BOI: Can you introduce us to your team?
Ritesh Sidhwani (RS): Vikesh is the Executive Producer (EP) and has been in charge of production along with a team of line producers for four and a half years. We do have a different EP for every film but right now Vikesh is handling two films. Kassim is in charge of the script department. This department has four people and they read every script that comes our way. Vishal handles marketing… every aspect of marketing a film.
BOI: He is a new entrant to your production house?
Vishal Ramchandani (VR): Not really. I have been working with Excel for five years.
BOI: Take us through Excel’s journey…
Farhan Akhtar (FA): I think it’s important to creatively connect with people as you keep working. As far as the mainstream is concerned, I think mainstream is redefining itself. I don’t think there is a fixed concept of what mainstream is and what it’s not any more. What we consider mainstream today was not viable eight years ago. And the definition will keep changing. It’s nice to be part of this change and redefine what I think is mainstream… and to work with people who have the ability, interest and curiosity to keep redefining the way films are structured, the way stories are told… how production can be handled, how marketing tie-ups can work differently, how out-of-the-box ideas can work for a larger audience.
Most people we talk to, whether from production houses or filmmakers, have a fear of their concept… the story getting outdated. But what is ‘outdated’? We have an extremely young audience going to cinemas now, and to cater to them, you have to get into ground zero. Since just Ritesh and I can’t do all this, there are many other people involved. We are looking for talent who can do it, managing that talent, conveying what the film is about in the most exciting way to people who want to come and see our work. It’s a combination of different kinds of skills that goes into making a film.
BOI: What about you, Ritesh?
(RS): As Farhan said, with every film, we discover that the audience is evolving. When you go ahead with a story, especially when Dil Chahta Hai released, people thought the movie was ahead of its time. I come from a family where I can identify with Akash’s character played by Aamir Khan. You identify yourself with the characters and you know who those people are.
Back then, I thought the audience would be able to easily identify with these characters. And that’s what we do till today whenever a script comes to us. I think you can relate to the characters by simply reading the script. By being able to believe in their world is where the sensibilities come in. That’s what we do here at Excel. Here, people with the same sensibilities work together to make a film.
BOI: What are the criteria Excel follows while zeroing in on a script?
Kassim Jagmagia (KJ): There are no specific criteria. Any story that has a soul and talks about hope attracts us.
BOI: In real life, we all live with some hope. Do you also look at that when it comes to the characters in any given script – people with hope?
(KJ): Now-a-days, everyone is abreast of what’s happening in society, our country and even globally. If a true story can motivate somebody or just talk about hope and a better tomorrow, why not? That’s what we all work on.
BOI: At what point in your journey did you feel the need to bring a marketing person on board? We all know that the marketing of films is changing every passing Friday.
(VR): We all need to stay abreast of trends, like identifying the correct medium and how you go about it using it best. The most important thing about a film is to project it correctly and the accessibility of the medium to the target audience.
(RS): We released Don in 2006, and at that point, there were some changes in the number of screens and the number of movies being produced. Suddenly, the audience had so many more options to watch movies. So it is important to draw everyone’s attention to your film; you have to make it an event for them; you have to convince them that your film is the best. I think this was the strategy of multiplexes, thereby making them an expensive experience. Going to the movies with family was suddenly all-round entertainment.
So, with so much of choice on TV, of films and different forms of entertainment like the Internet, how do you grab people’s attention? How do you bring them to cinemas? And how do you make them enjoy your film? I think that’s where marketing comes in, promoting and positioning your film. In fact, audience is so savvy that they make up their mind regardless of how and how much you shout or promote your film. If there is no connect, no matter how much you spend and what you do, they will not watch your film.
BOI: Do you believe the first trailer and first look of a film makes a difference?
FA: I give due credit to the person who said, ‘the first appearance is the last appearance’. I think that applies to films as well. Of course, there are films whose first look does not attract but the audience changes their opinion after watching them. But that’s rare. I think, when you see the first trailer of a film, there’s a part of you that decides whether you want to watch it or not. It would take a tremendous amount of convincing to get to watch such a film. So, yes, the first look is very crucial.
BOI: It has often happened that the best bits of a movie are in the trailer and there’s very little left to look forward to in the film itself. What do you do under those circumstances?
FA: I don’t know. We have never been in such a situation.
BOI: Fukrey was a small film but you made it visible on every platform.
RS: We started with the first look but after that, you have to keep putting your material out there to keep the audience hooked with your first look and promos, to draw them into the film. The whole idea is to feed them the right info at the right time. Even the posters which Rahul (Nanda) designed… We send them to distributors and exhibitors to seek their feedback. It’s an entire strategy. One needs to look at the edit and then decide how to position one’s film.
