AVGC industry veteran Biren Ghose marks an impressive 15 years with Technicolor India, a milestone that reflects his dedication and transformative contributions to the industry. It is a significant moment, not just for him, but also for Technicolor Group since the company celebrates its 110th anniversary next year.
In celebration of these milestones, we sit down with Ghose, the managing director – Asia Pacific at Technicolor Group, to discuss his journey, the evolution of the AVGC landscape, and his vision for the future as he continues to drive innovation and growth across the sector.
15 Years at Technicolor. Congratulations! What are your overall thoughts and reactions to this moment?
Thank you! Technicolor has been a pioneer in the entertainment industry, from revolutionising colour technology to being a leader in visual effects and animation. One of our proudest milestones was bringing VFX to India, establishing a strong presence here, and building an incredibly talented and creative team.
Reflecting on the last 15 years, it’s clear that the success of Technicolor India is due to our team’s innovative spirit and dedication. It’s been a privilege to be part of that journey, working alongside such passionate professionals who push the boundaries of creativity every day.
How will the next phase be different? What’s the plan?
Technicolor has always been at the forefront of creative excellence, and the next phase will be no different. Our focus will remain on driving innovation and expanding our capabilities to meet the evolving needs of our clients and industry.
With the constant advancements, we will continue to explore new technologies and processes to ensure we stay ahead. The key to our success is our people – our creative teams in India have been instrumental in shaping our global reputation, and as we look to the future, they’ll play an even more critical role in our growth and evolution.
What is this moment in time for you? How do you view this 15-year milestone?
Time is a tool – not a bench to sit on! Like all toolsets we need to use it differently. We see time differently when there are crunch deadlines for delivery versus other times to develop new ideas and solutions for new shows or new processes.
There are times to step on the accelerator and times to pause in line with global corrections. In 2020, and then again in 2023, we have seen how time needs different modulation when external factors cause “time warps,” and we need to use timing across various actions as one would a range of different tools to ensure our actions emphasise resilience when required through the regulation of our resources always keeping an eye out and our capacities primed for the next phase of growth.
Every choice we make with time is a celebration of what we want our world to be. 2025 will be a great year for retooling as new technology, new models, and new doors open to extend our business of creative imagery to new vistas of consumer experiences.
Right: Biren Ghose with Priyank Kharge – Minister of ITBT, Karnataka at Bengaluru GAFX 2024
As a multifaceted person involved in many facets of the arts and with so many hobbies, how will this milestone be celebrated?
While this is a personal milestone, it’s really a celebration of the achievements of the entire Technicolor India team. Our success comes from the collective efforts of everyone who has contributed to our growth over the years. We’ll mark this occasion by continuing to push the limits of creativity and innovation, keeping our focus on what has always made us successful, our pioneering spirit, our commitment to quality, and our incredible team.
As we look to the future, we are excited about the new opportunities that lie ahead and the possibilities to further cement our place as a leader in the global entertainment industry.
Can you recall some moments or milestones of what you and the team have been working on that truly made you feel special? What are those “Wow” moments? What were the hits and blockbusters?
That is such an impossible task. It is a long list, but I will try and cherry pick what comes to me at random.
When it comes to animation, the incredible Kung Fu Panda, the quirky line up characters in the Penguins of Madagascar (with the inimitable King Julien as one of my favourite characters), the edgy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the iconic Mickey and Minnie Mouse (just working on the “mouse” – the most valuable property of all time is a huge honour) – all these have been an amazing journey. Audience and client reactions make it even more special.
In recent years Boss Baby, Star Trek, Fast and Furious (in animation) and Rugrats are some titles which give our animators a thrilling high at making those most complex shows with great acting performance. And that’s just a sample from the incredible legacy of Mikros Animation titles.
When it comes to VFX, from our early work on Robin Hood, three of the last few Harry Potters [the others were worked on before the India studio started], Sherlock Holmes and Pirates of the Caribbean are some of the early day movies and the Oscar winners Life of Pi, Disney’s The Jungle Book and 1917 were obviously close to our hearts. Equally iconic, as anyone will confirm, was Disney’s The Lion King [look out for Disney’s Mufasa this year] and of course, the legendary OO7 movie Skyfall, Godzilla, Elvis and literally dozens of others. Who gets to work on all those biggies! It has been a pure pleasure to lead the company in India that gets to take talent to world class levels based on working all these wonderful blockbusters.
