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Ketan Pendse: Award-Winning Marathi-Hindi Actor-Director Turns Published Author and International Filmmaker with “11:17PM”

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Pune-Based Performer Adds Published Author and Global Filmmaker Titles to a Decade-Long, Award-Winning Career

Pune-based actor, writer, and director Ketan Pendse is stepping into a new chapter of his decade-long entertainment career. Best known for his work across the Marathi and Hindi film and television industry, the 29-year-old is now adding two fresh titles to his resume: published author and international filmmaker. The milestones arrive alongside his first English-language international feature film, “11:17PM,” and mark one of the more unconventional career pivots seen in regional Indian cinema in recent years.

A Decade of Awards Across Acting, Direction, and Beyond

Ketan Pendse’s presence on the Marathi and Hindi film festival circuit stretches back nearly ten years. He earned the Best Debut Actor award for “Ek Thriller Night” at the Nashik International Film Festival in 2016, and followed it with a Best Actor win at the Late Dr. Patangrao Kadam 4th Pune International Short Film Festival in 2019.

In 2021, he expanded into direction, winning the Best Director award at the 12th Pune and 9th Goa Short Film Festival for his Marathi short film “Gupt.” His most recent honour came at the Asian Thailand International Short Film Festival 2025, where he won Best Actor for “Kahi Kisi Roz.” He has also picked up recognition outside the festival circuit, including the Best Smile award at the Mr. & Ms. Glamfame fashion show, presented by Sonali Kulkarni and Ashmit Patel.

More recently, his awards tally has grown on the international stage: a Best Actor and Best Director win at the Nepal International Film Festival 2026 for the Hindi feature “Black Night,” and a Best Actor award at the Canada International Film Festival 2026 for the Marathi short “Gupt,” shared with co-actor Ketaki Chitale. Taken together, the honours span acting, direction, and even a fashion-circuit award, pointing to a career built on range rather than a single specialty.

A Filmography Spanning Formats

Pendse’s body of work covers feature films, web series, short films, and music videos in both Hindi and Marathi cinema. His Hindi credits include the feature films “The Invisible Hubby,” “Trisha,” and “Black Night,” along with the web series “Margaon Files: The Unsolved Case,” which features veteran performers such as Zeenat Aman, Pallavi Joshi, and Shilpa Shinde.

On the Marathi side, his filmography includes “Ek Thriller Night,” currently streaming on ZEE5, along with “Binda,” “Love Betting,” “Aagmya,” “Punha 26/11,” “Love Lover Zindabad,” and “Lagna Chakra,” which released on Amazon in the US and UK. Upcoming OTT projects include “Chillari,” “Aranyachakra,” and the web series “Ti Parat Aaliy.”

He has also built a substantial short film and music video catalogue, including the Hindi shorts “Gumraah,” “Strange,” “Kahi Kisi Roz,” and “The Trap”; a set of silent short films titled “Scared,” “Smile,” “The Mobster,” “The Mobile Last Frame,” and “Hope”; the award-winning Marathi short “Gupt”; “Blue Shoe” and “Khel Sansaracha”; and music videos such as “Roop Tuzha Bhari,” “Dil Mera Tere Naam,” and “Yaara Teri Yaari.” Beyond acting, he has anchored segments, including an interview with actor Abhijit Bichukale, and hosted the pan-India travel show “Travel Trolly.” He has also modelled in fashion shows alongside personalities such as Sonali Kulkarni, Parul Chauhan, Mrs India 2013 winner Pooja Thakur, Shruti Marathe, Saurabh Gokhale, and Gaurav Ghatnekar.

Stepping Into Publishing as an Author

In a departure from his screen career, Pendse has published his debut novel, “Haveli: Ek Adhuri Mulakat,” under Inkvision Press, credited to his full name, Ketan Pradip Pendse. The book is available on Amazon, Flipkart, Google Books, Kindle, and the Google Play Store, and explores themes of memory, longing, and unresolved connection — a sensibility that echoes the psychological horror and travel-drama undertones running through his acting and directing work.

The literary debut will not be his last. A second novel, a romantic drama titled “Kinaara,” is set to publish soon under the same author credit, suggesting his move into fiction is a sustained pursuit rather than a one-off project alongside his screen career.

“11:17PM”: A Global Leap

Pendse’s most ambitious project to date is “11:17PM,” on which he serves as writer, director, producer, and lead actor. The film is produced under his own banner, Glamfame Entertainment, with Daulatsingh Rajpurohit co-producing through Rajpurohit Films.

Billed as a psychological horror and adventure travel drama, “11:17PM” was shot across five countries — Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong, Macao, and India. The story follows travel blogger Keyaan, who is pulled into a haunting mystery tied to a recurring dream that strikes at exactly 11:17 PM.

