Roshan Abbas said, Gen Z wants tactile objects. Gen Z wants less distraction and more focus. Gen Z wants authentic. And Gen Z wants to read physical books.

Roshan Abbas added, Gen Z wants collectibles. Gen Z wants personalisation. Gen Z wants purpose.

Abbas emphasised the significance of ‘physical connect’ in the digital era.

“Social media will always be one distance removed from life. So while I am a big believer in technology, I'm an equally big believer in the physical connection. We are social beings. Theatre cannot survive unless it is seen in person. You may enjoy a replay from there, but what is created live with people, has potent energy - something about it that is unique.”

Abbas quoted a TikTok content creator who spoke about the importance of print media.

He quoted the Mordor Intelligence report and spoke about the clout of the packaging industry. He crunched some numbers when he said that "The food and beverage sector is the main factor of the packaging market's expansion in India with an expected CAGR of 29.88% from 2018 to 2028."

Abbas who has co-founded Kommune along with actor and presenter Gaurav Kapur and singer-songwriter, and musician Ankur Tewari, in 2015 as a collective of creators looking for a platform. He shared the things he has learnt from the masters. Resilience from Amitabh Bachahan. Resilience from Sharukh Khan. Romance from Gulzar. 

He said, "We need more of this." He urged the delegates to "Give them something to talk about, engage with them and you will be tomorrow's Shahenshah and Badshah."

Abbas who has founded has also founded and led experiential marketing agency, Encompass in 1996 (now Geometry Encompass) as managing director. He was also an initial investor in and continues to be a mentor-partner at The Glitch. Both ventures have been acquired by WPP.

A multi-faceted personality who has worn several hats, including those of an actor, a TV and radio host, a producer, an event manager, a creative, film and theatre director, CEO, an angel investor, a serial entrepreneur, an author, and a public speaking coach during his career of over two decades, what’s the role that he identifies with the most, we asked Abbas.

"I enjoy being a creative person. I'm lucky that my creativity got me a vocation. From being a storyteller in the early days to today being the person who can be the medium for others to tell their stories,” he answered.

“In life, one reaches a stage wherein you are no longer the ‘railway engine’ - you become the ‘railway track’. Right now I'm that 'railway track', or 'crossroad' because I love connecting people and finding them opportunities. And Kommune is an articulation of the same,” he revealed, speaking metaphorically. 

 In a couple of weeks, Kommune India is scheduled to host SpokenFest 2024, its two-day event that brings together personalities from miscellaneous performing arts to showcase talents in an array of fields ranging from poetry and music to theatre and comedy, next month in Mumbai. Scheduled for 3 and 4 February, this year’s line-up of artists includes names such as Zakir Khan, Vishal Bhardwaj, Rekha Bhardwaj, Abish Mathew, Kanan Gill, Nikita Gill, Varun Grover, Niharika NM, Dot, and Dolly Singh, to name a few.

When Roshan Abbas, the maverick founder of Kommune India started Kommune India, only three brands supported the initiative. These were: HSBC, Asian Paints, and Vodafone (Vi), apart from a bunch of food and alco-bev boutique brands.

Cut to today, the fest has 20 city chapters, through which assorted activities are conducted and new ideas and thoughts are sourced. “Somewhere, I believe that we are becoming the ‘culture whisperers’ of this generation,” said Abbas.

Kommune also recently announced the launch of the second edition of its initiative ‘Voices of Tomorrow,’ in collaboration with Netflix India. The project aims to diversify the dubbing talent in the country by literally giving a voice to the often underrepresented cohorts from the LGBTQIA+ and the senior citizens' community. The ongoing initiative which will carry on till March 2024 in Mumbai has seen a collaboration with queer collectives, NGOs, artist organisations, and talent agencies to test the voices of around 500 individuals, shortlisting about 200 for in-person auditions towards this end.

Talking about how Netflix came into the picture, Abbas said, “The money needed to fund an organisation and to fund the festival, etc., has to come from brands that believe in us. That's how our Spoken Fest meetups started happening regularly in 20 cities, and over the past few years, Netflix became an early supporter.”

“And because we had a network of over 30,000 artists across India that we interact with, and over a million people that Kommune interacts with online, that tipped the scales a little in our favour,” said Abbas.