The Mad Women of OTT: Meet these two creative producers who are creating magic on screen

The duo’s agency, Run Frenzy, was responsible for end-to-end production on Navya Naveli Nanda’s podcast, What The Hell Navya; (right) Aanya Jain, 23 (R), and Meghna Sahgal, 27, are young but say their age has only worked in their favour

You may have seen Ananya Pandey-starrer Call Me Bae's opening sequence, which features a collage-like design and animation that's young and peppy and sets the tone for the hit OTT series. Perhaps you've even tuned into the second season of What The Hell Navya, a podcast hosted by Navya Naveli Nanda that has moments of unguarded honesty, candid conversations on modern dating, and women's decision-making. What do the two shows have in common? Young, smart women are at the centre of both - not just on screen, but also behind the scenes.

Whether it's the snappy Call Me Bae opening sequence, or end-to-end production for What The Hell Navya (everything from strategy to concept development), behind them lie the creative force of the young duo that helm creative production agency, Run Frenzy.

This is a classic tale of two young women - Aanya Jain, 23, and Meghna Sahgal, 27 - who moved to Mumbai from Delhi and Kolkata respectively to follow their dream of working in media and entertainment - not unlike the titular character in Call Me Bae. The duo first met as co-workers at another firm. They got chatting on a flight to Delhi for a project, and realised that their goals matched. At the time, Jain was already on her notice period, and by the time their return flight landed in Mumbai, Sahgal handed in her resignation as well. After a few freelance projects, they took the plunge and decided to register Run Frenzy as their company.

All they had was their pool of savings and their creativity. "When we started, we had no idea what we were doing. We were everything - admin, finance department, and even legal. We did not know the logistics of running a business, all we knew was creative production, as we had done it many times before," they say.

A year later, their contrasting working styles have allowed them to complement each other, find a balance, and successfully work for big names like CRED, Disney+ Hotstar, Love Child by Masaba, Book My Show (they worked on the Prateek Kuhad tour launch video), NBA Style, Tira Beauty, and many more. Their most notable work, according to the duo, include the campaigns for Koffee with Karan (YouTube promos, Instagram content, designs and animation to announce "Now Streaming", Disney+ Hotstar's Kwizz & Tell IP), as well as sponsored content for Google Pixel.

Bringing their fresh and young perspective to the table and knowing exactly how to market to GenZ, one could say that the two are bringing Bollywood to the digital age. At present they are also looking at how to integrate AI and use it even for the luxury brands that they work for. Sahgal admits that she had always dreamed of working in the Hindi film industry, "I would tell my parents I wanted to be an actor. But eventually, I got behind the camera," she says.

Jain, too, studied business but wanted to pursue a career in media. After trying her hand at a few different roles in events, she eventually worked as an assistant director for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2. "That is also when I realised that I didn't want to focus on direction. I liked the management of the overall set, the people, and budgets. I knew that I found what I wanted to do was creative production, because it has both the creative aspect as well as the overarching management," says Jain.

Working with a set of editors, designers, videographers and more, they say they tailor their team as per the project on hand as that helps them keep their aesthetic fresh. What they lack in age and experience, they make up for with their powerhouse of talent. "Initially, they [clients] thought of us as two little girls trying to run the show, but in the past few projects, they told us that the output far surpassed their expectations. I feel like the kind of work we do and the expertise we bring contradicts the experience that other people have," says Sahgal.

Jain says that their strength lies in their streamlined systems, "I'm a major organiser, so when we come on set everything is pre-planned. We have a pre-production manual and detail every minute of the shoot... We have a very strong legal team. So, because of our experience with these types of things, we can tackle any client's queries and questions," she says, adding that in their experience, their age has worked in their favour.

As the two take their agency into its second year, they are already travelling to Europe for international expansion, and dream of entering the long-format content space. "In another three to five years, we hope to start producing our film," concludes Sahgal.