The Wedding Professionals Podcast Episode 17 - Innovation, Ambition, and Racism: A candid discussion as Tejinder Singh returns!

Ever wondered how a side hustle can transform into a full-scale business? It's an electrifying journey that Tejinder Singh, the co-founder of Punjab 2000, walks us through. We explore the origin of Punjab 2000, how a striking logo and a dedicated team helped the venture make its mark at global events. We also delve into their foray into the wedding industry, and how they navigated the challenges of turning a passion into a full-time calling.

Life doesn't come without its fair share of risks and rewards. For Tejinder, a significant gamble was transitioning to DSLR cameras for wedding videography. We share the highs and lows of this decision, discussing the impact on the business and the balancing act between family commitments and a thriving enterprise. Our conversation takes a personal turn when we highlight Tejinder's fight against racism, his efforts to promote equal rights and career progression during his tenure at the council.

The episode concludes with a look at the broader landscape of the wedding industry. We discuss the revolutionary impact of Manny Pabla on wedding films and share insights on how the pandemic has redefined the industry. We shed light on the bonds Tejinder forged with families in the industry and his ambitious plans for a community Sikh bank - an initiative that promises to be a game-changer. Join us for a candid conversation filled with perseverance, innovation, and ambition, providing a unique perspective on the wedding industry and the fight against racism.

Transcript

Andy: 0:01

Hello and welcome along. It's Andy and you're host on this hero podcast. And welcome to part two with Punjab 2000's Tej Singh, and we covered an awful lot of ground last week, and I think this week's material is just as interesting, if not more, so sit back, enjoy. Thank you very much. And yeah, here he is, big man himself, tej Singh.

Andy: 0:31

Those double-sided weddings always puzzle me, apart from anything else, and I've said this, I've done said this on the podcast, but I've said it. Yeah, I've said this a lot. 20 years down the line, when that couple come to watch their wedding film and they've got two films, and they've got one from the bride side, one from the group one of those films is just, they're gonna sit there and think why Earth did we waste our money on this? Because one of them can't fail to be better than the other, can it? You know what I mean? It's I never understood the mentality of the two-team idea.

Tejinder: 1:06

I think it was more to do with each family wanting more personal photos and video of themselves, just themselves. Okay, so it's more focused on them. Yeah, and that used to work for them. Yeah, but for us he was a headache, because sometimes the light from the other side would be so bright you'd have to change your settings and everything and and sometimes I'd flash it into your eyes just to make sure you miss the scene, or, yeah, there's lots of city things that definitely used to be, and so, tony, you and Tony are still partners up through this.

Tejinder: 1:52

Yeah, so I mean Tony partners in terms of the shop, the music and everything, the website. He was always at the forefront. Yeah, I always stayed in the background. Okay, I would do the technical stuff with the website, with the data and everything, so that was my responsibility. Yeah, then, taking photos at events, he used to do that quite a lot and if I was available then I'd join him and we'd do that and we started slowly filming the events as well yeah and we've got lots of old footage from those days.

Tejinder: 2:26

One day I'll have to get it all out and you really should digitize it all and get it out there. We've got some amazing content from those days, yeah. But yeah, so, tony, we set up a team. Basically it was just friends, tony's friends, my friends, and that was Punjab 2000. Basically, yeah, we set up t-shirts, the famous Punjab 2000 t-shirts that no one else has those. You can't have that because he used to allow you entry to any event okay.

Tejinder: 3:00

So yeah, that that t-shirt would take you up and down anywhere so that was the equivalent of having a backstage past level yeah, we used to have a friend of ours called Kushity and he used to run Kushity nights and Kushity gigs, so he used to drop off the flyers, and that's where it all really started. I thought, tony, why don't we promote those flyers on our website as well in exchange?

Tejinder: 3:30

you know, we'll put our logo on there and we'll put posted on our page yeah that's where Punjab 2000 started getting known basically worldwide, especially in India and America, australia, europe as well now. So it's basically known worldwide because of the logo. The logo was created by a friend of Tony Dinks. Okay, back in the day he was a graphic designer, so we were thinking what should we do? Come back to the name in a minute and because Dinks can do it and he designed this logo, and that logo and the colors have stayed evergreen since then.

Tejinder: 4:11

It's all friends and friends and friends exactly and it's basically stems from Tony and his friends friends electric.

