The Producer146;s Cut

Again, in an industry where grassroot reaction is the ultimate litmus test, such glowing references from his target audience are sure to please Nadiadwala, or Nadiad as he is called. After all, they sit well with his reputation as a part of Bollywood8217;s new producer powerhouse club.

The joke in Bollywood is that becoming a producer is the coolest job profile these days. This year, where the box office has been jingling from January onwards, particularly, has proved it. Of course, there is Aditya Chopra. The creative force behind Yash Raj Films, Adi is the undisputed emperor of Bollywood and saw Fanaa meet with success, despite the Aamir Khan-Narmada controversy, which many felt would harm the film. Then there is the face of UTV, Ronnie Screwvala. Rang De Basanti8217;s Oscar nod is a reconfirmation of the success ratio of the production house8217;s studio model. Munnabhai-producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra was feted on the film, its message and its Oscar-quotient, as much as its maker and creator, Rajkumar Hirani. Then you have Woh Lamhe, where over-the-top producer Mahesh Bhatt outdid himself by employing what many saw as a disgusting antic: Making the Parveen Babi tapes public to boost his film8217;s opening. The film grossed Rs 4 crore in the first week of release.

These savvy guys, with their hands-on approach, represent the modern day version of the original Mr Moneybags. Today8217;s Bollywood producer is no longer just a ringside version of the star and his favourite director. Guys like Chopra and Screwvala are so well entrenched in the entire showbiz circus that nothing can escape them.

Stories, this year more than ever before, have circulated of producers manipulating a film8217;s fate at the box office, sabotage, arm-twisting distributors and spin-doctoring publicity stories, as much as their commitment to high production standards and lobbying for awards. They are larger than life and are increasingly emerging from the shadowy corner and are being seen as the face of the film they back.

Trade expert Komal Nahata, editor of Film Information says: 8220;At the heart of it, every producer is a businessman. And that will never change. But what today8217;s producers are doing is that they are capitalising on the media boom and that8217;s why they are so savvy and in-your-face.8221;

With his Diwali release Jaan-E-Mann, Nadiadwala has also joined the same list. Post the Salman-Akshay-Preity starrer, he gets busy with funny man Sajid Khan8217;s Hey Baby starring Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan and Riteish Deshmukh and debutant Sabir Khan8217;s untitled venture.

While Subhash Ghai8217;s Mukta Arts, Ram Gopal Varma8217;s Factory, Manmohan Shetty8217;s Adlabs and Mukesh Bhatt8217;s Vishesh Films with their three films a year buffet happily fill up the producer periphery, it8217;s no wonder that even well-established directors like Sanjay Gupta, Rohan Sippy and of course Vidhu Vinod Chopra8212;who tasted blood post the Munnabhai series and Parineeta8212;are the latest converts to producer-dom. Gupta, erstwhile known as Bollywood8217;s most frequent foreign DVD library visitor, is coming up with a buffet of six films namely Chamki Chameli, Alibaug, Dus Kahaniya, Shootout at Lokhandwala and Woodstock Villa. Even as Chopra8217;s own directorial venture, Eklavya waits for a release date, he is already on to the next Munnabhai adventure. As for Sippy, happy with the response to Milan Luthria8217;s Taxi No 9211, he is now putting money in Sujoy Ghosh8217;s Aladdin and the Mystery of the Lamp starring Amitabh Bachchan.

Gupta sees this trend as a natural progression. 8220;As a director, I can make one film at a time. But entertainment is booming right now. You need many more films to fill the multiplexes. What better way than making more films.8221;

Nadiadwala also feels its all a matter of resources and infrastructure. 8220;It8217;s only now that I feel my production house can handle three films. The plan is to make more films but not many films,8221; he says.

But when the stakes of the game are something to the tune of millions, it8217;s literally a war. Earlier, the standing industry joke was that if the star was having a bad hair day, the shooting would be cancelled. But now8212;and this is testimony to how much the producer calls the shots 8211; the producer sit on the table and calmly opens the star date diary and doles out the star dates blocked for his film.

This breed of producers is also earning a reputation for going to any lengths in order to ensure top of mind awareness8212;gimmicks, publicity blitz and tie-ups. Name it and they8217;ll use it. Trade buzz is rife that Gupta seized the moment and promptly announced Woodstock Villa with Anupam and Kirron Kher8217;s son Sikander when Yash Raj Films wanted to launch him. Apparently, Sippy used his father Ramesh Sippy8217;s goodwill to get Bachchan to agree to play the role of a genie in Ghosh8217;s childrens8217; film. And rumours of the Chopra banner8217;s ability to arm twist distributors is now the stuff of urban industry legends. Other stories of their 8220;unscrupulous8221; methods abound8212;only recently, there was talk of the attempt to sabotage Omkara by a big banner, which had a release coming up.

It is becoming more and more evident that today, it is the producer8217;s perogative8212;and ability8212; to wield his power that separates the New Producer Club from the old one. Which is why, taking into account Nadiadwala8217;s past record of well-intentioned gimmicks8212;remember how he got the entire Indian cricket team for the climax of Mujhse Shaadi Karogi?8212; he is clearly on his way to entering this orbit. With Jaan-E-Mann, he created a record of sorts by cutting the most expensive promo at Rs 40 lakhs. For Hey Baby, he followed the Hollywood norm of organizing a look test with a 12-month-old baby who plays a pivotal lead much before the film goes on the floor. His Mujhse Shaadi Karogi heroine Priyanka Chopra unapologetically terms Nadiadwala as 8220;Bollywood8217;s most generous producer.8221; Says Chopra, 8220;Nothing is too expensive or impossible for Sajid bhai. He is the most non-interfering and generous producer.8221;

A good producer is also a bit of a gambler. Only Gupta has the courage to entrust Shyam Benegal with the responsibility of churning out a mega budget rural musical, Chamki Chameli. For his latest production, Chakh De India, Adi Chopra has coaxed Shah Rukh Khan to play an ageing hockey coach to the women8217;s team. Nadiadwala agreed to invest Rs 35 crore in debutant Shirish Kunder8217;s project based on a one-minute narration by Kunder8217;s wife Farah Khan at a party in Shah Rukh Khan8217;s house. Nadiadwala reasons that there logic behind his madness. 8220;I make one film in three years, if I go wrong it will take me another three years to prove myself,8221; he says.

It also helps if the producer knows a bit of crisis management. VVC publicised Lage Raho Munnabhai without a single interview of lead actor Sanjay Dutt who didn8217;t wish to speak to the media because of his legal troubles. The shooting of Jaan-E-Mann was also fraught with truckloads of tension. Salman Khan and Preity Zinta were embroiled in the tape scandal and two schedules were cancelled. Expensive sets were also broken down but Nadiadwala forged ahead with his latest baby.

With such high stakes and furious stress levels, what keeps a producer going? While Gupta quips, 8220;Who said film-making is an easy job,8221; Nadiadwala says, 8220;The best deal about being a producer is that unlike a director who has to go on the sets even if he doesn8217;t get along with the actor, the producer has the liberty to remain behind the scenes.8221;

Golden words, indeed.