Chairman and CEO
A highly awarded technocrat with a successful track record of over 30 years in the IT and Media industry. As a young electronics engineer he entered the IT industry with a successful stint in HCL after which he founded the Accel Group of companies in 1991. On growing the venture from a start-up to an MNC with full operational presence in seven countries, he guided the company through a successful IPO and later gained industry accolade with the acquisition of a majority stake in his venture by British Telecom. Ranked by DQ India as one of the Top 10 Key Influencers in the Indian IT Industry he was also selected by the State Government and The Confederation of Indian Industry as one of the Top Ten CEO’s. Brimming with entrepreneurial drive he acquired several niche players in the IT Industry and established professional management teams across all the companies in the Group. One of his pet interests was the Animation and Media industry which he entered in 2006 and set up world class infrastructure which included one of India’s pioneering Performance Capture Studios. Deciding to focus on VFX , DI and Digital Asset Management, he relinquished his role in the IT arm of the Group and is now all set to recreate his entrepreneurial magic with Accel Media Ventures Limited.
Creative Director
A recipient of the FICCI, Indian Telly and Indian Television Academy awards, he is based in Mumbai and highly reputed for his directorial and creative skills in the field of Visual Effects, Production and Visual Design. As Creative Director at Accel Media, he brings in a refreshing burst of original thinking and global outlook to enrich client projects and enable creative excellence. His work for global industry stalwarts like Matthias Zentner, Camille Delamarre and Ram Madhvani to name a few, has earned him acknowledgement for having helped create wonders in their films and commercials. He has also worked with Shiamak Davar and Deepak Ghatani over his exciting career span of 17 years in the CG and VFX industry where he has had successful stints in Pixion and Ketan Mehta’s Maya Digital Studios. He has been associated with Contiloe Pictures over the recent years for their movie and television ventures. He was also a driving force behind the creation, visual development and VFX supervision of epic shows which changed the face of Indian television, like Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat, Mahabali Hanuman, Maharana Pratap and Mahadev etc., for channels like Sony Entertainment Television, Star India and Viacom/Colors. He is keen on sharing his knowledge with aspiring film students and finds time to give inputs to shape up curriculum for academies such as Symbiosis Institute of Design and Whistling Wood International.
Head of Finance and Corporate Affairs
A Chartered Accountant with over 30 years of experience in the IT, Engineering and Finance industries, he worked with leading groups like Tata, HCL and TVS before joining Accel. He successfully enabled the Legal and Financial aspects of many strategic initiatives of the company like the acquisition of ICIM from the RPG Group and integrating it into Accel to create a successful systems integration company. He continued enabling his expertise to ensure seamless operations during the introduction of strategic partners such as Frontline (Singapore) and CAC Corporation (Japan). A stickler for best practices, he has guided the company through the many industry regulation changes that have occurred over the past 30 years and continues to ensure that Accel Media conforms to the highest standards of corporate governance.
Senior Vice President (Operations)
With the key responsibility of handling Accel Media’s technical and business operations, Stalin enjoys working closely with clients and supporting them with methodology and creativity to deliver the best possible results for a movie from concept to theatre. Having won several National awards for Visual Effects, he has executed more than 300 international and domestic projects and has a detailed technical knowledge of the entire media industry.
He has helped Creators, Filmmakers, Producers and Investors focus on what’s best for each project and sees that they are delivered on time and within budgets. Stalin is a member of the prestigious Visual Effects Society and was the California Jury member for FICCI’s Animation & VFX Awards 2013. He is also one of the core members and a panellist of Animation Guild Network India. Stalin has a Masters in Fine Arts from Anna University and is a guest lecturer at several media institutes across the country.
Director (Client Services)
With over 20 years of experience in the Visual Effects and Multimedia industry, Aniruddhan has successfully led, managed and executed over 300 projects and worked with all leading directors and production houses. He has managed teams in across Visual FX, Animation, UID, UXD for the Web and Mobile platforms. He had earlier worked with a US based eMedia company as Creative / Technology Head, catering to leading international publishers like Elsevier, Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press in the edutainment space. Currently handling overall business clientele, he focuses on the international sector and helps Accel Media expand in that frontier. He is an engineering graduate in Computer Science with an MBA in International Marketing.
VFX Producer
Right from a meticulous and responsible handling of various roles including script break-down, managing projects and budgeting, B R Venkatesh aka BRV, has more than 18 years of experience in the VFX domain. Managing clients and ensuring the most effective approach to VFX work is his forte, which is made possible due to his hands on experience and positive attitude. He strengthens Accel Media’s delivery capabilities by seamlessly scheduling tasks with the VFX coordinators and their teams. He has to his credit the record of delivering a large number of projects across South Indian, Bollywood and Hollywood industries apart from custom projects for educational, news and media domains.
Digital Intermediate team
A Graduate of the Film and TV Institute of TN, Rajasekaran had worked extensively in Mumbai and Hyderabad before his Chennai tenure with Accel Media. He brings over 15 years of high end experience in Colour Grading and is a pillar of the company’s Digital Intermediate team. Apart from working in leading film projects, he has also worked for music videos and commercials and has a wide ranging experience across genres and skill-sets. Some of his past projects like Dasavatharam, Paiyaa, Paradesi, Arima Nambi, ‘I’, Irumugan, Remo etc. have helped establish him as a reputed DI Colourist in the industry and he enables Accel Media with the cutting edge for projects in the domain.
VFX Producer
With over 12 years of production experience in live action VFX, Lakshmanan has immense passion and knowledge for all aspects of Film and Visual Effects. Directly interacting with the top management in all his projects he has received personal accolades from most of the leading Directors and Producers across the Indian Film Industry. In his key role as VFX Producer, he successfully oversees all budgets, artist schedules, client management, pipeline development and database tracking while championing a passionate, creative, energetic and enjoyable environment. He also develops initial VFX breakdowns and bids with the VFX Supervisor. His hands-on expertise in handling Stereoscopic VFX content is a major advantage and a significant value-add to Accel Media’s services portfolio.
VFX Producer
During his 18 plus years of hands on experience in VFX, Raghavan has worked on projects ranging from commercials to feature films managing all aspects from VFX breakdown and bid, onsite supervision, planning and scheduling of facility resources, managing visual effects teams and monitoring their work. That has helped him develop the skill set, temperament and keen eye to be among the foremost in the industry and be able to act as an effective liaison between clients and artists, as well as with other departments in the company. Raghavan has a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from The Government College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai in Design and Visual Communication and a Master’s in Public Administration from Annamalai University.