face, Ajgaonkar said, "It should be useful and not like those artists who say they paint for themselves. If that is the case then paint and keep it in your bathroom, why do you keep exhibitions."

Ajgaonkar carries a strong belief and walks the path of the US technological road. He says Indian publications are like a PR activity, hence he sticks to international technology publications. He elaborates, "Today we are called as "classic entrepreneurs', which is not good. It is like a classic car which you put in the garage and keep it and clean it everyday. Which means a classic entrepreneur is a guy who can't write a business plan which I keep listening where ever I go."

Ajgaonkar launched his company, initially called Nostradamus Vision, but later changed to Interactive Realities, all with a modest sum of money. "It was always difficult to convince the clients but still I will tell you that the clients at the era were more adventurous than they are now," he said, recognizing the fact that the human dynamism is diminishing somewhat.

His initial struggle in the corporate structure also proved as challenging platforms to prove his mettle. Sharing the details of his initial assignments, he said, "The first CD Rom that I did was for a tourism data base, 150 locations around India and videos of the hotels, information about those places and what to see in that place and one CD Rom used to cost 15,000 rupees and we sold. The second one was called "Rasoi' with recipes which was a big success. Later we did a blockbuster called "Kamasutra' with Rakhi Sawant, which was her first appearance ever on video."

Ajgaonkar, although treats all the projects like his babies, ensures that once the project is delivered to the client, he moves out of the mental connection he develops with the assignments. "I believe that we can or should never get attached to history," he justifies.

Speaking about the most defining changes that have happened in the world of technology, he said, "One is Internet and more than technology change it is economics. It affordability and the accessibility of the internet is mind blowing. Today a person can operate internet through his mobile and that is the biggest change that I have seen. The second is the advent of mobile telephone, through which we are connected all the time."

It was an eye opener of a meeting with Ajgaonkar and was immense fun to gain valuable insights about the world of graphics and animation ' a domain still in its early days in India. Adgully thanks him for his time and wishes him luck in all his endeavours.