Faith can move mountains. This maxim is very inspiring and soothing to everyone but not for long as their faith begins to die slowly. But winners and achievers are set apart from dreamers by one trait – perseverance; and this one trait is enough to make a huge difference. That is what Lekha Rathnakumar’s perseverance did to him. It exalted his position from an ordinary label and sticker maker to the renowned ad filmmaker that he is today. Yes! Lekha Rathnakumar’s career is about a persevering struggle; a story full of sweat, blood, and arduousness even after being born with silver spoon in his mouth. Read on. This could change your life for better if you are looking for some inspiration at the moment.
Rathnakumar’s Lekha Productions celebrates silver jubilee. At this moment its director-founder Lekha Rathnakumar speaks about his achievements which are quite inspiring.
Lekha Rathnakumar, as a young man, was a jaunty merrymaker and the cynosure of his college during his college days. He had a profound knowledge in printing and a creative brain (which he believes everyone can achieve with unrelenting hard work). He was an expert at mimicry and had won myriad awards at the hands of MGR and Sivaji. Everything seemed to be going well for this young lad until disaster struck in the form of a misunderstanding between him and his father. He left his home in a fit of anger and also stuck to his decision and never returned. Imagine, a naive lad, who, after having been under the aegis of his comforting and pampering family, stepping on to this world where survival is a prerogative only to the fittest. But Rathnakumar was not a loser. That day he decided he will make a niche for himself in this society. His perseverance helped him materialise his aspirations.
Armed with a 50-rupee note handed to him by a compassionate friend, fortitude, and tons of confidence that his printing skills will win him orders for print ads, Rathnakumar marched on to Coimbatore, which is rich in industries but lacked in packaging skills at that time. After landing there, he hired a cycle and roamed its streets everyday in search of orders. One fine day, after a long and arduous wait, he was gifted with a meeting with an agarbathi maker which proved to be a turning point in his life. He won his heart with his confidence and ideas, and also bagged his first order (for 3 lakh labels). That was the start of Lekha Rathnakumar’s victory path. After bagging several orders in Coimbatore, he decided to move to next step – featured ads for television – which took him to Chennai. After making few ads, the creativity in him took a new route and he made a television play – Iruttil Oru Vanambadi – for Doordarshan, which made him very popular and a fulltime director of Doordarshan serials.
Lekha Rathnakumar has a special regard for Idhayam cooking oil. He says, “I am always indebted to the makers of Idhayam Cooking Oil, who recognised my talent early on and provided me a major breakthrough. Following the ad I made for them, many cooking oil manufacturers, who had rejected me in the beginning, asked me to work for them. But I decided to stick with Idhayam, as I am indebted to them forever. I have done myriad ad films now, but I have not done an ad for any cooking oil manufacturer other than Idhayam”.
Today, Lekha Rathnakumar’s ad business is sprawled across foreign countries like Germany and America. He even introduced the concept of background music library in Kollywood by teaming up with Germany’s Sonoton Music Library. And now, he is also making a film.
Lekha Rathnakumar, the entrepreneur has decided to look back at his life and celebrate his company’s 25th year. Can you guess who the chief guest at this celebration is? It is the friend, who lent Lekha Rs.50, using which he landed in Coimbatore.
Lekha Rathnakumar is an inspiration to many! His career path is a perfect example of how one's growth should be; he grew from a print ad maker to a filmmaker! Incredibly inspiring!
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