An Outlier in Marathi and Hindi Entertainment

With a debut novel under the Ketan Pradip Pendse author credit and his first internationally shot feature film now underway, Pendse’s career trajectory reflects a performer unwilling to stay confined to a single role, language, or medium. As “11:17PM” and “Haveli: Ek Adhuri Mulakat” both reach new audiences, his decade of groundwork across Marathi and Hindi entertainment appears to be setting the stage for a considerably larger stage ahead.

In an industry where actors typically specialise in a single track — performance, direction, or production — Pendse’s willingness to take on all three simultaneously, while also publishing fiction and anchoring television segments, marks him as an outlier within the Marathi and Hindi entertainment space. From his 2016 debut award in Mumbai at NiFF to his 2025 win in Thailand, and now his 2026 wins in Nepal and Canada, his awards run appears to be reaching its most ambitious chapter yet — with his second novel, “Kinaara,” set to publish soon.

Flipkart:https://www.flipkart.com/haveli-ek-adhuri-mulakat/p/itm49ce56972d186?pid

Career Snapshot

NameKetan Pendse (author credit: Ketan Pradip Pendse)
RolesActor, Writer, Director, Producer, Anchor, Model, Author
IndustryMarathi & Hindi Entertainment
Career Span10+ Years
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Velishala Sruchit Kumar Gupta: The Entrepreneur Behind Thribhu Inc. and Exotica Aquarium

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From International Exports to India’s Premier Ornamental Fish Destination — Inside a Multi-Industry Business Journey

Few entrepreneurs manage to build a meaningful presence across two entirely unrelated industries, let alone do it with the scale and international recognition that has come to define the career of Velishala Sruchit Kumar Gupta. Popularly known as Sruchit Kumar Gupta Velishala, he has built a reputation as an Indian entrepreneur, exporter and business strategist, with ventures spanning international trade and the ornamental fish industry — two fields that rarely intersect, but which together tell a story of adaptability, ambition and long-term vision.

A Career Rooted in Global Commerce

Entrepreneurship has been at the centre of Sruchit Kumar Gupta Velishala’s professional life from the very beginning. His journey started in international trade, where he built export operations that eventually served customers across numerous countries. That early experience in global commerce didn’t just generate revenue — it gave him a working understanding of sourcing, logistics, international compliance and cross-border business relationships that would go on to shape every venture he built afterward.

For any entrepreneur, the early years of an export business tend to be the most instructive — they force a founder to learn how different markets operate, how to manage long supply chains, and how to build trust with buyers who may never meet them in person. That foundation appears to have stayed with Sruchit Kumar Gupta Velishala well beyond his first export venture, informing the scale and international outlook of the businesses he built later.

Thribhu Inc.: Building a Global Export Enterprise

Before entering the ornamental fish industry, Sruchit Kumar Gupta Velishala founded and operated Thribhu Inc., an international export enterprise supplying products to markets around the world. Under his leadership, the company exported more than 500 different products to customers globally — a breadth of catalogue that speaks to both the scale of the operation and the diversity of buyer relationships it managed to sustain.

Over approximately nine years of operation, Thribhu Inc. achieved a cumulative business turnover exceeding ₹500 Crore, a figure that positions it as a genuinely significant player in India’s international export landscape during that period. Building and sustaining a business at that scale over nearly a decade requires more than a single strong product line — it demands consistent quality control, dependable logistics, and the kind of long-term buyer relationships that only develop through repeated, reliable delivery over years, not months.

The company’s export operations also reflected a deep working knowledge of international trade compliance — a notoriously complex area for any business moving physical goods across borders, where regulatory requirements vary significantly from one destination market to another. Managing that complexity successfully across hundreds of products and numerous international markets is one of the more understated achievements behind Thribhu Inc.’s growth.

Exotica Aquarium: A New Chapter in Ornamental Fish

Perhaps the most distinctive turn in Sruchit Kumar Gupta Velishala’s entrepreneurial journey came with the founding of Exotica Aquarium, now regarded as one of India’s premier aquarium destinations. Built with an investment exceeding ₹8 Crore, the facility was developed with a clear vision: bringing world-class ornamental fish and aquarium infrastructure into the Indian market, at a scale the country hadn’t widely seen before.

Exotica Aquarium went on to showcase more than 2,000 specimens of ornamental fish, making it one of the largest single collections available anywhere in India. That scale alone would be notable, but the facility’s real significance lies in what it introduced to Indian hobbyists — numerous rare ornamental fish species sourced from South America and other international regions, several of which were being introduced to the Indian market for the very first time.

