The Secret Behind Akshay Kumar And Ajay Devgan’s Success As Producers – Part 6
Not Just Bollywood, down South and regional cinema the film industry is fast changing. Gone are the days when top salable stars charged a hefty fee. Nowadays, the latest trend is salable stars turning co-producers. Akshay Kumar, who established his Film Production Company Hari Om Productions in 2008, has a very impressive track record of several hit films. What is interesting is that Akshay Kumar has three more production houses under the names 1) Grazing Goat Pictures 2) Mrs Funnybones Movies and 3) Cape Of Good Films. All the film companies have produced hit films like Singh Is Kinng, OMG – Oh My God, Airlift, Rustom, Pad Man, etc.
Speaking about his role as a film producer Akshay Kumar said, “The highpoint of being a producer is that it provides opportunities to fresh talent who are creatively gifted but lack platform. Most of my films have introduced such novel talents like Raja Krishna Menon, who directed Airlift. Raja had earlier done a flop film Barah Aana in 2009 and was discarded from the industry.” “He kept struggling but in vain. However, when he approached with the script of Airlift to my production house, I was overwhelmed by the heroic act of a Kuwait-based Indian businessman, who played a gallant role in the evacuation of Indians based in Kuwait during the Invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq,” Informed Akshay Kumar.
Besides, giving break to the struggling director Raja Krishna Menon, Akshay Kumar has discovered many more talented film directors like Umesh Shukla (OMG – Oh My God) Shree Narayan Singh (Toilet: Ek Prem Katha), Tinu Suresh Desai (Rustom) , Anurag Singh (Kesari), Jagan Shakti (Mission Mangal), Raj Mehta (Good Newwz), etc.
Ajay Devgn whose latest Home Production Tanhaji is breaking box-office records admits, “I started film production with the good intention of making quality films. The entire focus was on producing good films but alas the idea failed. Most of my earlier films like Raju Chacha, Blackmail, U Me Aur Hum, All The Best: Fun Begins ended in sorrow.” He added, “However, after Bol Bachchan, I realized that film making is a shrewd business proposition. It is definitely profitable provided if played with intelligence minus passion.”
Besides Bollywood, Ajay Devgn also ventured into Marathi film production and made successful films like Vitti Dandu, Apla Manus. Interestingly, Ajay Devgn even made a Punjabi film Singham (2019) which is an official remake of Hindi film Ajay Devgn‘s hit film Singham (2011).
Ajay Devgn informs, “As a film producer, we are more involved in the making of the film which is not the case of an executive producer. Since we take creative calls rather than merely acting as an actor in the film, the overall impact on the quality of the film is quite good and this guarantees a hit” He added, “The most important quality a producer should possess is the ability to assess which scripts will work and at what price but the recent corporates houses are ill-equipped, and MBAs do not understand public pulse. They apply business principles to the film industry and it fails. Hence foreign production Walt Disney Company ended with flop like Mohenjo Daro, Fitoor, Tamasha, Katti Batti and Phantom. Three other global biggies – Sony with Saawariya, Fox Star with Bombay Velvet and Warner Brothers with Chandni Chowk To China have failed to click.”