Andy: 4:18

Yeah, in terms of the name, punjab 2000 originated this is what I was gonna ask you about, because it does rather date you it does, it does and it's great that it does actually, because that way people still ask how long have you been in business.

Tejinder: 4:33

I thought hang on a minute. That's a giveaway. But yeah, I wanted Punjabcom, but that had been taken, obviously. Yeah, so the guy that used to do our website back in the day, the online catalog, his name is Chris and he goes well, what about Millennium, punjab 2000? Because that was the Millennium year, remember. Yeah, everything was supposed to die or whatever was supposed to happen. But yeah, he goes why don't you go with Punjab 2000? He goes. It rolls off the tongue it does and he goes.

Tejinder: 5:07

I can register it for you as well. Okay, go do it. And Tony goes no, let's, let's think of something else. I said, tony, let's run with it, we can always change it later and you know what it just stayed. Even Tony made some t-shirts. His mate who's in there knotting on upi he was a good friend, still is. He had the first t-shirt made, a massive Punjab 2000, the front here. Really he goes. Yes, hedge, I love Punjab 2000,. I'm going to do this. He did the first t-shirt, it was just amazing. So after that we made lots of t-shirts with Punjab 2000 for the team we used to cover gigs and the artist got to know us. Then, slowly, the Bollywood industry and the film industry started using us to promote their films and so on.

Andy: 6:02

Yeah, I quite often see, particularly on Facebook, you're at this event or that event, somewhere promoting, and that's the core of what you do.

Tejinder: 6:13

Yeah, we love that. We get the buzz. So, going back to Kuspal and our photography days, so he's the one that got me into the wedding industry and we were both working at the time, so I think it was back in 2015. He goes Staj, I'm going to finish my work and I want to do this full time Because he was an engineer.

Andy: 6:41

What were you doing at this time? I was an.

Tejinder: 6:44

IT officer, with the project manager, with the Leicester County Council.

Andy: 6:48

So still with the council.

Tejinder: 6:49

Yeah, so I was earning good money, it was all great. I was loving my job but also loving filming. And it was then he goes. I want to give this up and I want to really go into the wedding side and I thought, OK, what shall we do? Suddenly, it happened that the council was offering redundancy packages.

Andy: 7:13

I'm very fortunate.

Tejinder: 7:16

I'd become well, I'd slowly become accustomed to weddings. I used to love that, the buzz you'd get because you've got the receptions. Where what do you get there? The music, the parties, and that was what used to really give us the buzz. So I really wanted that. So I thought, OK, I can govern our choice between the job or this. So I thought, OK, Talking about racism, remember talking about racism. So in the council I actually become the chair of the Black Workers Group. Ok.

Tejinder: 7:51

So I'd been doing that for a number of years of the council.

Andy: 7:55

Interesting.

Tejinder: 7:56

And it's more to do with fighting for the people's rights, and I used to do that quite a lot, you know. We used to take on cases. I thought, ok, so fine. So I took the redundancy pack and that's when I moved into the wedding market full time.

Andy: 8:11

Yeah, Go straight down the shop and get yourself half a dozen cannon five days.

Tejinder: 8:17

Well, I actually did that, so I went off to Jacobs. Yeah. And I've got them on finance. By the way, I ain't going to spend my money. Let's get that on finance. But that was a bit later on because way before that, I was inspired by Vince Vince from Stormfields. Remember I was talking about him and I used to love his films.

Andy: 8:48

I mean he was top of the game.

Tejinder: 8:51

I mean his stuff in those days was amazing.

Andy: 8:53

Yeah, because it was a fresh sort of cinematic look.

Tejinder: 8:57

It was and it wasn't just sort of coverage coverage coverage. Yeah, he was doing this, fantastic trailers and the music used to be amazing. So, yeah, he was my inspiration and Kushpal, my photographer friend. He got us this wedding at the Royal Courts of Justice. Yeah. So that wedding was supposed to take us to the next level. Yeah.

Tejinder: 9:22

Because it was a prestigious venue. It was going to be the only second Asian wedding to be held at a venue. So I thought, OK, this is great. So we got the wedding and everything, and Kushpal basically goes to me Ted, I'm just going to go to the hospital for a little operation, and then we're all sorted for that wedding. I said OK, unfortunately, Kushpal went to the hospital and then I came back. Oh, wow.

