From Sticking ‘Film Posters’ in the 70’s to one of the biggest names in Outdoor Advertising – Meet Dr. Yogesh Lakhani CMD of Bright Outdoor Advertising
Mumbai, Aug 01, 2022:While Sticking ‘film posters’ in the 70’s little Yogesh started dreaming big – Today Billionaire Dr. Lakhani is one of the biggest leaders in Outdoor Advertising
In a candid conversation, our Editor in chief Mr. Riyaz Ahmed speaks with Dr Yogesh Lakhani said that “His dreams would not allow him to sleep and his passion made him work 14 hours a day and today so he is listed in the World Book of Records“.
Dr Yogesh Lakhani – Chairman and Managing Director of Bright Outdoor Media Pvt. Ltd. Bright is one of the India’s biggest leaders in outdoor advertising industry. He was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate from the Sorbonne University. Starting work from a single-room office to building a widely acclaimed and highly honoured company, Dr. Yogesh Lakhani has made a revolution that is amazing as well as appreciable.
Dr. Yogesh Lakhani CMD, Bright Outdoor Media Pvt. Ltd has been included by World Book of Records for 2000 felicitation, 5000 awards internationally and owing 1000 clients in the fields of Entertainment Industry, Corporate sector, FMCG for four decades of dedicated service.
Dr. Yogesh Lakhani’s secret of success for going from Zero the Hero is – sheer Hardwork with honesty and commitment, and a burning desire to achieve your dreams and his belief in winning not only his business tenders but also the hearts of his customers by keeping his ‘rates’ quite reasonable as well as adequate and see to it that it does not at all dash the producers who tussle against odds to make lavishly budgeted films for the sake of entertaining the audiences.
Dr. Lakhani has worked for more than 10 thousand films so far in his career and also played a guest appearance in many big films of almost 4 decades. He has received thousands of awards and honors. Despite all this, he is humble and down-to-earth person. He considers the blessings of his parents, God’s grace and constant hard work as the key to his success.
His journey from living in a very small house in chawl to moving to Mumbai, to becoming the Chairman and Managing Director of Bright Outdoor Media Pvt Ltd has been a difficult, challenging and inspirational one. Born in a very poor house, Yogesh Lakhani has reached this stage by working very hard.
Dr. Lakhani was born on 25th September 1963 in Mumbai. After completing his SSC examinations, he started working with his uncle as a slide delivery boy in 1980. He used to deliver daily newspapers and also used to stick ‘film posters’ on roadside walls, He went days without food and had sleepless nights when put up the first hoarding of his life at Malad platform no 4, on behalf of his client in 1988 and that marked the beginning of his success.
Dr. Yogesh Lakhani started with humble beginnings with starting a small office in a garage which was demolished in a few months. He then took up a table space at Malad in 1990. In 1991 he started taking sites on a sub-letting basis. In 1992, he had the hoarding monopoly of Kandivali, Borivali and Andheri Railway Stations. He also put his first hoarding at Malad Marve Road. He took up a small office of his own in Borivali in 1992 and started his journey with just one staff in the office. By 1995 he developed around 200 Hoardings in Railways and entered into Road sites. Working 14 hours a day sacrificed his personal and family life to make his dream come true. Today he owns a huge office of 8000sq.ft offering all outdoor Media solutions, under one roof and has a team of 50 professionals. Excellent Brand Image, Goodwill, one of the top 5, out of home (OOH) media agencies in Mumbai along with 1000 hoardings across the city and an empire that promotes more than 8000 brands in India. It is also expanding into the Digital Domain as part of its business strategy and is growing its presence in Social media and Online.
Says Dr Yogesh , “In the field of technology, we at Bright are bringing for the first time in India a special Mobile App where you can come in contact and also arrange a meeting with different categories of people, experts and top celebrities directly through live webinars. Five youngsters from our Saurashtra Bhavnagar city and one of their mentors and a teacher have created this mobile application where you can meet professional experts directly through video conferences on the same platform. Bright has brought out the meeting app, where you will find the rare confluence of quality as well as excellence, experiences and confidence and last but not the least remedy as well as training.”
Bright Outdoor Media rolls out 60-70 campaigns monthly. Dr. Yogesh is an influential figure in the OOH industry, particularly with his efforts for the cause of environmental protection and his other social contributions. He offers Bright Outdoor Media’s flexes to be reused at villages, for trucks and towards other uses. He also offers hoardings for campaigns promoting eco-friendly messages. He is a recipient of 2000 felicitations, 5000 awards internationally and having 1000 clients in fields of Entertainment Industry, Corporate sector, FMCG being in business for 42 years.
Dr Yogesh explains ‘”I have supported several producers and stars when they were struggling in the initial days of their acting by giving them discounted rates for their hoardings but after they shot to fame in public and became superstar, everyone of them has made it a point to repay me by supporting me in my business too by recommending to their producers to ask me to look after the hoardings of their films. I am of the opinion that money is important in life but human relations are equally important. We were poor and I have struggled enough and burnt midnight oil besides surviving by eating just a vada pav or two to prevent hunger at nights for not just one or two but five years at a stretch to have learnt that but I will reiterate that money is important for life but it is not life itself at any cost. After you have achieved your goals, it is important to give back to society in whatever ways you can.”
Since childhood, Yogesh was fond of films and he used to spend Rs 1.40 paise to buy movie tickets and sit on the front seat and watch films at Mira Road at Santok theatre or Katurba at Malad because he was fond of watching films. He also used to give on rental basis video with cassettes and TV. He has also acted in small roles in Rahul Shetty’s Dilwale and Madhur Bhandarkar’s Calendar Girls, Neil Nitin Mukesh’s By Pass Road , Saif Ali Khan starrer Bazaar. He says “Though I am not all interested in acting, but because all the producers and actors happen to be my dear friends and insist that I should make my presence in their films in a small way just because they consider me as their lucky mascot and I can never say No to them. I have also gone for in film branding of my company in many films for the same reason”
After producing films like ‘Smile Please’ and ‘Rafoo Chakkar’, he is yet to come up with many more films as a producer. Why? He is brutally honest. “Though I had produced two small budget films, I’d confess honestly that after facing failure I have decided to drop the plans of production. I did not have experience so I started with small budget films as after that I had also thought of doing big budget films, but fate willed otherwise”.
Dr Yogesh Lakhani, the owner of Bright Outdoor Media, is a social worker apart from being a businessman. He has been working in the field continuously since 1980. From donating to orphanages to financially helping specially-abled and underprivileged classes, his contribution is commendable. Every Sunday he feeds thousands of underprivileged people. His organisation also sends food to many old age homes.
He runs a dialysis hospital, and it serves people free of cost. His Hospital has completed the dialysis operations for about ten thousand poor people in the city of Mumbai. “I do not charge the poor people for their operations but I make it a point to charge a modest fee of Rs 500 for the middle class people for the dialysis operations. Also during the ongoing lockdown, he has made it a point to donate sums ranging from Rs 2,500 to Rs 10,000 to different poor people, including journalists who have been rendered jobless, especially the freelancers.
