Production Assistant and Video Editor Jayanth Rajshekhar went from intern to freelancer to full-time employee at Meesho, all thanks to his creativity and hard work
Jayanth Rajshekhar is among those rare talents who shine bright equally behind and in front of the camera. A fervent lover of cinema, he brings in his passion for cinematography in his work as a Production Assistant and Video Editor of Meesho’s User Growth team. He also auditions for every acting role he can, be it tv shows or movies, with the full support of his teammates and managers.
“I have given ’n’ number of auditions that led nowhere, but such is the life of every budding actor,” quips Jayanth. This Christ College graduate who pursued a triple degree in Communication Media, Literature and Psychology, began his tryst with Meesho, during the second year of college.
“I joined Meesho as an intern in April 2018 along with a college friend — the first time around — and felt an instant chemistry with the Branding team. I gelled so well with my teammates and my manager Umesh [BM; Art Director] and work was seamless. It went so well, in fact, that we kept in touch, and I came back for my second internship in October of the same year here,” reveals Jayanth. He recalls how the second internship is what sealed the deal for both Umesh and him. They knew Jayanth would be a great fit as a full-time employee as well.
When the timing is right
“During my second internship, the team was making ads 24X7. We were making and releasing 10–15 second ads every single day, and this included both shooting and editing. But we pulled it off. I worked as hard as all the full-time employees did to pull it off amid all the chaos. We did it with ease and grace, if I do say so myself. This was during the Diwali sales period, and when my internship was over, both Umesh and the then head of the Branding team, Malvika Tegta, insisted that I come back to Meesho after I graduate from college,” Jayanth narrates.
But Jayanth’s time off from Meesho did not last that long. While he was still pursuing his degree, he would take up freelance projects assigned by Umesh especially those involving multi-camera shoots. So, when the team had an urgent requirement for a full time employee matching his profile, Jayanth did not think twice about joining Meesho. Within two days of finishing his final year exams, he signed on as a Meeshoite in April 2019.
Jayanth says, “I was hired as a Production Assistant and Video Editor with virtually no break. But, there was a major project going on at the time, and I did not want to hinder or delay the work. So, it wasn’t until two months after joining, that I took a week-long leave to celebrate the end of my student years.”
Channeling passion into work
As the person in charge of shooting videos, a large chunk of my job — at least pre-Covid — involved travelling all over the country. “Some of my greatest experiences at Meesho involve the Mission Rise Women Entrepreneur Summits. This is where you get to see the impact Meesho is creating in the lives of entrepreneurs firsthand. I have seen many women who were relegated to domestic responsibilities talking about finding their own identity after becoming entrepreneurs. Meesho enables them to become financially independent. When they are recognised for their hard work at these Mission Rise events they often talk about how they had never before won an award or been on a stage. When I record their stories, I can’t help but get emotional,” says Jayanth, adding how listening to them speak helps him realise that he is not just working to make ends meet. He is content knowing that he is part of something bigger than himself.
These Mission Rise events also played a huge part in helping Jayanth explore his creativity. “I am known in my team for doing things outside the box, and while shooting Mission Rise, I got to truly bring in my unique style of editing… one might say I brought in a cinematic flare. One of my dreams is to become a cinematographer, and working at Mission Rise felt like a free course in cinematography for me,” says Jayanth.
He adds, “Having the right equipment at a dynamic event like Mission Rise was the perfect combination to practice my skills. I would reach a few hours prior to the event and walk around looking for the perfect angles and deciding the course of the video. I learned how to make up in editing when I miss crucial shots. I learned so much about video making while shooting for Mission Rise. Those videos are my proudest achievements at Meesho.”
A team that slays together
WeHearYou videos, (where Meesho leaders talk about all the latest innovations and improvements made to the app based on entrepreneur feedback) that are published towards the end of every month is another challenge that Jayanth loves tackling with his teammates. Produced on a very tight deadline, WeHearYou invariably makes the last three days of every month hectic for the branding team. He reminisces, “When we were working out of office, I remember staying there till about late into the nights and next early mornings during this period. Of course, it was teamwork. So we would divide the work and wrap it up.”
We have always been a democratic team,” he says, explaining how even though his responsibility lies in creating videos, he would be privy to all branding pitch meetings. He would give his suggestions during these meetings, as did everyone else and the best inputs would be incorporated. “Our meetings last up to 2 hours, because we don’t shortchange creativity for anything else. It is a very friendly space and I felt like I could approach my manager whenever I faced any issues. It was far from what I pictured an office to be, when I first joined,” admits Jayanth.
When improv is your middle name
“I remember when the lockdown ensued, our team’s work needed a total digital revamp. With the scope of shooting suddenly disappearing and all the videos — including WeHearYou clips from the leaders — came to us pre-recorded and my primary focus shifted to editing. And so, with the help of Satish [Kumar KP; Senior Video Editor] and Umesh, we started incorporating more graphics, motion graphics, and text animations to make our videos pop,” reveals Jayanth.
Beyond this the team had to take the Mission Rise events online in a matter of weeks. Mission Rise Connect was strategised and ideated by the branding team to ensure that entrepreneurs had the best possible experience. Jayanth adds, “On a personal front, the post-production workload was unprecedented in the beginning. Currently, we do these events language-specific, but during the first two seasons, we held pan-India events which needed subtitles in various major Indian languages while posting the video. But as always, we pulled through.”
The lockdown also gave the theatre-trained artist the opportunity to hone his skills. “On the day that Meesho announced work from home, I had a pretty major shoulder surgery. While recovering I was not equipped to do much, and so I started making short, funny videos for social media, and I started getting a lot of encouragement,” he says, adding how his father used to be an actor, who has worked with the Kannada filmstar Shivaraj Kumar. The limitations of not being familiar with the language had stopped him from greatness. Jayanth’s paternal grandfather was a director in the 60s and 70s.
An embodiment of perseverance, Janath, who auditions for as many projects as he can, was chosen to be a part of 10–15 projects in the recent past, out of which only one completed production. “I had signed up for a feature film back in 2019 but because of the pandemic production stopped. I keep on attending auditions regardless of whether I get it because I feel like this will be my origin story. I do have a project I am excited about, a web series for Amazon Prime which will start shooting soon,” he gushes.
If you haven’t seen Jayanth’s acting chops yet, do yourself a favour and visit his Instagram page right away. His passion for cinema is evident in the videos that he shoots, edits and acts in, and all his fellow Meeshoites are unanimously rooting for him.
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