DREAM MERCHANTS
Bhushan Kumar. Nikkhil Advani. Anurag Basu. Remo D’Souza. Four individuals, who are as different from each other as the proverbial chalk and cheese and yet are united by their passion for cinema. Directors Nikkhil, Anurag and Remo all champion different brands of cinema. While Nikkhil has progressed from making romantic films to thrillers, Anurag is a genuine storyteller, hopping from genre to genre in his quest to interpret life on celluloid. Remo has played to his strength making dance films. He has reinvented the genre in India.They aren’t newbies needing hand-holding but skilled veterans, who know the industry inside out. That they still have chosen to join in a partnership with T-Series head honcho Bhushan Kumar speaks of his standing in the industry. You get the marketing expertise of T-Series behind you, when you join hands with him. Then, he’s said to be a non-obstructive producer, content to let you hold the reigns of the racing horse, not known to give unsolicited advice or changing riders midway. Bhushan is also known to splurge on his films but he makes sure the splurge is justified. That most of his hunches have paid off owes more to an astute reading of the playing field than to luck. Above all, he invests in relationships – those that endure beyond statistics and seasons. Filmfare chats with Bhushan Kumar and his three comrade-in-arms to understand their dreams. Excerpts...
WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES WHEN YOU TOOK OVER THE COMPANY AFTER YOUR DAD GULSHAN KUMAR’S DEMISE?
“I MIX PASSION WITH BUSINESS” BHUSHAN KUMAR ON THE THREE C’S OF SUCCESS – CONTENT, CREATIVITY AND COLLABORATION. RAGHUVENDRA SINGH DECODES HIS WINNING FORMULA
“RECENTLY, T-SERIES BECAME THE NO.1 YOUTUBE CHANNEL IN THE WORLD… MORE RECENTLY, I WAS LISTED AMONGST THE YEAR’S TOP NEWSMAKERS… PEOPLE TAKE YEARS TO REACH WHERE WE HAVE AS A STUDIO. MY TEAM DID IT IN TWO YEARS”
The challenges were huge. I was only 19. I had zero experience about the business. People were not confident about me. My father was the mind behind T-Series. It was difficult for me to get into the shoes of a person, who was an all-rounder, a one-man army. At that time, we were only a music label. Music was not only the source of revenue for producers but it was the main instrument to promote the film. My father was known as the promotion genius. The way he used to market the cassettes, they were heard in every corner of the world. My good relationship with producers helped me acquire music rights of several films. I’ve inherited a fine ear for music from my father. I produced the album Deewana, which was a massive hit. T-Series began doing remixes. Next were devotional songs with Jagjit Singh, Lata Mangeshkar and Pankaj Udhas. We also did Punjabi Pop and made videos with Hans Raj Hans, Babu Maan and Harjit Harman. I produced my first Punjabi film, Jee Aayan Nu, in a three-crore budget. Before that Punjabi films didn’t go beyond 20 to 30 lakhs. Then on Punjabi films became big.