Tejinder: 9:48

So he passed away and so I went and did three𝘛s and we managed to get married Again. Successor is on wai Iотивum 2. After that he had put me in touch with his cousin, mr Manj Matharu. Oh, okay, right, the nicest man in the business, he is the best amazing guy and he took on that wedding in terms of the photography side. So he did the photography and I was looking for a video guy to do the video side to help me along, because it's going to be a massive wedding it was a Hindu wedding.

Tejinder: 10:25

I'd never really done Hindu weddings, but we had got the job because Kushpa's work in photography and they liked what we did and they were happy to go ahead because I think they were family friends as well. So they said, okay, let's do this. And that's when I got in touch with Vince. Do you think you could help me with this? Because now I was taking on a big job, I had no experience. I said go to Vince. I said Vince, why don't you take the job? I'll work for you. Vince goes no chance, mate. He goes okay, how am I going to do this? He goes okay, tell you what. I'll do this for you. It's the first time, vince, I think freelance, then I don't know. I'm sure it's the first time he did that.

Andy: 11:12

He's been doing that for a very, very long time.

Tejinder: 11:15

Yeah, he freelanced. And then at the time I got in touch with Max Max from the old days was my Steadycam teacher, trainer Right, and he used to work for a company that used to do all the Steadycam training. So I'd been for a Steadycam training about a month before the wedding. I thought you know what it's easier and cheaper to hire someone to do the Steadycam than for me to do it. And let me concentrate on what I need to do.

Tejinder: 11:46

So yeah, so I got Max and I got Vince. Vince was happy to do it, and then we got a crane guy to do the crane. So between us we had all the video covered, but I still had my old video camera, canon camera and Vince goes what I was like, yeah, I still got that Because Vince used to use those as well. Yeah, so he goes, vince goes. Right, I think it's time you moved up to the cannons, the DSLR. I was like Vince, I can't really do that, it's too much of a risk. He goes. I'm with you, let's do this. So I went to Jessup's, bought one camera 5D Mark II and two flashcards 32 gig.

Tejinder: 12:30

I thought that would have been enough and I thought I've got a laptop. I think you know I can put one in have the data transferred. Tony is going to be with me at the wedding and he can do all the data transferred. No problem from everyone. So we had all that covered and everyone was on DSLRs apart from the crane. The crane was still on the HD camera.

Tejinder: 12:55

Yeah, I think it was a Z1AO it was a kind of a mooch one, so it was a chap called Bouncer Horta. In those days he used to have a massive crane, by the way. Yeah yeah, it was a 32, 18 or 32 footer.

Andy: 13:11

No 24. 24.

Tejinder: 13:12

I think it was quite a big one, yeah, you know, yeah, and so we had a really good team for that wedding.

Andy: 13:19

And how did that video turn out?

Tejinder: 13:22

in the end, though, it was really good in terms of the trailer and everything that video. When we used to show it to my clients they thought we've never seen this.

Andy: 13:34

Yeah.

Tejinder: 13:34

Anything like this.

Andy: 13:35

Because you've got top policy imagery because of the cameras. Well, I had the top operators and the top people. I had Vince, yeah.

Tejinder: 13:43

I had Max. Yeah. Max was a film guy. Yeah, he was an operator with films. He still operates the Steadycam, but I mean his work and the kit he uses in terms of what he used to do then. Yeah. He used to be amazing because he used to be hired up by the film crew, so everything was top notch.

Andy: 14:01

Wow, have you still got a copy of it?

Tejinder: 14:03

Yes, I do, yeah, you want to go back and have a look. Definitely it's one of those old ones, but it's definitely a great film.

Andy: 14:11

That sort of brings me into one of those questions. It always pops up, like every single time, and I know it's still a ditch water. But is that the moment when you thought, hey, I've arrived, I'm doing it right?

Tejinder: 14:26

Yes, actually. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that was supposed to make us. Yeah. That was supposed to take us forward, myself and Kush. Yeah. Because Kush said right, we're going to put everything into this wedding and we're going to do this. This will be our showcase, and that's what it turned out to be.

Tejinder: 14:46

So, we had Manj doing the photography and then we had Satie. You met Satie, haven't you? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, he's from Studio for Photography. He's another inspiration, by the way, for me. He used to do all the the Bangra showdowns, the gigs that used to happen, the university gigs. I used to look at those images and I thought, amazing, that's fantastic stuff, because I used to love Bangra and that was music. So he was an inspiration and we tried for many years to get into that scene. It just didn't happen because he was into it. And there's another company that you can't remember. They used to do that and we just couldn't make that connection. Yeah.