Besides VFX and animation you also have teams working on games, advertising and XR content. What are some of your memories from those genres?
Our games art has garnered huge accolades and eyeballs given the nature of the games industry. The iconic work of our teams encompasses the greatest console AAA titles of all time – Assassins Creed, Call of Duty (where we produced over five titles) and EA’s FIFA (which we have produced annually for over 15 years), Hitman, and Grand Theft Auto 5 (the biggest revenue earner of any title in the history of entertainment) are just some of the privileges our teams have been fortunate to work on being the best in class creative artists for games.
Perhaps the most prolific work we are engaged in are the hundreds of short-form brand experiences content which we produce every year at The Mill for the world’s biggest brands. Some of our work for Burberry, Hennessy, Marks and Spencer, BMW, Visa, Samsung, Mercedes Benz, Google and Dior and many other of the Fortune 500 are indelible as campaigns, which were game changers for the brands and the cherry on the cake were those massive annual victories across almost every award there is in the industry.
Above all these short films delivered value to the clients and warmed the hearts of their consumers while giving great joy to our creative and production teams.
I know this has gone on to be lengthy recollection, but may I assure you this is really like a very short summary of my quick picks across the body of work we have left in our wake while becoming the world’s largest multi-disciplinary studio in our chosen fields of service.
Nothing is more successful than success and we created a self-fulfilling success dynamic where every great delivery gave us the entre into the next one!
Can you share some personal moments that stand out for you in this period?
There are so many lightbulb moments, and I am going to give you a few that are “off the cuff” and may not be ranked in any order of magnitude or which one is more important than the other! Here they are:
Being awarded the National Order of Merit by the President of France for my contributions to the France-India bridge building in the entertainment arts.
- Being invited to be a member of the Customer Advisory Board for HP for APAC and connecting on future thought across technologies with over a dozen other CXOs from 12 countries meeting twice a year for a few years,
- Leading ABAI and the Government of Karnataka to launch India’s first AVGC [Animation VFX Games and Comics] policy (now in its third version). As an offshoot of this policy to have ideated and executed the setting up of the first COE [center of excellence] for our industry in Bengaluru (now in its version 2),
- Building world class talent exceeding 7000 employees at peak at Technicolor India and delivering the most complex shows to the world’s biggest clients and studios
- Launching Bengaluru GAFX and making it one of the bigger events in the state across conferences, competitions, masterclasses and networking (bringing the world’s luminaries to connect with and inspire creative talent locally),
- Becoming the chairman for the AVGC – XR committee at CII and co-chairing the National Committee for Media & Entertainment including making CII Summit FX [which I chaired and launched in 2020]- a key event in advancing the dialogue between government industry and academia,
- Being selected as one of the seven industry members of India’s Task Force to by the central government’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to create the National AVGC policy [awaiting cabinet approval] and being invited to be the pro bono interim CEO for the setting up of the incubation phase of the National Centre of Excellence for AVGC already approved by cabinet,
- Being invited to be a part of the Global Executive Committee of Technicolor since 2021 and subsequently expanding my role from the country head in India to the role of managing director – Asia-Pacific.
Any last words – beyond the 15th anniversary?
As we look beyond this 15-year milestone, I’m excited about what lies ahead for Technicolor Group. The company’s success has always been built on innovation, teamwork, and a shared commitment to excellence. Technicolor is more than just a place of work – it’s a place where creativity thrives, and where people collaborate to push boundaries and achieve remarkable things. This is what makes it such a special place to be, and why I’ve been proud to be a part of this journey for 15 years.
Our future will be shaped by creating new operating models that drive excellence, and this means aligning our culture, focusing on talent, and leveraging the latest technologies. I’m incredibly proud of the depth of talent we have here, from our leaders to the teams delivering world-class visual experiences every day. Our global colleagues, amazing clients, and innovative partners have all contributed to our success, and I’m grateful for their continued collaboration.
It’s this environment of collaboration and innovation that makes Technicolor such a great place to work, and why I’ve stayed with the company for so long. I’m excited to see where the next phase of our journey takes us.
Thank you for this conversation, and here’s to the years ahead!