“The course was perfect… It was exactly what I was looking for, and gave me all the skills I needed at the time.”
Be persistent and consistent.
That’s the advice of a BU graduate who now works for India’s largest media conglomerate.
After graduating with an MA in Broadcast and Film Management from BU, Vidyut Patra has worked with some of the leading companies and brands in India’s media and entertainment industries.
He is now Vice President for the Content Studio at Worldwide Media, the magazine group of Times of India – India’s largest media conglomerate.
“We have home-grown brands, as well as international brands like Hello, Grazia, Top Gear, Lonely Planet and some of the BBC brands that we represent in India,” said Vidyut.
“I am spearheading these brands as they foray from traditional magazine into video content. We’re creating a lot of web series, television shows, pivoting the business towards creating a lot of video content, rather than being restricted to a magazine brand.
“That is the business I am leading at the moment, setting up an entire content studio that looks after all this for them. It is a lot of work, but I am enjoying it.”
Vidyut came to BU from his home town of Pune, in India.
“At that time, back in India, there weren’t any courses that specialised in broadcast and film management, and I think this course was perfect,” he said.
“I think it gave us insights into the business side of how things worked, but also helped us to tap into the creative side. It was exactly what I was looking for, and gave me all the skills I needed at the time, and allowed me to get back into the workforce.”
He added that the exposure to cultures from around the world was one of the things he enjoyed most about his time at BU.
“You suddenly realise that your way of doing things isn’t the only way to do things, things that are considered wrong in your context is right in a lot of the rest of the world, and vice versa," he said.
“So your definition of wrong and right changes depending on how you see things and you become a lot less judgemental, which I think is really good.
“There were about 200 of us from around 70 different countries and just being in the midst of so many people from different backgrounds, being able to understand them and socialise with them, hang out with them - I think that was the best memory I have going back, that is the one memory that stays with me and I look back on fondly.”
After graduating from BU in 2005, Vidyut returned to India, working with brands at several prominent television channels, including MTV, before heading up India’s largest radio station Red FM.
He has also remained connected with BU, returning to Talbot Campus to meet with staff and students alongside participating in last year’s Global Festival of Learning in India.
“I was a part of a few sessions in Delhi that they organised,” he said. “It was extremely enriching, I got to meet alumni who I had not connected with for a very long time, not just from my batch but from other batches too. I think that was integral in setting up the alumni network that now exists in India.”
His advice for those wishing to follow his career path is to be persistent, consistent and keep working on your skills.
“Be consistent with what you are doing and be persistent, do your job well,” he said.
“I think today we are getting to a stage where the margin for error is going down, so you have to be on top of your skill, and keep upskilling yourself, even when you are out of the university.
“A lot of your career becomes self-learning, so you have to be motivated to do it on your own, and if not on your own then get back and do a short course, or something like that, get people alongside you, don’t stand still but keep pushing yourself and believing in yourself.”
Find out more about postgraduate courses in Media and Communication at BU