Photographer and celebrity manager atul kasbekar gives tips on the tricky business of handling stars, as well as their endorsements, tantrums and controversies
Photographer and celebrity manager atul kasbekar gives tips on the tricky business of handling stars, as well as their endorsements, tantrums and controversies
Atul Kasbekar might have begun as a star photographer, but today, he manages a host of celebrities through his firm Bling. From handling celebrity endorsements to advising them on how to project their image and tackle controversies, Atul handholds his clients through their public lives.
No wonder then that he includes stars Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapur, Sonam Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Konkana Sensharma, Irrfan Khan, Arjun Rampal, Jacqueline Fernandes, cricketers Zaheer Khan and Jonty Rhodes and models Monikangana Dutta and Sahil Shroff. Here Atul lets us in on the secrets of managing a celebrity:u00a0
Juggle your roles
You need to be a cross between a great white shark, a zen monk, court jester, Mother Teresa, a shoulder to cry on and a financial whiz. You change your hat depending on the situation.
Never switch off your phone
Your phone is never off neither mine, nor the agents that work with me. If we're on a flight, the call will be diverted for those two or nine hours. Your celebrity should always, always, always be able to reach you. Machines work for me my agents have no life! I tell them, 'Join me, we'll take good care of you. But I expect you to be super hardworking and intensely loyal.'
Build contacts Everywhere
Access. You have to continually build access in the most remote or bizarre areas. For example, when you're at a hotel, it's standard operating procedure for the agents to meet everyone from the GM to the front office manager, take their cards so that the next time you're at that hotel, if you need something, you know whom to contact.
Stars have quirks and you have to deal with that so you need to have access to all kinds of people to make the star's life easier. Cops, customs, real estate agentsu00e2u0080u00a6 you have to build contacts literally everywhere.
Have visions that match
Across the board, surround yourself with good, decent human beings. Our clients recognise what we do and value it that much more. Building a relationship and sustaining that is an art form. We routinely say no to celebrities if we feel our visions don't match.
Only six brands per star
When we marry a brand, it's not a one-night stand, it's a relationship. We always tell our clients to not feel like they've done a favour to the brand by taking their money.
If the brand fit doesn't work, we will walk away. With all our clients, we've capped their endorsements at six so that there's longevity and you don't run the risk of overexposure.
Then you don't give value to the brand. If the commercial doesn't look good, you don't look good. We don't let them sign a seventh. You don't have time for more. Tiger Woods and Roger Federer don't endorse more than four brands; it's not like they can't do 14.
Most controversies are blown out of proportion
It's interesting that you spend so much time making someone famous and then you have to do damage control! Ninety-nine out of 100 controversies are blown out of proportion.
u00a0
But we vet our stars' lines so the media can't take a line out of context. If they're going to a function, we check what they're going to say, cancel out lines or ask them to stick to something. We look at everything; their jewellery, their clothes. We have a bank of six designers with us.u00a0u00a0
Don't push your star
If a celebrity is upset about something, you have to assure them that you can sort it out. One of our stars was once offered a prohibitive sum of money to perform for New Year's.
The star said, 'I was planning to spend this time with my family and take them on vacation.' So we told the client that it wouldn't work.
u00a0
I'm willing to wager that 99 per cent managers would tell their client to do the performance, change in the car on the way to the airport and upgrade your family's stay to the presidential suite. Have the time of your life, plus money in your bank. But for us, once you've said no, it's no. At one level, you need to prioritise what's important and we're happy to comply.
Keep an eye out for brands that fit
We routinely contact brands that we think would fit our clients. We're very proactive. We have a one-line tagline for our celebrities. We need to be a bit of a Nostradamus so that we can tell our clients what the future holds. We pitched for Sonam (Kapoor) for Oreal. We said, 'Check her out, she's stunningly beautiful. Here's an opportunity for you to lock her in early when she's not taken over by so many brands.'
Real life images can help correspond to their brands Abhay Deol shows that he's a unique slot by himself. It looks like he wants to tread his own path. People respect that. I find him genuinely interesting. He has a fabulous sense of humour, is a decent, honest, hardworking guy and is effortlessly cool. He's refreshingly wonderful. He's a responsible rebel that's a great, unique space. He has a huge following in a sub-30 level.
Build your brand... even if you're a private person
Greta Garbo never signed Pepsi. If you've signed with us, we'd like you to reach your maximum financial potential and build your brand. We see ourselves as brand managers. If you don't want to make any money outside of your films, then we shouldn't be talking.
Koko (Konkana Sensharma) is painfully shy and private. She's a real person with so much credibility that brands see that. I see a lot of potential in her and we've closed a few things. She's enjoying the process now.
Be a super patient bulldog
The one thing that helped me manage peopleu00e2u0080u00a6 patience. You have a conversation with a brand and sometimes it fructifies six months later. You just have to be a super patient bulldog or a terrier. I also enjoy people. But that's a natural trait, not an acquired skill.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
