‘Black & White, Iqbal in the same league’

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Gold the most preferred investment

: a film I made for Rs 80 lakh 30 years ago? Sometimes, some movies don’t work, even if it is Shekhar Kapur or Mani Ratnam or Sanjay Leela Bhansali. If a Bhansali film doesn’t do well, will you think he is not talented? As a creative artist, you experiment and hope for the best. Then again, the films you said were flops — Yaadein and Kisna — didn’t do all that badly financially. We made a profit of Rs 15 crore on Yaadein and lost only Rs 5 crore on Kisna.

You have produced sensitive films like Iqbal. Is that the path you are treading as a director too because Black & White doesn't look like a Ghai film at all?

Black & White is in the same league as Iqbal. It’s not like a Ghai film at all but it will touch a chord with the people. But my next project, Yuvraaj, is a full-blown Ghai film with all the glamour and glitz.

You said earlier that you are the “controller of creativity”. As a producer, do you control creativity as well?

It depends. For instance, I did have a hand in Nagesh Kukunoor’s Iqbal, but didn’t have any say in his latest film, Bombay to Bangkok. I wouldn’t dream of controlling a team like Abbas Mustan’s, for example.

Is Bollywood settling for a Hollywood style studio model with contracts being signed with actors and directors for a slate of films at a stretch?

I don’t know if we can call it a studio model yet, but yes, actors and directors are being signed on for 3-4 films. Our Mukta Arts has signed Anurag Sinha — he is being introduced in Black & White — for five years.

Tell us about Mukta Arts and its growth plans.

We will be one of the leading production houses in five years. We have laid out a wonderful, practical growth plan, not just on paper. We will also tap into the talent we are creating at our film school,

Whistling Woods. With the Hindi film industry on a growth path, the film school pool will help others too.

Your own film Karz is being remade, Pritish Nandy Communications has announced a Sholay remake. Do you think Sholay should be remade?