FA: Every film has its own culture and so you promote it accordingly. For instance, the Don 2 promo and Fukrey promo followed very different approaches. With Don 2, the audience already knows the character and they are expecting a lot of action. And they want to see that in the trailer.
But with Fukrey, if we didn’t show the characters and their backdrop, the audience
would not want to watch the film because they wouldn’t know who these people are. The interesting thing about Fukrey was the behind-the-scenes story… you know, the back stories. They introduced the audience not just to the characters but also to the people who were playing them, their families, where they come from… that kind of connect. We are very interested in people.
When we talk about a person who is a big star, whether it’s his acting or direction or production or music or a singer, you connect with them beyond what is visible on screen. You become part of their life, you know about their families, you know with whom they hang out, you know where they vacation, you know all these things about them. And that creates a bond beyond the cinematic bond you share with them.
In Fukrey, we felt it would be nice to approach it this way, to introduce the people to the audience so that the characters are not merely two-dimensional. It was especially important because this film is about four people who come from somewhere else and have dreams and aspirations, and they want you to accept them for having those dreams. So every film has its own culture.
BOI: How do you keep budgets in check when they (Ritesh and Farhan) decide to make a big-budget film? Is it tough?
VB: Once you decide on a script you like, you check the viability of the project. Together we analyse whether the film is viable as a product. Once we decide on how much to spend, we analyse how to monetise it. The good thing is we all believe in quality.
As an EP, if I feel I need more money to deliver that quality and also the freedom to the director, I have always approached the producers and they have been very understanding. That’s how the equation works for us. Yes, we have to fix on a budget but it’s not set in stone. Of course, we try to stick to the budget because monetisation is very important.
BOI: How important is it to have a star on board for your films? Many of your out-of-the-box films have had known faces. Is a star a selling point for the film?
FA: I guess so. A huge cast is always an asset in your production as are your director and music composer. These are your biggest star elements in a film from the audience’s point of view. When you have someone they like, they appreciate it and it automatically helps.
BOI: Is it important to carry these stories on the back of big stars when your production house is still building its reputation, and later make a film like Fukrey with smaller names?
FA: No! I mean we had films like Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. and also Rock On!! where apart from Arjun Rampal everyone was relatively new. So we have done this before. But the thing is, you cannot cast a film before you’ve written what it is going to be like. Again, I cannot make a film like Don with a newcomer because the budget would not allow me to make the film the way I want to make it. I have to go to someone who assures me, ‘I can give the best to the film’. Otherwise, what’s the point?
BOI: Excel Entertainment started with big films with big names like Dil
Chahta Hai and Lakshya but later started making films with not-so-known names. Can you comment on this?
RS: When we read the script, all of us thought it would be better for the film to have new people. It needed characters who had just graduated from college. It needed actors who didn’t have any baggage, whom people didn’t know. The other thing is, when you work with newcomers, you also work with stars like our cinematographer KU Mohanan, who had shot Talaash with us and also Don. We had music director Ram Sampath on board, so we made sure the music would be an added advantage.
I think Honeymoon Travels worked perfectly according to the characters. So it depends on the film because we cast according to the demands of the script. For Talaash, the film definitely benefited from who was featured in it. We wanted a certain audience too. Besides, the genre was supernatural and so it had to be Aamir Khan. Then, obviously, the film opens to certain numbers. The story was good but you can’t ignore the fact that it had Aamir Khan.
FA: And Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukerji too.
BOI: Three youth films – Dil Chahta Hai, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Fukrey – two had established names while Fukrey had newcomers…
FA: (Cuts in) That’s the director’s vision. Zoya Akhtar had worked with Hrithik (Roshan) in Luck By Chance and even I acted in it and when she wrote it, she was categorical about whom she wanted to cast. As producers, we believe in our director’s vision because while writing the film, you have actors transforming in your head for each character you’re penning on the page.
BOI: How do you choose your directors? You have launched new directors like Reema Kagti and Mrighdeep Lamba, who had done only one film by then. And what is your involvement with their projects, since you are also a director?
FA: All the new directors we have worked with have come with scripts that they have either written themselves or co-written, like in Mrigh’s case. So, you already form an opinion of what they would be like as directors. So whether it’s Vijay Lalwani with Karthik Calling Karthik or Zoya who wrote Luck By Chance, Reema who wrote Honeymoon Travels…
Sometimes, they talk to you about their ideas or the world they want to create out there, they are very sure. They take you through the whole process of putting it down and that gives you the confidence to go ahead and do it. It’s very enjoyable to work with new talent. To start with, they are hungry to go out there and do something. For instance, if Vikesh tells them the script needs to be reworked, they themselves figure out a way to make it work because they want to make the film so badly. The more films they do, and the more successful they get, it will probably get more difficult for Vikesh, because then they’d want what they want and that’s how it is but maybe Vikesh has a different take. (Laughs)