Abhishek Dhandharia of About Films is the director of the PhysicsWallah television series, which bears the name of the startup and its affable founder and is scheduled to premiere in two to three months.
2022 has been successful so far for ed-tech startup Physics Wallah. The Noida-based ed-tech startup was India’s 101st unicorn as of June. That’s not all, though. In addition, Mumbai-based production company About Films was interested in PhysicsWallah for a six-episode web series about the startup and its CEO and founder Alakh Pandey’s journey.
In two to three months, the show—which bears the same name as the business and its charismatic founder—is anticipated to premiere, joining a slew of other television programs that also focus on startups and new-economy entrepreneurs.
Abhishek Dhandharia, an IIT-Kanpur graduate and the founder of About Films, is in charge of directing and producing the web series.
With just Rs 30,000 in funding and a YouTube channel, PhysicsWallah got its start in 2016. With a whiteboard, a smartphone mounted on a tripod, and a few books, Alakh set out to tutor JEE/NEET aspirants for free. His flamboyant teaching approach quickly gained popularity.
A mutual friend told me about Alakh Pandey and claimed that he was making successful YouTube videos.
As the director got to know Alakh better, he discovered that they shared a background in engineering in Kanpur.
Abhishek decided to forgo his campus placements at IIT-Kanpur in order to pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker in 2015, while Alakh was finishing his mechanical engineering degree at Harcourt Butler Technical University. That served as the catalyst for the creation of the web series.
Beginning of an OTT series
In March of last year, About Films contacted Alakh via video calls, during which the ed-tech pioneer discussed his life’s journey from his early years to the founding of PhysicsWallah.
Alakh’s unconventional teaching style, which draws lots of students and keeps them glued to his videos, turns out to be proof that he once had aspirations of becoming an actor.
The script for a six-episode web series was soon complete.
After contacting a number of actors to play the lead role, About Films ultimately decided on Shreedhar Dubey, who had previously appeared in the films “Masaan,” “Gangs of Wasseypur,” and 2020’s breakout hit “Paatal Lok.”
Toh mujhe laga ki koi mazaak kar raha hai, mujhe jab call aaya ki lead role hai. In his first movie, “Shudhra The Rising,” which was released in 2012, Shreedhar said, “(When I got the call to play the lead role, I thought someone was pulling a prank on me.)”
The name PhysicsWallah caught the actor’s attention, even though he was unaware of the production company or the director. He had seen his younger brother studying for the engineering entrance exams on the YouTube channel PhysicsWallah.
Shreedhar was chosen for the part after going through several rounds of script readings and video-based auditions with Abhishek and author Sameer Mishra.
In addition, the production company hired television performer Radha Bhatt to portray Alakh’s sister Aditi, a significant person in his life. She was the one to help Alakh up whenever he needed it, according to Abhishek.
Anurag Arora, who previously appeared in the Aamir Khan film Dangal, is also a member of the cast.
Each episode of the web series should air in two to three months and last 40 to 50 minutes.
No response to a survey sent to PhysicsWallah was received as of the time this story was published.
The ed-tech unicorn has established over 20 offline coaching classrooms, known as “Pathshalas,” across India with more than 10,000 students enrolled for the 2022–2023 session, diversifying from its online roots.
capturing the startup ecosystem on film
This year, a number of over-the-top (OTT) video streaming platforms have released a series tracing the ascent and fall of some of Silicon Valley’s most infamous businesspeople.
Among them is WeCrashed on Apple TV+, which is based on WeWork’s charismatic founder Adam Neumann, and The Dropout on DisneyPlus, which depicts Elizabeth Holmes’ rise to become the youngest self-made female billionaire and her ultimate fall.
Due to the sector’s success in capturing the interest of a young, aspirant middle class eager to ride the global wave of high-risk, high-reward entrepreneurship, OTT platforms have also given the Indian startup ecosystem a lot of attention.
The Viral Fever produced the comedy-drama TVF Pitchers in 2015, in which four friends quit their well-paying jobs to launch their own business. In the 2019 Netflix original film Upstarts, three friends launch a startup that delivers medications to underserved areas of India.
More recently, in December, a number of businesspeople participated as judges on the first season of Shark Tank India, including Vineeta Singh (founder and CEO of Sugar Cosmetics), Ashneer Grover (former MD of BharatPe), Anupam Mittal (founder and CEO of People Group), Ghazal Alagh (co-founder and CIO of Mamaearth), Aman Gupta (co-founder and CMO of boAt), Namita Thapar (ED of Emcure Pharmaceuticals), and Peyush Bansal (Founder and CEO, Lenskart)—participated as judges in the debut season of Shark Tank India.
In addition, a show about the massive e-commerce site Flipkart that is based on the book Big Billion Startup is in the scripting stages, a source close to the situation told YourStory under the condition of anonymity.
