Smart set gets into business overdrive

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In Bollywood, film heroes just sign up with political parties a la Govinda and in the South they launch blockbuster political parties of their own like Chiranjeevi or his predecessors NTR or MGR. Meanwhile, another smart breed of politics-shy movie stars do neither, but plunge headlong into the risk-ridden seas of business.

Just on the day that Chiranjeevi launched his new party Prajasakthi in Andhra Pradesh, Malayalam actor and several-times National Award winner Mohanlal was also in the news. He announced his corporate entry to the roller-coaster ride of the capital markets, partnering in a new brokerage firm, Hedge Securities. This, in Kerala, which is usually in the limelight for politics rather than business.

The Kerala matinee idol is coy about politics, but is aggressively bullish about courting risks, both on screen and off it. There are few businesses Mohanlal has not dabbled in. Fewer still have paid off. In fact, he fished himself out of a sinking marine export business to strike paydirt in a sound studio complex in his hometown. His restaurants in the Gulf and Bangalore are doing well, but he burnt his fingers in the curry powder export foray. “Money is not all. To me, the journey is the goal, in film or business,” he shrugs philosophically.

Recall that Shah Rukh Khan too had openly turned his back on politics after publicly locking horns with Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh in Dubai. A shrewd marketer, he took to investing in the only business that’s keeping audiences away from cinemas. It was a new wicket for celebrity culture when King Khan bid and won one of the franchises for the Indian Premier Cricket League. For both Kolkata Knight Riders and Khan, the business teaming proved a symbiotic branding feat.

Bollywood’s new generation is buzzing with those with one foot on business and another on the silver screen. Aamir Khan runs his own production house, which was famously set up to produce Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Lagaan when no producer was willing to touch it. Lagaan went on to make history and Aamir Khan Productions followed that up with two other successful films, Taare Zameen Par and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Suniel Shetty recently expanded his fashion boutique chain in Mumbai with a Canadian tie-up. Every other Hindi actor is either launching his/her own production company or opening restaurants.