Tejinder: 15:28

And then, for some reason, satie stopped doing it because of his workload, and then we got into that, so we started. We were still doing that to this day.

Andy: 15:38

And so Mrs Singh sitting at home is she? Happy that you've taken this course. After all the years that's kept, yeah, so you're doing a daytime job with a council, you're coming home at 5pm or whatever, it's just and you're away a bit of weekends, yeah.

Tejinder: 15:56

I mean, I'm blessed to have Tvinda. She's just put up with a lot in terms of time, you know, and some of the kids have missed out quite a lot. Yeah, in terms of daddy time, yeah, hobby time, because we're away at weekends and, in fact, kush, my photographer friend he was Tedge Me and you spend the most time at Premier Inn than I do with my wife. Yeah, we do, yeah, so, yeah, she's been very patient. Yeah.

Tejinder: 16:31

She's happy, but obviously there's times when she says we need to be going on holiday. But when I was in the council we actually did lots of holidays. Yeah, went abroad, local holidays with the kids. So up to the age of like 10, 12, the kids had everything then. Sure, and I think naturally after that the kids have their own friends and they do their own things.

Andy: 16:57

Yeah, they're less inclined to want to. Yeah.

Tejinder: 17:00

So we've done all that. But yeah, mrs Singh definitely not very happy sometimes. You're often again. Sometimes she doesn't even know where I am. Yeah, she'll ring up and say right, you didn't ring me to tell me you've arrived. Oh, for God's sake, she doesn't every time she goes. Look, I get worried. You know you're away for the whole day and you haven't rang me to say you've actually got to your destination.

Andy: 17:29

I get a WhatsApp that just says have you arrived yet?

Tejinder: 17:32

No, she doesn't want that. She wants me to ring her. Oh, come on sometime. You know you get to a destination and even like here, we've got here and we just carried on, haven't we? We have, it hasn't been any time to do anything else.

Andy: 17:44

No, that's right.

Tejinder: 17:45

So yeah. So in terms of family time, my immediate family, mrs Mom, dad and everything, so yeah, weekends, birthdays I've missed so many times August. I've always missed my nephew's birthday because it's in July. My dad's birthday is tomorrow. Sometimes it happens that it's on the weekend, so it's in August. So August time for us is quite busy Of course it is. I've missed lots of birthdays in August.

Andy: 18:18

Just breaking in usual thing half time interruption from me just to ask, and a few of you are now, so I'm grateful for that, thank you. But if you are listening and enjoying what you're listening to, then please spread the word. It's just in the Asian market, but far and wide. I think everyone's got an interesting story to tell and I want to get those stories out there. So please share the Wedding Professionals podcast on all social media channels. It's available on every podcast platform you can mention. So, yeah, send it out there. Let's get people listening. Thank you very much. Let's get back to Tej. So, as the, as the big granddaddy of the Asian Wedding videography and photography business, have you got an eye on retirement or?

Tejinder: 19:10

I was actually thinking about the other day and I've been thinking about it because and one of our freelance operators mentioned no names, but he goes Tej, you lot need to be hiring us and you just need to sit back and watch us do the stuff. I thought you passed it. I go, you're right, we've still got it. We've still got the stamina. But, yes, it is slowly getting there. It is getting to us because in the old days we used to drive. We could drive all night, no problems, but nowadays we've got to take a break and just keep it safe. Take a break the long distance travels, because some of our weddings can be really long.

Andy: 19:57

There can be 16-17 hours. I've done them with you in Southampton and that's a slog in itself all the way down there, and if you've got a bride that's or a groom that's from Hensglasgul and they do happen like that, don't they?

Tejinder: 20:12

from time to time yeah, no, definitely retirement is there, but it's a different kind of retirement, which is you take a backseat, let the team now handle things, and that's the option that's more favourable to me, because I still enjoy the editing process, so you can still retire and still do work.

Andy: 20:35

Yeah, of course you can, but at least I suppose you'd have that time at home, wouldn't you?

Tejinder: 20:42

Yeah, I mean that time at home has always been there. I've always been at home. Even when I was at the council, I used to work three days a week at home, so I was, I think, one of the first ones at the council to do working from home.

