Siddharth Tiwari, director of Ramayana-Mahabharat show, used to sell magazines: remained unemployed for 5 months in Mumbai, incurred a loss of Rs 1.5 crore in the very first show

Siddharth is the director-producer of big mythological shows. He is also the owner of Swastik Production House. He is known for shows like Mahabharat, Suryaputra Karna, Ram Siya Ke Luv Kush and Radha-Krishna.

Siddharth's father did not want him to become a director. There was a rift between the two regarding this matter for a long time. When I came to Mumbai, I faced problems of food and accommodation. Had to go around selling magazines to meet expenses. Initially no one expressed confidence that he could direct the show. When the first show was made, it suffered a loss of Rs 1.5 crore.

The story of Siddharth Tiwari's struggle, in his own words…

The family was against becoming a director
Starting the conversation from his childhood days, Siddharth said, 'I was born in a lower middle class family in Kolkata. Papa was a professor of accounts at St. Xavier's College. A family of 20-22 people lived together. Father was the only earning person in the house. So that no one lacked anything, he used to give tuition to children at home after college.

He fulfilled the needs of all four of us brothers, but only as much as was required. When I was young, I did not get new clothes every time. Used to wear only Uttaran.

I studied at St. Xavier's School. I was fascinated by films since childhood. My first dream was to become a director, but there was no permission to watch films in the family. From 7th onwards he used to skip class and go to watch movies.

At that time, working in the film industry was not considered good. My family also had the same thinking. When I told my father about becoming a director, he flatly refused. Even after his refusal, I could not distance myself from films. Still the biggest problem was how to reach Mumbai.

Then, using the pretext of studies, I took admission in Mass Communication in Symbiosis College, Pune. After doing my master's from here, I had to come to the city of dreams, Mumbai.

survived by borrowing from friends
The journey to Mumbai was full of struggle for Siddharth. During the most difficult phase of his life, he received neither emotional nor financial support from his family.

He said, 'Like other strugglers, I also faced problems in getting food and shelter here. Had to live with 4-5 people in a small room. If someone changed sides, he would end up on top of the other. The shortage was such that sometimes we had to borrow money from friends to eat.

Also worked in selling magazines
It is not easy to get work in a place like Mumbai. On this Siddharth said, 'While studying in college, I got a job in an ad agency, but when I reached there, they refused to give me the official letter. He was just ready to pay the salary. In such circumstances I refused to work.

For this reason I did not have a job when I came to Mumbai. Had to remain unemployed for 5 months. He would go from place to place asking for work, but would return with nothing. After a long struggle, he got a sales job in Business Today Magazine. My job here was to sell magazines. I left this job after 20 days because I just wanted to be a director.

After leaving the job here, I worked in an ad agency, which worked for Sony Max. Here I learned how to write a story. After working here for a year, I joined the advertising company J. Worked at Walter Thompson. Left this job also within 3 months.

Asked for money from dad, he did not give
'I joined the ad agency because I hoped that with its help I would reach the industry, but that did not happen. Then he went to many big production houses asking for the job of Assistant Director, but no one gave him the job. Everyone said that first show your work, only then you will get the fees.

During this time, I went back to Kolkata and demanded Rs 1.5 lakh from my father. Told him – Papa, give me this much money, with the help of this I will live in Mumbai and after working, I will show it to everyone, but Papa clearly refused. He believed that this field is not good at all and working in it is useless. As a father, his concern was justified, but I could not kill my dream.

Even after his refusal, I did not stop and came back to Mumbai. After some time, I got a job in marketing of Sony Max. Along with working here, I also used to write stories.

It was very difficult to write a story with an 8-hour job. Despite this I did this work. Had I stopped after getting tired at that time, I might have been left behind today.

When people did not support, he opened his own production house.
In 2007, Siddharth started Swastik Production House. Regarding this work he said, 'I never thought of opening a production house. I just wanted to work as a writer-director, but the same people who had earlier shown confidence in me took their steps back. People's rejection also tried to break me, but I did not break. This was the reason why I started a production house.

There was a loss of Rs 1.5 crore in the first show.
'After opening the production house, I visited the Sony TV office a lot. Prepared the entire show on one story. The actors were also locked, but no one knew whether the show would be made or not. Then the CEO of Sony TV asked to make a pilot. I also made it, after seeing which he agreed to do the show, but the question was who would fund it.

Then went out to the market. No one believed that I would make this show. The then owner of Sera Sera Company, Parag Sanvi came as the messiah and raised funding of Rs 2.5 crore. Then we made the show, but there was a lot of loss. There was a loss of about Rs 1.5 crore.

After this loss I learned to produce. Then after the success of 2-3 shows like Mata Ki Chowki, I was able to repay the money lost.

It took 5 years to make the Mahabharata show
The show Mahabharat was streamed on Star Plus from 2013-2014. This show got immense success. He says about this show, 'It took 5 years for this show to go on air. There came a time when I was not able to pay fees to people for six months. There was huge financial loss.

During the making of the show, such problems were faced that no one could even imagine. People thought that no newcomer could portray the story of Mahabharata on screen, but I believed that no one else could do this work better than me. Later I demonstrated this also.

When father was happy to see the work
On the relationship between him and his father, Siddharth said, 'Father was angry when I came into this field. The matter regarding the production house was also kept hidden from him. He came to the set of the show Mata Ki Chowki for the first time. He was very happy after seeing all the things and said – So you are doing this work. Well you are doing well.

After this father patted my back. This moment was really very emotional for me.

Lost mother at the age of 16
Siddharth also talked about the worst phase of his personal life. He told, 'When I was 16 years old, my mother died. At that moment I was completely broken. At that time, the feeling that mother would never come to me again was biting me.

The story of the show cannot be told without research.
A lot of care has to be taken in making a mythological show. Siddharth Tiwari says, 'We do not make any base without a story. Before weaving a story on any story, the team of researchers does complete research. Every scripture has different versions, we include the most popular version in the story. This is why there was never any controversy over the facts of our show.

My heartfelt wish is that the whole world should see the famous stories of our country. I am also working on this. I will make it film-like. I am sure the whole world will see it.