Yakarta, Indonesia – Manoj Punjabi, the most commercial successful film producer in Indonesia, has won numerous awards during a professional tension more than two decades.
But MD Entertainment’s multimillionaire founder and CEO does not doubt when he is asked to choose his most precious praise.
“He is the one I won for the best box office film at the Indonesian Box Office Movie Awards in 2016 because he was chosen by the spectators,” Punjabi told Al Jazeera in an interview at the MD Entertainment headquarters in Yakarta.
“Even if you won an Oscar, it would not be the same because that is chosen by a jury and not by the public.”
As the producer behind the most recaller Indonesian film of all time, Kkn gave a pennari, Punjabi is very aware that the results tell above everything else in the entertainment business.
At the same time, the 52 -year -old producer has developed a reputation for not shuning to assume risks.
Last year, Punjabi, the stem of a prominent Indian-Indonesian family with a long history of participation in television and cinema, did what could be seen as the surprising decision to acquire an 80 percent participation in the NET.TV of Indonesia for about $ 100 million.
For Punjabi’s own admission, the free air television channel, which has a market share of less than 1.5 percent, had “money” bone for years, accumulating losses of approximately $ 250 million during the previous decade.
Even so, he saw an opportunity on television in a world where entertainment options are increasingly dominated for services paid by transmission such as Netflix, HBO Max and Amazon Prime.
“First of all, Indonesians like to watch for free. Pagada television doesn’t work as well as other platforms, and is very segmented,” said Punjabi.
“With the open air, everyone has access.”
Punjabi said that the economic and logistics factors in Indonesia, an archipelago of some islands, have helped air television to remain popular in the country of Southeast Asia despite the increase in transmission services.
“In other countries, such as India, it has a system of floors with many people living in a building, so paid television becomes very cheap. Here, it is very dispersed. With the infrastructure we have, free television is very easily accessible,” he said.
“I thought that the outdoors was a market and a sunset platform, but in 2020, Duration Covid, I realized that there is still the outdoors and that people are seeing it. It is not a dying business, but a sunset business that accompanies the leg.”
James Guild, assistant professor at Indonesian Internal Universitas, or the International Islamic University of Indonesia (UIII), agreed that it is considerable potential for free television to expand.
“There are many places in Indonesia where people lack access to a good Wi-Fi or cannot pay the monthly subscription for a transmission service such as Vidio, or they can only pay limited data plans and cannot transmit much content.
“Ancient television is also a good business, [and] Certainly there is still money to sell advertising at free television stations in Indonesia, “Guild said.
In 2022, Punjabi made history when Kkn Di Desarii produced, which eclipsed Titanic to become the highest grossing film ever shown in Indonesian cinemas.
To date, it has also produced seven of the 20 highest grossing films in Indonesia and has been widely accredited to relive the interest in the gender of Indonesian horror.
Punjabi’s family began its entertainment business in Indonesia in the 1980s.
Remember to run home from school every day to be able to see raw images and without editing the films that your family was producing.
Punjabi’s grandfather emigrated to Indonesia after the partition of British India in 1947.
Like his father, he was born and grew up in Indonesia.
“I am Hindu, but I am a proud Indonesian with an Indian history,” he said.
But at the end of the 1980s, when Punjabi was 17 years old, everything collapsed.
There was “a family crisis,” said Punjabi, which turned out that his parents sell their home and “adjust their lifestyle.”
“I think my ambition came from that. I never wanted to be like that. Because you have a certain standard, and then you go down. You hurt and you feel it,” he said.
After the periods of cards working in a pulp and paper factory and a clothing factory, Punjabi founded MD Entertainment in 2002.
In 2024, he held the 34th position in the Forbes list of the 50 richest people in Indonesia, with an estimated net worth of more than $ 1.5 billion.
“When you are on that list, you feel a son of pressure, but in good sense,” said Punjabi.
“To be at that stage, you are grateful, but you must be harder, and that is exhausting. So that list makes me feel pressed that way, it motivates me to do better, and I hope it does not stop here.”
When asked about his legacy, Punjabi said he hopes MD Entertainment is still in a century and branches beyond Indonesia.
“How I am going to do it is still in process, but there is something iconic that I want to offer to the public, not only in Indonesia or Southeast Asia,” he said.
When it comes to sources of inspiration, Punjabi listed Titanic, Slumdog Millionaire, My Beautiful Life, The Dark Knight and Casino Royale among their favorite films.
“I am obsessed with James Bond and dies hard. I am a fan of the action, and those are the films I kept watching. I have seen James Bond’s movies from 50 to 70 times, particularly you only live twice and the octopus of the 1960s.
As for Net.TV., now I call television, Punjabi has ambitious plans to raise the quality of free television, which has the best historical reputation.
“I want to change the game in terms of how we tell stories, be it movies, soap operas or series,” he said.
Punjabi said that free television in Indonesia has a little lighting jacket, sets and locations, cliché narratives and hand -shaped products.
“I want to change the appearance and narration. People think that quality is decreasing, but with my concept, I hope you bring the public,” he said.
“That is my challenge, and I choose to accept it.”