Andy: 21:01

We didn't talk about your work there representing people that were subject to racism and you sort of said that made you some enemies along the way. As you look back on it now, how successful would you say you were in helping fight that whole what's the word, I don't know that whole scene?

Tejinder: 21:29

Yeah, I mean in terms of the group. The group went strength through strength. I was able to persuade the powers that be to let the employees take time off to attend the meetings to progress their points and if they are attending the meetings, that they shouldn't be looked off on that. It is a legitimate part of the business that they are able to attend the meetings because the outcome of those meetings affects the way they work in the workplace and there's been lots of great outcomes out of that in terms of treatment of staff, in terms of the way the black workers were looked upon. So we had lots of success and I was quite happy with that. And also in encouraging in terms of applying for job roles. It was very successful because we were able to create an atmosphere of pushing yourself forward, Because I had started in the authority as an IT assistant, moved up to IT officer, became an IT project manager. So when you look at career progression, that's how you then encourage people to say, look, this is what you can do.

Andy: 23:02

And also, I guess, just encouraging a change of mindset in the management as well.

Tejinder: 23:09

Absolutely, and we did that through a series of meetings because I ended up being on the steering groups, so yeah, so, in terms of outcomes, definitely encourage a lot of the members to apply for the jobs that they really want to, and how to apply for them and how to go through the interview process, because I used to sit on the interview panels as well. Okay. So from there, then, you begin to learn how to conduct yourself and what to do.

Andy: 23:42

Yeah. Do you think management were overtly racist, or do you think they just didn't know how to handle it, or if it should be handled? Or was it their place to handle it?

Tejinder: 23:54

I think it was. It's a question of I think it's a bit of both, isn't it? It's a combination of all these factors, and they all come to play when mistreatment of staff happens. Yeah. And it's not just the local authority. It happens in small businesses, big businesses, it just happens everywhere.

Andy: 24:14

But it's for the upper management to take the middle management to task and have the nerve to do that.

Tejinder: 24:19

Yes, and it's just one of those things is obviously now dying. Yeah there is less and less of it. Yeah. Because what's happening is, the youngsters now are studying with every type of religion, every type of person black, white and so on. So they're all growing up together, yes, and also their mindset is different, yeah, so when I think, I think in English, I don't think in Punjabi.

Andy: 24:53

Okay.

Tejinder: 24:54

Yeah, right. So when you look at me, you will probably look, as there's a Sikh guy, and when I look at myself, I don't see that seat guy.

Andy: 25:05

No, I don't see that. I just see a guy that I work with. Do you know what? I mean, but I think you've got a fair point. I think, a lot of people. If you walk down the street with your turban on, people are just going to go. There's a seat guy.

Tejinder: 25:18

Can he even speak or think an English? But not knowing that this guy, all he does, he dreams and speaks in English in his brain. Obviously, that's obviously to do with our up-growing, missionary schools and all that, so brought up in the Western culture. But we're still Punjabi, we're Sikhs, that's still there. So, in terms of coming back to your point about racism, it is quite difficult to know who to blame, apart from looking at the history of the colonial past, isn't it?

Andy: 25:58

So that's where it comes back to to say, okay, that's where it actually originated from yeah, because I think in Kenya particularly was it not the British that brought the.

Tejinder: 26:08

Indians in to go the brown ways. That's correct.

Andy: 26:10

Yes, but I've been to that good worry in Nairobi, the oldest one, yeah, it's fantastic.

Tejinder: 26:19

If it is a Sinksaba one, the foundations stones of that were laid by my great, on my mum's side grandfather.

Andy: 26:31

Wow so yeah, it was 1903.

Tejinder: 26:34

I can't remember now, yeah. Yeah, they were immensely proud of when I was there.

Andy: 26:39

But what a chill place. And I'll tell you something else as well that I found in Kenya. What amazed me was the interlacing of people and cultures is seamless, and yet in the UK not so much.

Tejinder: 26:52

Yeah, I mean you find that here as well, so you'll call. A lot of people refer to as the Kenya Sikhs. Yeah.

Tejinder: 26:59

Because of our turban, the style and everything. Yeah, our thinking and our cultural thinking about the next religion is different to what maybe someone from India will have. Okay, and again, it's because of the way they've been brought up. There In Kenya, they all came together for a common cause, which was the railways yeah, so they all had to work together. Yeah, and of course, they're away from their homes. Yeah, and all the friends they have is each other. Yeah. So hence the communal bond. Yes.

