Shalibhadra Shah’s journey in the field of audio visual communication is one of self discovery and breaking new ground. He started his career as a graphic designer but soon realised that his core strength lies in managing & growing his digital content creation venture. In less than two decades his company, Moving Pixels Pvt Ltd has established itself as a leader in delivering superior quality digital content and he has an enviable list of loyal clients. Along with his partner & Creative Director, Manish Bardia, Moving Pixels is foraying into new avenues of media engagement.


Shah believes that the secret of their staggering success lies in their ability to deliver niche content within tight deadlines; recognising & leveraging each team member’s strengths; perseverance in the face of failure and collaborating with like-minded professionals. A recent feather in their cap was when they won an award on Republic Day for a tableau designed for the Ministry of Communication & IT on the theme of ‘Digital India’.


In conversation with GlobalLinker (GL), Shalibhadra Shah (Shah) shares his journey of establishing a leading digital content firm in the country and his vision for taking the enterprise to greater heights.

GL: Tell us about your business.

Shah: Moving Pixels is a creative communication enterprise. The company was established by Manish Bardia in 1993. I joined the firm as freelance executive in 1998 and went on to becoming a partner & CEO of the company.  Manish is the creative force behind Moving Pixels, while I look after operations.

Moving Pixels specialises in producing digital content and creative print work. Our forte is audio-visual communication. We make corporate films and create physical & digital content for large events. The digital content for the ‘Digital India’ campaign and various other national campaigns for Prime Minister Modi have been created by us.

Moving Pixels has done the audio-visual communication for major events like the ‘Vibrant Summits’. When the Prime Minister visited UK last year, for the Wembley event, all the digital content for the cultural programme was created by us.

GL:  It is very creditable that you have built a formidable organisation ground up. How did you accomplish that?

Shah: My partner, Manish Bardia is a fine-arts graduate and he had worked in a creative agency in Mumbai before starting this venture. I have a degree in business management.  We have more than two decades of experience in this field and we have honed our skills with each successive project.

We are a team of almost 60 people. We are probably one of the biggest production houses in India for the kind of work we do. Given the fact that we create low budget films, ours is a very large setup.

We work with every sector of the government be it health, education, industry, petroleum or finance. We have produced films for various schemes such as the ‘Mudra Yojana’& the ‘Pradhan Mantri Bima Suraksha Yojana’ and soon to be launched ‘Standup India’. We also work with the tourism sector, and in that sense our work is quite diverse.

We also specialise in creating films in international languages. For instance, if an Indian delegation is going to Japan, then the film is made in Japanese. We thereby customise the communication and this garners international appreciation.

We pride ourselves in our quick turnaround to deliver a superior quality product. There have been times when we have delivered a product within 48 hours, which would usually take 3-4 weeks. We have a complete in-house team which allows us to achieve this quick turnaround. Right from conceptualisation to video shoot, edit, graphics and animation -- everything is done in-house. We have almost 400 terabytes of video data. Over the last 16 years we have built our creative expertise and digital resources.

GL: What are some of the challenges you face?

Shah: The primary challenge is the limited availability of information and visuals. When you are working on a very tight deadline, the client usually does not have enough raw material. The challenge is to utilise what is available and come up with a finished product. For instance, if we work on a film on Gandhiji, we are aware that we will not have access to HD quality footage. Therefore, with limited resources, we strive to deliver a visually appealing product. This ability to deliver a high quality product despite limited raw material and time gives us an edge over our competitors.

GL: What is your Big Business Dream?

Shah: We are currently looking into diversifying into various fields such as exhibition design, event planning and conceptualisation. Last year we did our first international event, ‘Chalo Gujarat’ in New Jersey, for which we spearheaded the entire project, right from promotion designs, to event planning and content creation. We have found some new strengths in these areas. We are also looking at developing our own product - a travelling broadway show, which will not require a huge investment.

GL: What is your message to aspiring entrepreneurs?

Shah: I believe that confidence and hard work are essential ingredients of success. We have had our share of ups and downs. There was a time when we were almost bankrupt. But we struggled through that time and today we are one of the leading digital content firms in the country. Had we given up at that time, we would have been employees at an agency but never had our own unique identity in this field.

You need to listen to your gut feeling and realise your strengths and limitations. When I joined Moving Pixels, I used to brand myself as a designer. Down the line, I realised my own limitations as a designer but recognised that my strength was managing operations, IT, finances and client communication. Aspiring entrepreneurs must play to their strengths.


Also if you partner with the right kind of people, it always helps. Our business is successful because Manish & I both complement each other in our skills set. Manish does not worry about finances, IT or logistics and he is able to focus his abilities on the creative process. I look after the finances, the production and do the whole balancing act. This has been our formula for success & growth.

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