Friends with benefits

The young actors form the lead pair of Phantom’s first production,titled Lootera. To be produced by Balaji Motion Pictures and directed by Motwane,the film is a classic love story set in the 1950s with Kolkata as the backdrop.

It is among one of the biggest collaborations in the industry in recent times. But the four friends credit the idea of launching the production house together to humble bread pakoras.

“Vikas has a wonderful cook. He manipulated us over the delicious food,so we couldn’t refuse whatever he suggested,” says Kashyap with a laugh.

Kashyap is the common thread among them. He has known Mantena for 14 years and Motwane for 12. And it was under Bahl’s leadership at UTV Spotboy that Kashyap made Dev.D,leading the trend of low-budget films backed by big banners. But Bahl points out that despite the bond,they are very different. “We fight and how,and our views hardly ever match. But we respect the other’s opinions,” says Mantena. Phantom,however,is their way of beating the industry’s “system” by pooling in resources. Viacom 18’s entry in the partnership was more recent and is limited to that of a private equity investor. “Now they provide us the bread pakoras and finance our survival. And we seek producers like Balaji to finance our films,” explains Mantena,who produced Ghajini,one of the biggest Indian blockbusters. Kashyap,meanwhile,will fold up his own production house with Gangs of Wasseypur as the last film.

By announcing Lootera,the team has established that they are not limiting themselves to the realistic cinema that Kashyap and Motwane (with his debut film Udaan) are otherwise associated with. “We are not going to sit in isolation here,limiting our repertoire to the kind of cinema I make. And neither am I the only one directing under the Phantom banner,” insists Kashyap.

Lootera has been written by Motwane,Kashyap and Bhavani Iyer,who wrote Black and Guzaarish. With its young and commercial vibe,the film has sparked interest in the industry. But the choice of film as Phantom’s first production,they insist,was incidental. “Even though it will look like that,the budget isn’t Rs 50 crore,” says Motwane. Meanwhile,rumours of a second film — Rajkumar Gupta’s comedy Ghanchakkar — are doing the rounds.