Thirty-five-year-old Vinay Bharadwaj is a familiar face for Karnataka natives residing in South East Asia. It was Vinay who reconnected them with their Kannadiga culture in 2015, when he produced the show Mathu Kathe Vinay Jothe (Talk and Tales with Vinay) which used to air on a South-East Asian channel for NRIs. Three years later, Vinay is attempting something bigger. The Singapore-based producer and TV presenter, will be directing his first film Mundina Nildana (The Next Stop). “It is an urban love story with three characters who represent different segments of society,” he reveals.
Living outside the country didn’t mean Vinay forgot his roots. When he lost a loved one to cancer in 2015, the young man felt a sense of reparation towards people in Karnataka. “This incident changed my life completely. I started Let’s Talk with Vinay on YouTube to spread cancer awareness with inspiring stories,” says the producer who worked on a special series, he called Bangalore Edition. The idea was to put the best by citizens stories out there for the world to watch.
This list included names like Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, KL Rahul, Puneeth Rajkumar and Pankaj Advani. It’s been three years, and Vinay has produced several shows for Colors TV and Star Network with an aim to help NRI audiences stay connected to their roots. Next on his mind is a music and travel show on Karnataka. Right now, Vinay is busy with his feature film’s pre-production and has partnered with Mumbai-based Red Chillies Color. “They will be helping with post-production for a Kannada film for the first time,” he reveals.