Freshh Mint Crafting Stories for a New Bharat

By Pickle October 18, 2024

Yash A Patnaik Founder and Managing Director of Inspire Films Ltd shares the vision behind his latest venture, Freshh Mint, and how it aims to empower Indian youth by telling stories that resonates with them.

Inspire Films Ltd, a powerhouse in Indian television and digital content creation, has ventured into a new territory with its YouTube channel Freshh Mint. Pickle sits down with Yash A Patnaik, Founder and Managing Director of Inspire Films Ltd, to discuss his latest project, his approach to storytelling, and what lies ahead for Freshh Mint.

The name Freshh Mint is intriguing. Could you explain its premise and what makes this channel unique?

YashA Patnaik: Freshh Mint delivers engaging tales for young adults. We needed a name to reflect their energy. At a time when most webseries are plot-driven, we strive to create character-driven narratives with multiple seasons of 12-24 episodes each. Our primary audience is aged 18 to 24, and we see this channel as a platform that engages, amuses, and reflects their real-world struggles.

We’ve noticed a niche for storytelling in Heartland India, a region filled with young people but underserved in terms of relatable content. Our goal is to fill that gap by sharing engaging tales about critical problems. All our stories are either based insights or issues or both which impacts the youths of today. This approach is seen in our debut series, Aukaat Se Zyada (Breaking Limits), about young people reimagining their potential.

How does Freshh Mint address real-world challenges in its stories?

Yash A Patnaik: A plot we’re creating involves human/manual scavenging, which is illegal in India, like many other countries. However, you will find local contractors using poor workers manually clean gutters, which is a huge health hazard for them. In India, there are over 200K human scavengers, illegally cleaning gutters, out of which more than 25 per cent are from Maharashtra. . One of Aukaat Se Zyada’s key characters’ father cleaned drains and scavenged. He aspires of attending an engineering college with a robotic department despite societal exclusion after his father’s death. He creates a robotic drain cleaner called ‘Eagle’ to replace human scavengers. It is a gripping narrative with a social message, but more significantly, it represents today’s youth’s aspirations—those who refuse to let their past define them.

This sounds powerful. What does Freshh Mint’s content say about young Indians’ dreams?

Yash A Patnaik: Youth nowadays are ambitious. Earlier, a middle-class child was expected to continue in that class for life. That no longer applies. Indian youngsters nowadays desire to break boundaries and decide their destiny. Freshh Mint tells tales about this new Bharat. Stories of entrepreneurship, creativity, and personal development.

One of our characters aspires to be a professional gamer, but his parents fear he plays mobile games too much. They are unaware that he produces a popular game under the moniker “Shadow,” which has millions of fans. He’s a champion online despite emotional breakdowns and parental neglect. Youth aspire to manage their own fate. This sentiment is shared by many.

Freshh Mint tells relevant tales. Does this information resonate globally?

YashA Patnaik: Absolutely. No matter their place, youth face similar obstacles. They have goals, but also confront social pressures and stigmas. These are universal experiences. We plan to expand Freshh Mint’s content into multiple languages, starting with Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Bengali, so that our stories can reach and resonate with a wider audience. Local stories will be told in local languages, but the themes will remain universal.

How does YouTube affect Freshh Mint’s strategy?

YashA Patnaik: YouTube is great because we can interact with our fans live. Feedback is immediate. We wrote 100 Aukaat Se Zyada episodes, but after releasing 12 episodes we’re collecting fan inputs before releasing more. We can manage our content and audience on YouTube without a broadcaster. We can tell the stories we want to tell.

It sounds like Freshh Mint is also a platform for new talent. Can you elaborate on that?

YashA Patnaik: Yes, we are actively encouraging young writers, directors, and actors to come and work with us. We’re building a universe of characters and stories that will span various genres, including sports fiction. Our goal is to create a space where new talent can thrive, and young creators can tell the stories that matter to them.

What’s next for Freshh Mint?

Yash A Patnaik: We have exciting plans. In addition to regional languages, we wish to explore youth-relevant subjects. We are writing about delivery boys young entrepreneurs/sportsmen/Women, and body-shaming survivors who succeeded. Our goal is to continue empowering the youth through fiction, while reflecting the realities they face.