In Conversation With the Power Couple: Madhuri Dixit and Dr Shriram Nene

Madhuri Dixit Nene and Dr Shriram Nene is a modern-day power couple crushing different avenues they take on and certainly doing them right.

As the iconic "dhak-dhak' girl, she has been a '80s sensation but now has a newfound footing in the digital era. Her passion for dance clubbed with an outlook for edtech has amalgamated to a series of ventures that have made a true mark. With an insightful look into their truly inspiring journeys, let us explore some feats of this power couple in 2020.

While one is a dancing legend, whose skills are no less than her mesmerizing personality, the other started out in healthcare and ventured into entrepreneurship. Talking about their experiences in these varied facets of their lives, here what they told Entrepreneur India.

Entrepreneurship and the changing entertainment industry

The combination of Bollywood's megastar Madhuri and Dr Nene outlook for edtech became the founding steps for the couple taking a plunge into the education sector. Dr Nene described his experience in ideating and coming to build a modern-day content company RnM Moving Pictures as trasnformational.

"When I came to India, I found that there's a lack of access, and it's for various reasons; that people can't get to their doctors, best teachers and other necessities. In 2012, I created RnM Moving Pictures, which is a platform-agnostic digital content company. The idea was simple, that all screens would converge and become one," he said.

The focus was to evolve a flexible system to prioritize the user's choice within digital learning while also bringing the best use of technology and traditional learning into the picture.

"In the process of doing this, the user decides what they learn, how they learn it, what content they look up and what access they got. Along with building heath-based entities we thought why couldn't we do this for education? The kernel of this wasn't dance. It was to teach in a disseminated fashion using technology, media and brick-and-mortar come together," he added.

The endeavor has now scaled to reach over 400 countries and provides an online platform, which has performed particularly well in the lockdown. Shedding some light on how skill development and technology are evolving the entertainment industry, Madhuri shared an experience-shift that has been up close and personal.

"There's a lot more discipline now in the entertainment business which is much more streamlined than when I had started. Right from the scripts to what you wear, the look, everything is worked out beforehand. For an artist, it's a great thing. Once you're on set you're completely prepared. There were very few women on set earlier. Today there are women in every department," she shared.

The expanding horizon of healthtech

Dr Nene emphasizes how healthcare is taken seriously only after a serious encounter, and the lifestyle value for the same has been highly undermined.

With years of experience in the health industry, he has expanded his expertise to the healthtech sector to make healthcare available to patients as a loop to continuously monitor them rather than just traditional treatment.

"For twenty years of my life, I practised as a heart surgeon but I couldn't turn back the clock to undo what people had done their whole lives. What we have cooked up is personalized precision healthcare which focuses on individuals and tries to promote variables of lifestyle and aspects to educate the patient to take care of them," he said.

Quarantine as a couple and venturing into singing

The couple spent a humbling time during the quarantine, with more time for family and their interests. One such product of horning a lockdown skill was Madhuri's singing debut with her single Candle.

"We had recorded this song in LA. I love to sing and I thought struggles are common to everybody. When you are faced with a struggle you have to gather the strength and light a candle of sorts. That was the idea behind this song that we wrote and I sang it," she said.

Check out Entrepreneur India's Digital Cover: The Power Couple: Madhuri Dixit and Dr Shriram Nene. Find candid remarks on their lives, business ventures, outlook and much more in our exclusive video.