Vishal Gondal has been a known personality in the Indian gaming circuit. Being the founder of ‘Indiagames’, one of the most noted gaming companies India has seen, he created a name for himself as a polished veteran in the industry. He departed from the Indian gaming scene in 2012 after Disney acquired Indiagames for $100 million.
Post Indiagames, he has been working towards his wearable, fitness brand, ‘Goqii’ and he showed interest in coming back to the gaming scene when we spoke to him last year. He was presiding over Mountain Dew’s esports venture, Dew Arena, as an advisor last year. However, nothing notable came from him in respect to the gaming scene but we can still expect something in that regard, he says.
However he is moving ahead with his personal project. Although it has almost nothing to do with gaming, the veteran’s comeback into the limelight is likely to be watched by many.
He has been blogging on his fitness brand, Goqii’s website and is now also hosting a podcast titled, Beneath the Force: The Vishal Gondal show, which is now acquired by one of the largest podcast companies of India, IVM Podcasts. The first episode of the show has been launched where he speaks to former UTV Group head, Ronnie Screwvala.
The description of the one and a half hour podcast reads, “With a career spanning decades in various fields from cable TV and movies to games and sports to philanthropy with ‘Swades Foundation’, it’s no surprise that Ronnie Screwvala’s life is extremely inspirational. In this episode, we deep dive into this media pioneer’s career, his learnings and what the future holds for him and Indian entertainment.”
According to the concept note of the project, “The show encapsulates the lives of successful and inspirational people. The in-depth profile is a show staple — a nuanced look at a personality on a bi-monthly basis, revealing the person’s workout regimen, their struggles, their habits, thoughts on their latest project and, if we’re lucky, some as yet unrevealed factoid to file away in our collective unconscious. Whether we want to be like them, be with them, or just find out what it feels like to try on a different persona for a while, ‘beneath the force ‘we’ll always be drawn to question and answers about other people’s lives.”
The next guest on the show would be Kuntal Joisher, the vegan, software engineer from Maharashtra who climbed Everest in 2015. The show plans to bring in notable people from all walks of life who share their inspirational stories in conversation with Gondal.
The project looks to tap into the minds of people who enjoy watching or reading in depth interviews, read biographies and books on famous people to understand their life and imbibe those aspects of their lives into their own or aim to be like these successful people someday.
It is quite a shift from Gondal’s gaming days, but it would be interesting to see how this goes!