Prafull Gade is COO & Managing Director of Deluxe India, Pune.
Prafull Gade heads the studio as COO & Managing Director, Deluxe India. Prafull has 35 years of experience in the Animation and VFX industry. He joined Deluxe in 2011 and has taken it, from a small operation of 80 people to a motivated and efficient staff of 1,500, making Deluxe the largest producer of digital 3D, VFX & Animation for motion pictures. Prior to joining Deluxe, Prafull remained a driving force in many large companies. He currently overseas the operation of the Pune facility of Deluxe India including production, sales & marketing, administration, human resources, finance and production technology.
Prafull is up-to-date with the global animation market, it’s project financials and legal contracts, assembling co-productions and funding and delivery mechanisms, making him an exceptional leader in this space. Having a very creative mind and being equipped with a fine arts degree, Prafull has always kept himself updated with latest developments and evolution in the animation markets, technology and trends.
Armed with a comprehensive understanding of production process, pipelines and business modules, he ensures that the project economics and quality parameters are constantly monitored and remained balanced throughout a project’s production cycle.
Prafull has been awarded individually for various categories and has also been a part of award-winning teams in various national and international festivals through his contribution in heading and mentoring creative, technical and production teams.
Deluxe – a Business with a long History in Entertainment
Deluxe began as a film processing laboratory in the early 1900s and was part of a conglomerate owned by producer William Fox. In 1915, Fox sold the laboratory business to Alan Freedman who renamed the operation “Deluxe”. Today, Deluxe offers end-to-end services and technology, from creation to distribution, for the global moving pictures industry.
With headquarters in Los Angeles and New York and operations in 38 key media markets worldwide, the company relies on the talents of more than 7,500 of the industry’s premier artists, experts, engineers and innovators.
Providing Innovation and Artistry for a Demanding Business
Deluxe India offers a complete portfolio of entertainment services that include 2D to 3D Conversion, VFX, Feature Animation and Post-production for numerous blockbuster Hollywood films that are based on special visual effects. Deluxe clients include Disney, ILM and DreamWorks to name a few.
Most recently, 86 minutes of Stereo Conversion of the mega blockbuster “Avengers: Endgame” was done at our Pune Studio. We pride ourselves on the fact that we have a constant flow of repeat Hollywood customers, a clear-cut testimonial that we are delivering above and beyond their expectations. To meet these high standards, we nurture and maintain an exceptionally skilled creative and technical workforce. Along with the challenges of delivering these international projects, the team must also develop and employ the latest innovations, to be leaders in the business. If our creative and technical workforce are considered to be our heart, we believe our in-house Pipeline Research & Development team is our brain. Our custom-built tools ensure smooth and uninterrupted flow of work across all our global studios, which accelerate our production efficiencies so that our artists can spend more time in making the right creative decisions.
Developing an International Nexus for Content Technology and Post Production
As the entertainment industry grew beyond geographical boundaries, crossing all linguistic barriers and achieving new heights in terms of quality and deliveries, it was essential for global producers to find production partners who could not only deliver quality in time, but also give a price advantage in a cost-competitive business environment. Early on, Deluxe gauged the potential of technological advantages in India and established their footprint in Pune, India for their production studios. India, and Pune in particular, quickly distinguished itself as a hub for creative and technically skilled artists for international productions.
The Pune studio is housed in the high security SEZ complex and is spread over 83,000 sqft. with a creative and technical staff of 1,500+. The studio has artists from different parts of the country which helps develop multi-cultural diversity in terms of a creative offering to our clients. The culture is built around the Deluxe Values of “Exceed Expectation, Take Ownership, Act with Integrity, Be Pioneers, Collaborate, Pursue Diversity and the most important aspect of studio culture is being Happy.
Security is a Priority for Content Owners
Digital technology has shrunk the world and has many advantages in terms of communication at lightning speed, access to enormous content at your fingertips, unlimited distribution channels to pass on the contents etc. We have established one of the most secure studios by implementing world-class security practices in our system and providing repetitive security training programs to our employees. We validate our Physical, Digital and Management security practices by periodically conducting high-level external security audits like; MPAA, CDSA, GRC and major Hollywood studio audits. Content security practices is not just a technical process for us, it is an obsession.
Innovation is in our DNA
Technology is a vehicle for us to reach our next goal of innovation. We love to keep innovation as an ever-moving finishing line. This brings the best out of our technology and helps us push boundaries each time. Having state-of-the-art technology has become a norm for Deluxe India. What we achieve by utilizing this technology is our business passion.
Our Research & Development team has innovated a production pipeline technology called FLUX. This tool is built for our Artists and Production management teams to work in a cohesive environment which is fast and allows for seamless, sophisticated asset management for artists and supervisors.
FLUX provides powerful features like; accessibility of every artist’s work to our clients at their native location. This helps our clients to understand the production progress and creative development of each shot. FLUX is known for its Stability, Scalability and Security.
Pride in the Employer/Employee Equation at Deluxe
Organizations get built not merely by number of people but by the ideas those people bring in. At Deluxe, we strongly feel employee-employer are different roles that work together as one single team towards the same goal. The ownership of the organization is not only with the employer, but our employees too take the pride of ownership. Unless both the parties walk in each other’s shoes to understand the role and the responsibilities of each other, we cannot build a winning team.
Team engagement through social gatherings, sport activities and monthly award ceremonies. One of the strongest programs we have built to understand employee/employer relationship is by meeting all the employees one-on-one to address concerns, compliments and concepts. These simple exercises have helped us establish best practices to build a better organisation. Additionally, the company provides competitive salaries and perks like; AC Cab facility, Mediclaim, and planned overtime – a rarity in our business.
On the day of induction, every newcomer is greeted by the core Deluxe India team, informing them of the Culture, Vision & Mission of the company. The four H’s, “Honesty, Hard work, Humility, and Happiness” are the four pillars on which our culture is built. The HR team not only works around growth path, and skill development of the employee, but also spends an equal amount of energy in building work-life-balance for the staff.
Our production team works very closely with our artists to foster and encourage their best work and have built a very strong Reward and Recognition program to keep them motivated. By providing them with mentors, additional training, or simply by giving them the chance to interact with a special manager, Deluxe India has committed itself to providing career development opportunities across our employee pool. It has all proven to be a winning formula and we see the results each and every day.
Prafull Gade: An Uncompromising Creative Temper with Intellectual Production Skills
