“Music and entertainment are my life,” says Manish Sharma, the owner of the popular Rhythm Video outlet on 437 Great North Road, Henderson. As well as running this popular west Auckland movie and music rentals outlet, Manish is also an increasingly popular DJ. For those who didn’t know, Manish is none other than DJ Gabroo himself.
Born and raised in Chandigarh in India, Manish says he was always interested in music and did the rounds with DJ friends in his hometown and in New Delhi. “When I landed here a few years ago, I saw that there was not too many Indian DJs at the nightspots – so I decided to hone my skills based on my exposure with the experts in India and launched into DJ-ing myself,” he says. “There’s nothing like making a business out of what you love and enjoy doing – you can never get tired or bored.”
Manish also co-hosts the Wednesday Night Fever programme on Radio Tarana from 8pm to midnight every Wednesday.
“We’ve developed Rhythm Video into a professionally run outfit. Our focus is on supplying quality DVDs and music CDs with top class customer service. We give special membership cards to each of our 2000 members and the cards are linked to our computer system which manages our inventory,” Manish says.
His experience in India as a marketing professional with multi-level marketing major Amway, put him in good step as regards marketing and developing and maintaining customer relationships, he says. Rhythm runs a number of specials throughout the week for its members.
Undoubtedly, Rhythm is one of the better-looking Indian video rental places you will encounter. Spacious, well lit, with the catalogues well classified and laid out, Rhythm is a place where you can make your selections in an unhurried manner. Rhythm also runs a substantial cybercafé with several workstations – and more recently has added a line of stylish Indian clothing in a part of his capacious premises.
Manish is now looking developing the event management side of his business after a recent event he helped conceive and manage, called Bollywood Jam, turned out to be an unprecedented success in west Auckland with over 400 attending and asking for more.
He is also a regular entertainer at the Waitakere Indian Association’s social nights. Thanks to his enthusiasm and experience, his services as coordinator of the Waitakere Divali Committee have been retained this year as well. “Last year was a great success. We’ll make this year’s event an even greater one,” he says optimistically.
The A.R. Rahman and Shankar Ehsaan Loy fan loves jamming with his own 6-man band, Bombay Magic, of which he is the lead singer. The community as well as local businesses and even his bankers have been encouraging him to expand his events business regionally, he says.
Manish is looking forward to his forthcoming shows in Wellington and a couple of nightclubs in Fiji over the next few weeks – an of course the big Diwali event later in the year.