Tejinder: 27:37

And acceptance of each other's religion. Yeah, so in those days, and in fact even my mom, although she's Sikh, she used to practice the Hindu customs.

Andy: 27:50

A lot, oh yeah.

Tejinder: 27:51

Okay, oh yeah, and you'll find a lot of people from Kenya. Yeah, they have been brought up with Hindu customs and a lot of other cultures. Traditions will have been brought in. That's fascinating. So things like don't eat meat on Tuesdays or Thursdays, or non-wash your head those superstitions have crept in into the family. They were good, they're bad. It depends on how you look at it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so with things like that, it's whatever you want to accept and bring in. Yeah.

Tejinder: 28:32

It also allows for a bit of what's the word for it respect for each other's religion. Sure. Yeah, so long as it doesn't degrade your own, then what's wrong with it? Nothing, true enough. True enough. So yeah definitely coming to your point. Yeah, in Kenya, the communities definitely used to live together harmoniously. Yes, yeah, my dad was a headmaster. He had lots of different faith teachers in the school. Yeah, and they all used to eat at our house. Yeah.

Tejinder: 29:06

So my dad had a house, the very first school he was the headmaster of. We were given accommodation and we used to live in the school premises and all the teachers would come at the weekends and dad, the mum, would cook food and everything. And I have my birthdays used to be there. I mean on my 16th birthday. I remember we had two huge goats Right Barbecue. You know, can you imagine that? Yeah, yeah, and it's been rolled on fire and everything proper barbecue happening and all you have to eat with that is salt. Okay, Salt and pepper and nothing else.

Tejinder: 29:44

Okay, and all the teachers are there, all my dad's friends are there, you know.

Andy: 29:50

So bring in this bang up to date, then. Unfulfilled ambitions, Anything that you wished you'd done or have yet to do, even though you've got one eye possibly on a sort of semi-retirement, anything where you sort of think I'd like to do that before.

Tejinder: 30:08

Well, I was a. I wish I'd gone into the wedding industry earlier. Yeah, I do, but in terms of the team and so on, probably had a bigger team set up premises and so on. That would have been ideal, yeah, but then it just never happened and I got comfortable with that. So that's maybe something we can still do as approaching retirement.

Andy: 30:37

Extending the brand essentially.

Tejinder: 30:39

Yeah, I mean in terms of other plans, in terms of the online business, is again some of the services again something that we needed to have pushed Punjab 2000 more sort of in terms of selling goods and services that we never actually used it for monetary gain? Yeah, and we should have. Yeah. Because the potential is huge. Yeah, it's just one of those things that we haven't done. Something I want to do personally for the community, and I think it's the first time I'm probably going to say this. Ah exclusive.

Tejinder: 31:12

Come on then. I've been looking at setting up the seat bank. Okay, so this was an ambition back dating back.

Andy: 31:24

I can almost sense everybody leaning in to listen a little bit closer.

Tejinder: 31:28

Yeah. So this was something I wanted to do when I got hit by, I think, financial situation with the Barclays Bank. That wouldn't give me a loan back in the day, many, many, many years ago, because I'd now finished work, so I was self employed. Hang on a minute. I've been paying into you thousands for so many years. For 25 years of my life I've been paying into you and you're now saying, because I'm self employed, you can't give me a loan. Why, I've got still enough money in the bank. I can use that, but I don't want to. Yeah.

Tejinder: 32:08

Yeah, and that's what I thought what's this all about? So that's when the foundations of the seat bank were sort of laid and I thought one day I'm going to set up a seat bank that will help the community. It will. That would help people like myself back in the day to say, okay, actually, we know you personally. Yeah, we think you can afford to pay back whatever we give you. We can take securities against whatever you have and let you flourish. If I had had that money then maybe I would have been at a different level. I don't know, but the finance and financial institutions can accelerate people's growth in business and if you have it at the time that you need it, then you can fly and I hope I can do that for the community one day. What an ambition. That's amazing. It is something big, yeah, and we're going to try and push it Good man, I'm going to try and push it, good man, and let's make it happen one day.

