We believe that viewers don’t demand stories by genres: Vaibhav & Tabassum Modi

Victor Tango Entertainment, a content powerhouse with an impressive repertoire which spans across branded content, scripted series, non-scripted format shows and events, will soon be seen foraying into feature films. It is an award-winning brand that has an extensive slate of wins to its credit, including Asian Academy Creative Awards, Filmfare OTT Awards, EEMAX Global Awards, Wow Awards Asia and Global Event Awards. It has successfully showcased its expertise by disrupting the events, digital and broadcast space with quality innovations.

Named after the initials of the founders, Vaibhav Modi and Tabassum Modi, Victor Tango Entertainment has gone on to build profitable content businesses through live events, producing original content collaborations and adaptations of published works for screen. Some of their popular work includes shows like ‘It’s Not That Simple’ (Voot), ‘Times of Music’ (MX Player), ‘TVF Tripling’ (TVF), ‘Grilled’ (Fox Life), ‘Bekaaboo’ (ALTBalaji), ‘The Story’ (ZEE5), and ‘MTV Nishedh’ (MTV), among others. It recently launched ‘Mukhbir’, which is streaming on ZEE5.

In conversation with Adgully, Vaibhav Modi and Tabassum Modi, speak about the journey of Victor Tango Entertainment, the making of ‘Mukhbir - the Story of a Spy’, the importance of marketing and branding in creating awareness about the content, and more.

How has the journey of Victor Tango Entertainment been so far? What is its vision and USP?

Vaibhav Modi: Victor Tango has had a fruitful and impactful journey so far. We have created differentiated and quality content as per our benchmarks and have been lauded for being an efficient team that is spirited as well as dedicated. Our tally of awards speaks for themselves. Our vision has always been to be a studio ecosystem, irrespective of size. We want to be a magnet for good talent and back it up with our network in the business and effective execution. Our biggest USPs are:

1. a) We are equally passionate and skilled for scripted and unscripted content
2. b) Vaibhav being a writer-producer-lyricist-musician
3. c) Tabassum’s events and short films specialisation that completes the spectrum.

How has the year 2022 been for your company? 

Vaibhav Modi: The year 2022 will always be the most special for us because we delivered ‘Mukhbir - the Story of a Spy’ this year. It has been the most challenging creative and financial project for us ever and it has had everyone sit up and take notice. This year has made us believe that we are invincible and can do anything we set our eyes on. Apart from that, in terms of a pipeline, we are looking more robust than ever. 

What are the specific genre stories that are in demand the most by the viewers? 

Vaibhav Modi: We believe the viewers don’t demand stories by genres. They budget their time to be enthralled with something and it is the storyteller who has to find a story that resonates, entertains, impacts and hopefully makes them want more. 

What are the challenges faced while making content inspired by true incidents? 

Vaibhav Modi: Making content inspired by true incidents is a big responsibility. You need to be sensitive, authentic and yet make sense for the viewer to like it as an entertaining story. Then there are the legal and logistical challenges. You have to cover yourself adequately in terms of legal processes, ensuring you are not stepping on the toes of somebody, who may not have a direct relationship with the incident or person in question, and many more.

What were the challenges faced in the making of ‘Mukhbir’?

Vaibhav Modi: Despite not being a mega-budget show, ‘Mukhbir’ has a big canvas that spans through two countries and that too in another time-period. It has a geo-political and military background too. The biggest challenge was to ensure that the viewer doesn’t question the era and the authenticity. The next hurdle was managing the time from the point of view of artists, technicians, 140 set ups in 8-9 locations spread in 3 states, travel logistics and also weather. Our decisions on managing most of these paid off, but there were miscalculations also. 80 per cent of the show was shot outdoors and that makes it a double whammy for a producer. At the end of the day, what mattered was that we pulled it off as a team. All departments brought their A game to the table and ZEE5 supported us through all the trials and tribulations, which made things fall in place. 

How does branding and marketing help the creators to sustain in the long run? 

Tabassum Modi: In the clutter and noise of multiple content pieces and campaigns that release every day, irrespective of the quality of your story, it is undoubtedly the awareness about it that matters first of all. Marketing and branding get the horse to the stream and inspire it to take the first sip. It’s only after the sampling when the quality and potency of the story takes over. It is not all that simple or black and white though. Marketeers have a real tough time when the content doesn’t back the campaign.

What are the upcoming projects of Victor Tango? 

Tabassum Modi: We have a slate of some very exciting projects ahead of us. We have a couple of films as co-producers that we are going to announce soon. One of them has been developed in-house. There are 2 projects with OTT platforms that are closed and we are beginning to recruit technicians. There are a couple of stories we want to follow through with in the espionage and military history space after the way ‘Mukhbir’ has been accepted. We have also tied up with other entities for research to find stories that are rich and capable of making a difference. 

In today’s times, what are the challenges faced in the way of effective storytelling? 

Vaibhav Modi: Finding stories is the simplest part of the business. Finding the platform/ medium, an apt treatment, crewing it up and managing the execution with efficiency while creating a great audio-visual experience is where the challenges spring up.

Financial management might feel like a very non-creative function. but is equally important and takes a bit of doing.