‘Stars Don’t Make A Movie But Vice-Versa’


‘Stars
have
made
stacks
of
wealth
at
the
cost
of
the
rest
of
the
film
industry.’

IMAGE:
Producer
Vashu
Bhagnani
with
Akshay
Kumar.

Photograph:
Kind
courtesy
Vashu
Bhagnani/Instagram

News
reports
stated
that
Producer
Vashu
Bhagnani’s
production
company
Pooja
Entertainment
was
facing
losses
to
the
tune
of
Rs
250
crore
(Rs
2.5
billion)
due
to
a
series
of
flops.

Film-maker

Suneel
Darshan
,
who
has
made
films
like

Jaanwar

(1999),

Ek
Rishta:
The
Bond
Of
Love

(2001)
and

Talaash:
The
Hunt
Begins

(2003),
gives
his
point
of
view
to

Subhash
K
Jha
.


Akshay
Kumar’s
salary
was
reportedly
Rs
165
crore
(Rs
1.65
billion)
for
the
four
consecutive
duds
he
did
with
Vashu
Bhagnani
(Bade
Miyan
Chota
Miyan
,



Mission
Raniganj
,



Cuttputlli

and



BellBottom
).
Should
he
not
shoulder
a
part
of
the
blame
for
the
crisis?

I
wouldn’t
like
to
comment
on
that.

But
I
will
say
this:
Vashu
Bhagnani
had
enjoyed
a
Midas
touch
phase
in
the
1990s
when
he
collaborated
with
David
Dhawan
for
almost
half
a
dozen
movies.


What
happened
thereafter?

The
David-Vashu
collaboration
lost
its
sheen.

Vashuji
was
a
highly
resourceful
entrepreneur.
He
produced
several
films
in
the
second
phase
but
success
eluded
him.

But
through
the
past
two
decades,
he
has
met
with
success
in
his
construction
business.

IMAGE:
Tiger
Shroff
and
Akshay
Kumar
in

Bade
Miyan
Chote
Miyan
.

Photograph:
Kind
courtesy
Vashu
Bhagnani/Instagram


Did
Vashu
Bhagnani
recently
branch
into
business
other
than
film
production?

Yes.
His
migration
to
the
UK
recently
(Bhagnani
has
reportedly
set
up
a
film
studio
in
the
UK
town
of
Luton,
where
films
like
Bellbottom,
Mission
Raniganj
and
Cuttputlli
were
reportedly
shot
),
and
availing
of
handsome
tax
breaks
lured
him
into
wooing
Akshay
Kumar
and
Tiger
Shroff
for
his
half
a
dozen
movies,
which
misfired
miserably.


Do
you
think
the
star
system
is
bringing
the
industry
down?

Unfortunately,
the
realisation
that
stars
don’t
make
a
movie
but
vice-versa
is
now
dawning
upon
the
corporates,
who
have
disrupted
the
nature
of
the
movie-making
business
while
the
stars
have
made
stacks
of
wealth
at
the
cost
of
the
rest
of
the
film
industry.

IMAGE:
Suneel
Darshan,
right,
with
Amitabh
Bachchan
and
Akshay
Kumar
on
the
sets
of
2001’s

Ek
Rishta
.

Photograph:
Kind
courtesy
Suneel
Darshan/Instagram


What’s
the
solution?

As
we
enter
the
correction
phase,
it’s
time
to
watch
their
new
strategy
which,
hopefully,
should
put
the
movie
industry
on
to
the
right
track,
provided
that
the
actions
initiated
are
in
the
interests
of
the
film
industry
at
large
rather
than
with
a
myopic
view.