Comedy, gaming, rap, cricket and more
One of the challenges with pre-recorded celebrity masterclasses is that participants don’t get to interact or ask questions. FrontRow has figured out something of a workaround for that. The FrontRow app encourages community events and sets up challenges for users during and after a masterclass. The mentor isn’t present, but others who bought the same class are.
So if you’ve taken comedian Biswa Kalyan Rath’s class, and he suggested that you try to write a joke about a topic trending on Twitter, the app will prompt you to complete the exercise and submit the joke. Othclass ers who have taken the can then offer feedback, discuss their own efforts, etc.
“We started in early 2020 with about five masterfigured classes and soon that there was a need for this kind of community interaction,” says Mikhil
Raj, 28, co-founder of FrontRow (top inset) alongside Ishaan Preet Singh, 28, (middle inset) and Shubhadit Sharma, 30 (bottom inset). “A third of our user base is active on these community platforms, which are availcurrently able for each course.”
FrontRow offers 10 masterclasses, in English and Hindi, including sessions by cricketer Suresh Raina, composer Amit Trivedi, comedian Raju Srivastav and gamers Mortal and 8bit Thug. Sessions range in duralittion from 90 minutes to a tle under seven hours (the shortest ones are by the cricketers, but they also cost the least).
Music and gaming are FrontRow’s most popular offerings, followed by comedy.
“One of our most interesting findings is that 10% of our users have never made an online payment before, and yet here they are, signing up,” says Raj. “What this tells us is that these sessions are valued, especially because it’s difficult to find such expertise at an affordable price near your home.”
Harsha Meghraj, 19, a Commerce student from Belagavi in Karnataka, who took singer Neha Kakkar’s masterclass, says it was exciting learning from the former Indian Idol participant. He also got to practice alankars, breathing techniques and singing techniques with others from the FrontRow community, participated in online jam sessions which he says has helped build his own confidence in his ability. Essentially, a lesson taught by a player at the top of their game is highly prized, Raj says.
“When Biswa Kalyan Rath tells you all comedy works on empathy, you listen. There is a lot of noise in the market and many ways to learn things these days,” Raj adds. “What makes a difference is hearing insider tips and tricks from a star. Learning about the challenges that Amit Trivedi or Suresh Raina faced acts as validation for anyone starting out and wanting to become successful in a field. That’s also what makes the difference between a normal class and a masterclass.”
(FrontRow’s prices range from Rs 999 for lifetime access to one masterclass to Rs 5,499 for a lifetime all-access pass)