The Hindu Business Line : Managing the business of films

Arindam Chaudhuri is not your average movie man. He is, in fact, the dean of the Centre for Economic Research and Advanced Studies at the Indian Institute of Planning and Management. But change is the first principle of management and Chaudhuri has aptly applied it to himself. From management guru, he's metamorphosed into a filmmaker, and has used his management expertise in the making of Rok Sako To Rok Lo (RSTRL), his debut directorial venture.

At a time when the corporate world has made a dismal entry into film production, what makes him so self-assured? "Business houses have no one to blame but themselves. You need to apply management principles to filmmaking and work as if you are launching a new product. That's corporatisation in the real sense."

He also cites the examples of Tata Infomedia's Aitbaar that failed at the box office. "The company's executives came to Mumbai, signed up Vikram Bhatt who dished out a clichéd story and increased the cost of production phenomenally by signing up Amitabh Bachchan. It was a perfect recipe for disaster right from the word `go'."

How different is his approach to filmmaking? The answer sounds more like a lecture on good management practices. The professor says he scripted the film only after making a thorough market research on the kind of themes that audiences were looking for.

"After canning each scene, we would take a feedback on its quality and production values. That kept us on the right track," says Chaudhuri, author of the bestseller Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch.

But how does one gauge viewers' preferences, because that seem to change every Friday.

"This is a misconception floated by those who fail to deliver. How come a man like Yash Chopra is dishing out one hit after another right from his 1970s' Kala Patthar to the latest Veer-Zaara? The answer is simple — the taste for clean films will never go out of fashion."

His movie, he says, is about friendship, first love, and a winning attitude and has been inspired by Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, which revolved around students from modest background pitted against rich brats from an elite school.

"RSTRL is about school boys competing with each other. But we have enlarged its connotation and avoided a strictly confrontationist approach. The underlying message is family bonding and friendship," says Chaudhuri. "The highlight of the film is Sunny Deol — riding a sleek blue Harley Davidson. He has not played such a character before."

Nevertheless, during the launch of what he terms his "new product", Chaudhuri left nothing to chance as far as aggressive management practices go.

Apart from extensive research on the theme and storyline, he has introduced ten new faces which, he feels, will be the stars of tomorrow. He adds that he has tried to infuse values and principles into the film-making business. There were agreements with all the actors and technicians. The schedules and resource allocations, he says, were carried out with business-plan exactitude.

"A good business plan is paramount. For us it ensured the right scheduling of all work, from start to finish. We spelt out work schedules of all departments — production, creativity, marketing, packaging and distributing," he says. With a successful Bengali film, Sanjbatir Roopkathara, to its credit, Planman Life, Chaudhuri's production house, has big plans for the future. It has already launched its third film Faltu, directed by Anjan Sen.

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