“Mushy commercial films are not my forte” - Nitin Manmohan 
By IndiaFM News Bureau, June 27, 2005 - 05:11 IST
Versatile and accommodating, Nitin Manmohan's filmography as a producer speaks for itself. The interest his next biggie Dus is creating can put many other films releasing this season to shame. In an exclusive t?-?? with IndiaFM, the prolific producer speaks about how Dus happened and his journey as a producer.
Insaaf, Bol Radha Bol, Bhoot, tackling with a different subject each time, how risky is it as a producer?
Formula films, masala films, social films used to do well earlier; they used to have a lot of emotions, action and masala. As the times have changed, audiences are looking for different stuff. Nowadays, if you make a mushy commercial film, either it has to be very attractive for the audiences to come in. That is something I don't consider my forte. So we are trying to catch the audiences in a different way. Dus is an attempt to make a different film with a major star cast.
Dus is creating a lot of heat, what is about the film that told you, 'yes I want to produce this one'?
Sanjay Dutt had heard the script from Anubhav on one of his shoots. He then called me and asked me to hear it; he said that there was no point making a film on small budget. He felt that this kind of script needed a huge budget, technical brilliance and an ensemble star cast. When I heard the script I instantly liked it and gave my approval. Things fell into place, Sanjay spoke to Abhishek & Suniel and eventually we got the entire star cast on board.
Being the most prolific producer of Bollywood, was there any particular project where you went over-budget yet completed the film all the same?
My last three movies have gone over board budget wise. Since a couple of years the market has slumped. While the work on the project is on, the recovery that we assume is different from the recovery that actually happens when the film releases. So this price escalation happens where you lose money on the projects.
Hollywood has the moolah to make a huge canvas film. With comparatively lower budget, how does Nitin Manmohan manage to make a larger than life movie?
When we start a movie, we need to have certain budget in mind. This film demanded high quality visual effects those that look like real shots. Anubhav had already spoken to some technicians in Los Angeles. But when we worked out our budget, it was costing us a lot, so we decided to speak to the best technicians in India. Although that would have costed us far less we could not get what we wanted here, even the technicians gave up. So ultimately we had to get those visuals from Los Angeles. What we have got now is looking authentic. So these kind of films cost a lot, huge starcast, shooting abroad, post production, promotions… I hope the film does well and recovers money and makes a good name, we don't expect to make profit from a film made on such a budget.
Dus is being looked as the biggest movies of the season, what is the promotional exercise to back this huge venture?
We have a major tie-up with Indiatimes and Mumbai Mirror as far as the print medium is concerned. There are a lot of tie-ups with various channels as well. Venky's Rock is a major corporate tie up. There are many others we are looking at the last minute. We are considering mutually beneficial tie-ups with Tata Tea, Castro & Hyundai. We might close the deals with some of them.
Will we get to see marketing in terms of in-film placements?
No the brands we have tied up with will not have in-film placements.
Do you think Bollywood should get more marketing savvy?
Marketing is the name of the game today. Marketing is a key factor in Bollywood especially production wise. Innovative marketing ways have to be generated to attract the audiences of today who have such wide variety to choose from.
With a huge consumer bank hooked on the Internet, what do you think of Internet as a medium to promote films?
Internet plays a huge part in marketing and promotions of films, especially in the international market.
As a producer, any hassles tackling a multi -starrer?
If your basic fundas are clear, as far as the script and money are concerned there is no scope for hassles. You should not change your commitment and treat your unit well.
Your publicity designs for Dus look larger-than-life, how was Rahul Nanda's work as the publicity designer?
Rahul Nanda has done good work for this film. Whether he will be there in forthcoming films depends on the film itself.
Tathasthu is your next biggie, what is it about?
Tahthasthu is a father-son story; it's a story of a middle class Indian family where medical problems arise. The story revolves around the medical infrastructure of our country depicting that a middle class person cannot afford to save the life of his loved ones.
What is the canvas you are mounting it on?
The canvas is not that huge, it's a modest heart rendering emotional script. And such scripts don't need huge budgets.
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Promo Watch: Dus
