This story is from May 1, 2003

Actors find new love in production

THE 'O' SPOT/OMAR QURESHI / TNN / May 1, 2003, 18:03 IST

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MUMBAI: More and more stars are looking at striding two portfolios -- one of 'histrionic', the other of 'production'. Two boats, one person. Great when they sail in tandem, but real pain if they sail apart.

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">Is it a star? A producer? An actor? A director? No it''s our very own superman Shah Rukh Khan. A super mix of all of the above. Thus we see a newly evolved being of immense charisma, charm, patience and fortitude. One of the current crop of star personae, who want to do everything. And do it to the best of their ability. Another such is another Khan, Aamir. And these two showed how one normally cares that much more if the baby is your own, than if it were a surrogate.Then, more often than not, it gets tossed out with the bathwater. No wonder more and more of the ''star actor'' brigade are looking at striding two portfolios - one of ''histrionic'', the other of ''production''. Two boats, one person. Great when they sail in tandem, but a real painful ''split'' in the groin if they sail apart, right? Aamir Khan was the first to get it down to a science when he decided to float AKP (Aamir Khan Productions) with Lagaan. He was smart enough to calculate that if ''A'' was the amount he was going to put into a project of the scale of that film, he might as well stand to gain ''A x 100'' out of the whole strenuous exercise. And with him at the helm of production affairs, a dedicated and passionate director like Ashutosh and a relatively new and professional cast - to shoot the film on outdoor location -- on the trot, made it an economically viable proposition. Also, with AK''s brilliant marketing mind, he used a different approach to market this film - a partnership with a media house - Indiatimes (of the Times Group) and hey presto, the association discovered a new level of promotions for the movie moguls. Aamir sat on all creatives, all events and all meetings himself, trying to get the max out of everything. And this is something that wouldn''t have been possible if he himself wasn''t the producer. He knew that it was he and he alone who stood to gain from making the best out of any activity, and thus the 100 per cent-plus dedication. Not to say that he doesn''t do it when he is not the producer. Mr Perfectionist always argues every point even if he does not like the producer. Now how often do you see that happening? SRK, being a far busier star than Aamir (who does only one or two movies a year), couldn''t afford to devote such time to his productions, though he still puts 100 per cent into all. But he learnt a little more by trial and error. As he puts it: Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, being my very first production, I wanted to get all the publicity that I could. And maybe the film did suffer from overkill. In spite of being a good film with great music, the sky-high expectations of the public affected it a lot. But no regrets, it was a learning experience." He adds, "On the other hand, with Asoka, because of my experience with PBDHH, I went too low on the hype. Expecting the film to steam through on its own, but that didn''t work either. So now, with Chalte Chalte, I''m letting things take their own regular course. And I am keeping an eagle-eye on things of course, because the problem sometimes with letting things take their own course is that they can run away from you". Typically typical SRK, but so apt. It was Sunny Deol''s initiative in the 80s and 90s that saw movies such as Ghayal, Ghaatak and Barsaat hit the marquee with huge impacts. It was a production initiative that followed Betaab and was in turn followed by Dillagi, Shaheed... and Indian. Dharmendra''s Vijeta Films, more than the rest of the star-turned-producer-brigade, was a regular cinema factory, churning them out on the Deol assembly lines. Today, more and more stars are turning producer. Following the natural progression of a star that many earlier failed to hook onto, to prolong their successes. Sunjay Dutt, with his impatient temperament, was hardly the kind to sit and pore over papers, figures (unless it was Liz Hurley''s) and balance sheets. So he floated White Feather Productions along with friend Sanjay Gupta to do all that and more. He would act in it, devote all his time promoting it and share the profits, if it made some. Gupta, with a mind for handling large-scale productions would take care of all else. It was Amitabh Bachchan (who else) who began the corporatisation of movie making when he launched ABCL (now rechristened AB Corp) as a force in movie production. It was his trust in the wrong set-up that didn''t allow it to become the success it should have. But it proved to be the example that everyone learnt from. And now, in its new avatar, it is bound to redefine success in movie production, given that it is none other than the mighty AB who is captain of the ship. Of late, it is the business-minded Suneil Shetty who is keen to make movie production another of his success stories. Beginning with Khel he plans to produce his own movies and make mucho moolah out of them. Stars like Hrithik Roshan already have well-established production units like that of dad Rakesh. And it has made hits like Kaho Naa... and is set to repeat that with Koi Mil Gaya. Stars like Aishwarya, prefer to have a set up not directly in their name. So her brother Aditya, along with friend Shabbir Boxwala, floated Target Films, which made Dil Ka Rishta, and are now ready to do many more. Salman has brother Sohail too with GS Entertainment, to churn out the movies. Ajay Devgan has his unit. Juhi Chawla-Mehta has part stake in SRK''s ''Dreamz''. Govinda, despite a not too successful experience as producer, is still part of the brigade. And so the production goes on, with more and more stars ready to join the bandwagon. No wonder today''s savvy stars are a far cry from those of yesteryears, whose highs in life used to be ordering ''Chinese food'' for the family on the sets, knowing the harried producer had no choice but to pay for it. Today, the bill comes to them. Not that they mind though, the big box office jackpot comes to them as well. No wonder all our ''producers'' become ''reproducers''. Doing it again and again and again...</div> </div>

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