For a country’s aquarium hobbyist community, that kind of introduction matters far beyond the immediate commercial transaction. It expands what collectors, breeders and retailers even know is possible, effectively widening the entire ecosystem of species available domestically rather than simply adding one more retail outlet to an existing, unchanged market.

Building an Ecosystem, Not Just a Business

Exotica Aquarium’s influence extended well beyond a single retail or wholesale operation. The enterprise drew aquarium enthusiasts, collectors, breeders, retailers and aquatic professionals from across India, positioning itself as a genuine hub for the country’s ornamental fish industry rather than just another supplier competing for shelf space.

Alongside that commercial growth, Sruchit Kumar Gupta Velishala placed a consistent emphasis on responsible fish keeping — educating hobbyists and encouraging sustainable practices across the broader aquarium ecosystem. That focus on education and sustainability, layered on top of a commercially successful venture, reflects an approach to business that treats industry development as part of the mission, not just a byproduct of it.

International Recognition for Conservation Work

In recognition of his contributions to ornamental fish breeding and aquatic conservation, Sruchit Kumar Gupta Velishala was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by a government university in the Kingdom of Tonga. The honour specifically recognized his work in successfully breeding a rare fish species and his role in supplying that species to support ecological conservation initiatives aimed at preserving a local aquatic ecosystem.

Recognition of this kind — from an international academic institution, tied specifically to conservation outcomes rather than commercial success alone — signals a dimension to his work that goes beyond running a profitable aquarium business. It points to a genuine engagement with the ecological side of the ornamental fish trade, an industry where breeding practices and sourcing decisions can have a real impact on wild fish populations if not managed responsibly.

A Consistent Business Philosophy

Across both Thribhu Inc. and Exotica Aquarium, a consistent set of values seems to run through Sruchit Kumar Gupta Velishala’s approach to business: innovation, ethical practice, international quality standards, and a focus on long-term value creation rather than short-term gains. His ventures have consistently aimed at building sustainable businesses — ones that create employment, foster international collaboration, and contribute to the development of the industries they operate in, rather than simply extracting value from an existing market.

That philosophy is easier to state than to execute across two very different industries, but the trajectory of his career — from a nine-year export enterprise with a turnover exceeding ₹500 Crore, to an aquarium destination housing over 2,000 specimens and internationally recognized for its conservation contributions — suggests it has been more than just a stated value on paper.

Looking Ahead

As Velishala Sruchit Kumar Gupta continues to explore new business opportunities, his track record so far offers a fairly clear pattern: scale built through patience, ventures grounded in genuine industry knowledge, and a willingness to move into unfamiliar territory — from global exports to a highly specialized aquatic industry — when the underlying vision justifies it. Whatever comes next in his entrepreneurial journey, it’s likely to carry the same combination of ambition and international outlook that has defined his career so far.

For an entrepreneur whose work already spans international trade, ornamental fish conservation, and industry-building on a national scale, the through-line remains consistent: building enterprises that are respected not just for their commercial success, but for the genuine contribution they make to the industries and communities around them.

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Dhaniya Powder by Dakloni: The Coriander Spice Every Indian Gravy Depends On

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It Rarely Gets the Spotlight, But Almost No Curry Works Without It

Ask most home cooks to name their favourite spice, and coriander powder — dhaniya — almost never makes the list. It doesn’t have turmeric’s colour, red chilli’s heat, or garam masala’s aromatic finish. And yet pull it out of a typical Indian gravy recipe and the dish falls apart — thinner in body, flatter in flavour, missing the subtle citrusy backbone that ties everything else together. Dakloni’s Dhaniya Powder is built around exactly that quiet, essential role, positioned with the same “Pure, Natural, Authentic” promise the brand applies across its entire spice range.

The Unsung Workhorse of Indian Cooking

Coriander powder does a job that’s easy to overlook precisely because it does it so consistently well. It thickens gravies, balances heat from chilli powder, and adds a mild, slightly citrusy, earthy note that rounds off a dish’s overall flavour profile. Unlike a finishing spice such as garam masala, dhaniya typically goes in early, cooked down with onions, tomatoes and other base ingredients — which means the quality of the powder matters over the full cooking time, not just in a quick burst of aroma at the end.

Why Freshness Changes Everything Here

Ground coriander loses its aromatic oils faster than the whole seed, which is part of why a stale dhaniya powder can taste dusty or flat rather than genuinely fragrant. Dakloni’s version is positioned as 100% natural with no added flavours, meaning there’s nothing artificial compensating for weaker or older stock — the aroma that’s there is the aroma the seeds actually had at the time of grinding. For a cook who’s used to a dull, generic coriander powder from an unbranded source, the difference in a genuinely fresh batch is often surprisingly noticeable in the very first dish it’s used in.