Andy: 33:19

Absolutely. I really hope it works out. I really hope it does for you. So how do you see today's wedding industry then? Because, like you said earlier, with the loss of double-sided weddings so much, we don't get to see people quite so much as maybe we used to. So how do you see the industry at the moment?

Tejinder: 33:42

The industry at the moment is obviously growing. It's definitely growing. Obviously we've had the setbacks with Corona and everything in terms of finances and so on Obviously slow down the industry slightly. There's definitely been a slowdown in business. I think it's affected ourselves. Everyone, the catering industry, everyone in the hospitality industry has been affected by that, thank you, but that is slowly going to get better. Going back to the actual quality of weddings, the cinema side, the photography side, that has grown. The creativity is huge If you compare the wedding films of today and the wedding films of many, many years ago, even 10 years ago, the quality of the film, the style of the film.

Tejinder: 34:39

That's all changed and a lot of it has to do with the freelance market and the individuals themselves. They have obviously aspired to do better in terms of the techniques, the camera equipment, and a lot of them have learned the skills that are necessary in terms of the editing side, the colour grading, the sound design, so that things have changed and the quality that we are getting nowadays is tremendous.

Andy: 35:16

I think coronavirus did knock out a lot of the chances that were in the business, for sure, and a lot of the people that were left with, those ones that were totally dedicated to doing what we do for a living, and the likes of Mani Pavlo, for instance. You know, it's just that man's got more skill in his little finger than ever in my entire body, but it is astonishing how good some videographers are.

Tejinder: 35:45

Yeah, I mean you're talking about Mani. Pavlo Mani used to work with us. He was one of our best freelancers him and Big Mani, as we used to call him. They were both a team.

Tejinder: 35:56

So they were with me from, I think, 2013, 14, 15, 16, 17 probably, and you were with us with most weddings and there were fantastic times. I mean, we were at weddings every weekend, every other weekend, and there were great times. The quality of filming that Mani used to produce then for us was amazing. I learnt a lot from him. He learnt a lot from being left to do what he does best. We didn't say you need to do this or need to do that, just get us the best you could trust him to do.

Tejinder: 36:40

And he would deliver.

Andy: 36:41

One of the hardest working guys in the business?

Tejinder: 36:43

I think yeah and we'd just get on do the job. No issues with him at all. They would just work as a team. Big Mani would take the photos, all the video, and both of them would be, say, maybe on the bride side or on the groom side, and there's just me on one end, me and Manj at the other side.

Andy: 37:03

And then there's photographers like Manj we mentioned them earlier on and, of course, just nice, nice bit Nice is a horrible word, but lovely, lovely people, as well as being highly skilled in what they do.

Tejinder: 37:16

Exactly, and that helps so much Because you then don't have to worry about the technical aspects of your kit. What you're then doing is using your communication skills with your clients, making the day, making them happy, making memories with them. I mean, we're just doing an album last week and I looked at the album pages and there's two photographs with Manj in them hey, where did that happen? And there's Manj the photographer. He's made such a bond with the family. The bride has chosen two images with Manj and her sisters and hopefully we'll be doing one of the sisters wedding next year. So it's those communication skills that you then bring into the wedding industry that really make you sort of amazing.

Andy: 38:20

I think it is super satisfying, when I mean on a much, much, much smaller scale. I did a wedding last year for a bride in groom and when she'd sort of seen the first trailer, she just messaged him and Andy, you made me look like a film star. Thank you very much. And it's just like those little comments priceless, I think, when you know you've fulfilled the brief and you've had a great time doing it as well.

Tejinder: 38:43

And when you probably looked at it yourself, you thought, OK, yeah, that's fine.

Andy: 38:48

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, it's just like yeah. I've done a reasonable job. What did I do there? I thought I was just doing my job. Yeah, yeah, but we do leave a lasting legacy, I think, with people, and that's very good.

Tejinder: 39:01

And I think that's one of the strap lines for cinephile films, which is reliving your memories. Reliving memories, that's what we say. Yeah, because the game is make sure you've filmed the wedding properly, yeah, and then so that your clients can sit back one day and enjoy that. Yeah. Because you've captured not just the memories, you've captured images, imagery of people that might not be there in maybe a year's time.

Andy: 39:34

This is yeah, this has come up before, and I think this is the, this is the prime reason I love doing what we're doing and I will always focus, you know, when there's an auntie in a wheelchair or or the old fella that's on sticks, and I will always, if I can, get the camera right down, because that person may not be there, like you say in a year's time, and we're the ones that are preserving their memory like that.

