Rohini Iyer
Rohini Iyer
Rohini Iyer (born August 9, 1979) is a business executive and film journalist from Mumbai, India. She is the founder of Raindrop Media. [1]
Personal Life
Rohini Iyer pictured on her Instagram with Sushant Singh Rajput
Rohini is known for seamlessly moving through crowds of A-list celebrities.
On December 15, 2019 she threw a house party featuring several of the biggest stars such as Deepika Padukone, Hrithik Roshan, Yami Gautam, Aditi Rao Hydari, Raveena Tandone, Taapsee Pannu, Nushrat Bharucha, Huma Qureshi, Anil Kapoor, Anisha Padukone, Ananya Panday, Bhumi Pednekar, Radhika Apte, Vikrant Massey, Tabu, Aayush Sharma, Diana Penty and Tahira Kashyao. [7]
Sushant Singh Rajput Death
Rohini Iyer was a close friend and the manager of Sushant Singh Rajput. After his death, she urged people to celebrate his life and talent instead of giving opinions on him. In an emotional note shared on Instagram, Iyer wrote:
"If you want to talk about him, celebrate his life.
It was larger than life like the movies he aspired to make.
Celebrate his work.
He put his heart and soul into his craft, he was bothered more about research than makeup."[24]
She added:
"He was about quality, not vanity.
He was a bright star.
That`s why he shined sheer magic.
Celebrate his brilliance.
He thrived for excellence, mediocrity affected him.
He rejected anything conventional as easily as he rejected godfathers and big-ticket films that he didn`t believe in."[24]
Iyer further went on to talk very highly of Rajput and stated how he would turn down big opportunities if it didn't excite him:
"He didn't take calls of the high and mighty if he didn`t want to.
He didn't care about money, I've seen him return paychecks worth crores.
If he wanted to switch his phone off and go farming or fishing, he would".[24]
"He broke every rule and burnt bridges sometimes just to light his way.
Cos frankly my dear he didn't give a damn.
He was my best friend, my special son.
He was my Mozart."
In a separate post, Iyer also described how Rajput was interested in the meaningful aspects of life beyond being in the Bollywood 100 Crore Club:
"He hated fake friends, phone calls, and small talk.
He rejected your parties, you didn't shun him.
He rejected your lobbies.
He didn't need camps, he had his own kingdom.
He was a fighter.
He made his own place in the sun".[24]
Iyer was not at Sushant Singh Rajput's funeral, despite describing herself as one of the friends he cared about. In an Instagram post, she explained why:
"I didn’t come to say goodbye to you today because saying goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.
I will remember you every single day of my life and specially every insomniac night.
I will not search for you in the stars you loved because I know you are around me smiling and shining like the entire galaxy you are !"[26]
Education
Rohini Iyer dropped out of college at an early age to pursue her dream of working in show business. [2]
Career
At the age of 16 Rohini Iyer interned as a journalist with the film magazine G. She has also worked with MTV and Channel V. Iyer grew fascinated with the celebrities she was supposed to be interviewing and began to empathize with them as people and not subjects to be written about. When she was younger, actors weren't on such a tight leash so she spent a lot of her time socializing with them. She became good friends with celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor before even launching her own company. [3]
Move Into PR
In 2002, she was annoyed by the press surrounding Manisha Koirala, an actress who claimed a nude scene she'd acted in used a body double. Rohini disliked how contrived the publicity was, saying: [3]
"Everyone was talking about how the film had excellent publicity¸ but in reality it was only about petty and contrived controversies with Manisha Koirala, the lead actor, going ballistic at every stage.
I told myself, this is not how things should be done."
Raindrop Media
Rohini Iyer dreamt up what would become Raindrop Media in 2003 with her friend Rahila Mirza, filmmaker Aziz Mirza, at a coffee shop in Bandra. The famous dance choreographer, Farah Khan, was getting into directing and looking for someone who could help with marketing and publicity for her first project, Main Hoon Na. [3]
Mot much later, Rohini heard B. J. Thomas's 60’s Academy-award winning song, Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head, and decided it would be a good name for her firm. Together Rohini and Rahila registered Raindrop Media with only a little over 5 Lakh to their name. [3]
Main Hoon Na was a hit and took in over 33 crore at the box office. Rohini's work was recognized and she was soon flooded with requests from well known actors like filmmaker Mani Ratnam, actress Revathi and the artist M. F. Husain. Since then she's served as a publicist and media director for dozens of celebrities and projects. [3]
Clients
Rohini has worked with a long list of clients including but not limited to: [4]
Priyanka Chopra
Katrina Kaif
Kareena Kapoor Khan
Ranbir Kapoor
Hrithik Roshan
Kangana Ranaut
Shahid Kapoor
Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Farah Khan
Ekta Kapoor
Aanand L. Rai
R. Balki
Abhishek Kapoor
Bipasha Basu
John Abraham
Film Promotion
Rohini also does a lot of film promotion: [4]
Bajirao Mastani
Tanu Weds Manu: Returns
Piku, Queen
Mary Kom
The Dirty Picture
Dabangg
Kahaani
Social Media
Rohini Iyer has more than 184,000 followers on her star-studded Instagram where she goes by the handle @rohiniyer. She mostly posts pictures of herself with friends and other celebrities in glamorous settings. She goes by the handle @rohiniyer on her Twitter account where she has over 136,000 followers. [5][6]