What Sets a Good Batch Apart

A quality dhaniya powder should have a light, slightly greenish-brown colour rather than a dull grey, and a mild, citrusy aroma rather than a musty or bitter one. Dakloni’s stated quality-check process — applied across its spice range — is built to catch exactly these kinds of inconsistencies before a batch reaches a customer’s kitchen, since coriander’s flavour and potency can vary noticeably depending on the seed source and how it was dried and ground.

Beyond the Basic Curry

While dhaniya powder is best known as a base-gravy ingredient, it shows up in a surprisingly wide range of Indian cooking — dry sabzis, marinades, chaat masalas, and even some lentil preparations where its mild, rounding flavour helps balance sharper spices like cumin or chilli. It’s also one of the more forgiving spices to cook with, rarely overpowering a dish even when added slightly more generously than a recipe calls for, which makes it a reliable staple for less experienced cooks still learning how much of a stronger spice like red chilli or garam masala to use.

Pairing It With the Rest of the Shelf

Dhaniya powder rarely works alone — it’s usually part of a foundational trio alongside turmeric and red chilli powder, the three spices that go into the base of most Indian curries before any of the more aromatic finishing spices are added. Dakloni sells all three under the same natural, preservative-free positioning, which gives a household a fairly complete and consistent base-spice shelf without needing to mix and match quality between different brands.

Storage Habits Worth Building

Because coriander powder is particularly prone to losing aroma once exposed to air and moisture, an airtight container stored away from steam and direct heat makes a real difference to how long a batch stays useful. Buying smaller packs more frequently, rather than a large box meant to last many months, tends to be the more reliable approach for a spice that’s used in nearly every meal but doesn’t hold its peak flavour indefinitely once ground.

The Bottom Line

Dhaniya powder will probably never be the spice a recipe headline is built around, but it’s frequently the one quietly responsible for whether a curry tastes rounded and complete or thin and one-note. Dakloni’s bet with its Dhaniya Powder is a simple one — that a genuinely fresh, naturally sourced version of even the most background spice on the shelf is worth paying attention to, because the dishes built on top of it depend on it more than most cooks give it credit for.

Explore the full range on the Dakloni website, and follow Dakloni Masala on Instagram for recipes that put this everyday spice to work, or on Facebook for more updates.

Brand Snapshot

BrandDakloni Masala
TaglinePerfect Taste Since 1983
Parent CompanyGreen Chocy Pvt. Ltd.
CategorySpices, Masalas, Dry Fruits
OriginOdisha, India
FSSAI License12026999000110
WebsiteDakloni.com / Dakloni.in
Instagram@daklonimasala
FacebookDakloni Masala
Emailsupport@dakloni.com
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Special presence of Jagdish Chandra Bariya (Jaggu Dada) and his team as delegates at ‘BRICS WAVES Bazaar 2026’ in Mumbai

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A grand international event ‘BRICS WAVES Bazaar 2026’ has been organized on 6th and 7th August 2026 at the prestigious Trident Hotel located at Nariman Point, Mayanagari Mumbai. In this two-day global conference that lasted from 9.45 am to 5.30 pm, the giants of the media, film and content creation sector from home and abroad were present on the same stage. In this special global summit, well-known personality Shri Jagdishbhai Bariya (Jaggu Dada) and his team members enhanced the beauty of the program by attending as special delegates.

This international forum was attended by leaders of Bollywood and international film industry from India, BRICS countries and around the world.
Delegates from all over the world: Renowned film producers from India and abroad, famous directors, businessmen, heads of OTT platforms, digital creators and renowned film actors were present in large numbers at this summit.

In-depth discussions were held among international panelists on serious topics like global changes in the entertainment sector, content distribution, digital media and “Policy Framework for BRICS Creative Economy Collaboration”.

During the program, Jagdishbhai Baria (Jaggu Dada) and his team attended various panel discussions as delegates. They met with international producers, directors and business leaders and exchanged ideas on the creative industry, new technologies and future projects.
The presence of Jaggu Dada and his team at such a global event is a matter of great pride for talented artists and the media sector at the regional level. It is hoped that this presence will open doors for new collaborations and opportunities at the international level in the future.

Along with this event, information about the leading awards in the content and technology sector, ‘FICCI BAF Awards 2026’ was also shared:
Key details:
Date: 29 and 30 September 2026
Venue: Grand Hyatt, Mumbai
Categories: A total of 39 categories in 6 areas such as Animation, VFX, Gaming, Comics, XR and AI.
The ‘BRICS WAVES Bazaar 2026’ held in Mumbai has proven to be a new peak for the global cinema and entertainment world, in which the presence of Jagdishbhai Baria (Jaggu Dada) and his team was significant.

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