'It’s the passion that counts'

Suhas Sundar: What made you start Bliss chocolate lounge?
Vimal Sharma: I come from food and beverage background and have always been interested in this sector of work. I decided to set up an outlet in India. It was a surprise to find that everyone around me thought a business with chocolate was a good thing. I think chocolate has a universal appeal. That’s when we decided to set up Bliss.
 

SS: That’s great. I am a chocolate lover too, however, am fond of our very own Indian brand of chocolate — Cadbury’s. I used to miss the taste of it when I was working in US. So are you a chocolate lover too?
 

VS: Completely. I always keep munching on them when I am reading the newspaper or doing other chores. I’ve also taken personal interest to know more of about chocolates. When we decided to enter the Indian market, we found that a lot of people prefer milk based chocolates over dark chocolates. So we tweaked our market accordingly. Tell us about Level 10 Entertainment...
 

SS: I come from a software background and have worked for nearly two years in Chicago. I realised that work was getting monotonous and decided to come back to India. I decided to reconnect with business and met my old college friend, Shreyas, who later became my business partner. We are equally passionate about comics and aimed to become the country’s largest creator of comic content. We started publishing comic books keeping the teen audience in mind.
 

VS: That’s interesting. Our profession requires us to be dynamic and we need to capture the market quickly. So have you kept the Indian palate in mind when you design your comic characters?
SS: Of course yes. Like your industry, we also need to give the audience a slice of their taste as well. We also stick to the original characters from epics when we are using them in our content. Considering the fact that Bangalore is known to have several chains of sweet shops, are you planning to set up a fusion lounge here?
 

VS: We are taking it one step at a time. We need to educate customers about our kind of chocolates before we start a fusion lounge. Nevertheless, I am glad to have found people who are passionate about their work here. If we need to excel, the entire team needs to be passionate enough to carry it forward. Don’t you agree?
 

SS: That’s true. I had this writer who kept chasing me for nearly six months. Even though I rejected several times, I realised that he was constantly evolving in his work. When he approached me again, I appointed him as a fulltime writer. It is that kind of passion people need to have in their work.