Tejinder: 39:59

And it's quite hard to do. It's actually quite hard to film them because a lot of them will be sitting in the shadows. Yeah, basically because they can't get up to come forward.

Andy: 40:11

I did a wedding a few months ago now and there was a obviously grandmother great grandmother possibly. She was in a wheelchair and one of the bride's sisters brought the wheelchair onto the dance floor and she was just sort of stick in the air.

Tejinder: 40:27

Yeah.

Andy: 40:28

And she know what? It was joyous because everybody sort of crowded around her and everybody was having a great time and she was having the time of her life as well. And I got the camera on it and I just thought, yeah, that's. That's the moment.

Tejinder: 40:40

And this is the thing you see, our job is such a responsible job. Yeah. That you have to make sure you've covered the right elements and right aspects of that wedding. Yeah, you have people in the industry that do it in a different way. They do it in a creative way and they do a storytelling. Some do it in a documentary fashion. So there's various levels and various styles of filming that you have. We tend to film so mostly in a documentary style. Yeah.

Tejinder: 41:14

Where by everything is recorded and everything is given back to the family. Yeah. And a lot of that now has changed. They, the families, are saying okay, you've given us that, now let's cut that down to half an hour or an hour, sure. So we offer both now. Yeah. It's more so that if you've got families, guests coming in or whatever, and they want to watch it for half an hour or you know 10 minutes or 15 minutes, you've got a shorter version of the whole film. So that definitely helps in terms of the viewing.

Andy: 41:47

Yeah, absolutely. So, listen, we've done good, I think, and it's time for the final question. You know what the final question is, don't you?

Tejinder: 41:55

No, I don't actually have to. This is when we prove who's actually listened to the podcast before I haven't actually. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm sure I listened to.

Andy: 42:08

Attle's one. Oh yeah, attle's, I've listened to Attle's one. So the final question is if I could, let's take you back 15, let's take you back 10 years and magically I've given you the skills and the tools and the equipment and the mind to do any other job within the wedding industry. What would you choose?

Tejinder: 42:38

I wouldn't choose anything apart from what I currently do.

Andy: 42:40

I'd say the same thing that you do now.

Tejinder: 42:43

Okay so what would I choose?

Andy: 42:50

Any other job within the wedding industry?

Tejinder: 42:55

I don't. That's a hard one, Andy, apart from being the CEO.

Andy: 43:01

Do you know? I 100% thought you'd say DJ.

Tejinder: 43:05

No, no, no. I like to view things with the helicopter view. Okay. So yeah. So if it was a job, it would be the CEO. Okay. I think that's what leads me into the retirement plan. Yeah, I want to sit back and get the team in and let them do the work, but still oversee that. Yeah, okay. So sorry, Andy my only failure Actually.

Andy: 43:35

well, it's not a failure, but because you have said something, so that's good.

Tejinder: 43:38

No, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Andy: 43:40

Fantastic.

Tejinder: 43:42

If I had wanted to be a DJ then I would have gone down that route. No, it's not something. I think push used to be a DJ, yeah, and he's changed that, but no, I don't think there's anything else. I'd want to be, having come from an IT project management side and IT it's more hands-on approach thing that I've done all my life. Yeah. So I now want to maybe take a backseat on that.

Andy: 44:11

As you look back, are you content with where you're at?

Tejinder: 44:16

No, nobody would be. I think majority people would still want to push that slightly more. Yeah, no, definitely not Happy with what we're doing. Yeah. But would like to do more. Yeah. Definitely.

Andy: 44:32

Well, thank you for coming down today and because I know it. I always say, and it's always a challenge getting people, but particularly this busy time in August. So thank you so much for your time and an hour and a half chat, which is record breaking, so I may break it into two episodes, who knows. But thank you, thank you so much.

Tejinder: 44:52

No, it's been a pleasure, andy. Thank you very much, but you've still not had any of the cashew nuts.

Andy: 44:58

I can't eat on the recording though.

Tejinder: 45:00

Thank you All right, that's great Andy.

Andy: 45:03

Cheers, mate. So there you go. That was a long one, wasn't it, but well worth it. I think a lot of very interesting stuff came out, stuff that I got no clue about whatsoever. Thank you for joining me, dear listener. See you soon. Bye.