MUMBAI: Vishesh Films, which has until now been run by the Bhatt brothers – Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt, is now going the corporate way. The first step towards this has been the appointment of PK De as the chief operating officer of the production shingle.
Speaking exclusively to Businessofcinema.com about the same, Mukesh Bhatt says, "The company has been personality driven for long and now we are all set to make it more streamlined. We have hired PK De as the COO last month to run the company."
On his association with De, Mukesh Bhatt adds, "De was in India to promote Seychelles as an investment and tourism destination since Air Seychelles was launching a flight to India and he was here as director general in Ministry of Finance with the president of Seychelles James Michel. My brother had gone for the press conference and De was talking about investment opportunities and Seychelles as a tax heaven – doing business in paradise. Mahesh asked De what did Seychelles have to offer the poor Indian film maker, to which De replied 10 million birds, 200,000 giant land tortoises, 76,000 people, 118 islands and one traffic light to stop your imagination."
That was a turning point and the Bhatts and Seychelles were in for a long haul. De adds "The following night Mukesh came to meet me when I was leaving and we literally met at the barber shop of Leela Kempinski. He said he will be the first one to shoot in Seychelles. And true to his word he was the first one. He shot for Fareb and Dil Kitna Nadaan Hai. Subsequently he shot extensively for Dastak, Tamanna and many other films."
De says, "I believe that the word ‘corporatisation’ has been used very loosely and associated with fancy acronyms of CEO, COO CFO and way too high salaries to inexperienced people. In Vishesh Films, we don’t have board meetings but brainstorming. While Mukeshji filters the business side, Bhatt Saab injects the creative aspects, the director brigade of Vishesh Bhatt, Mohit Suri and Kunal Deshmukh add the dynamism of today’s youth."
As for the first release of Vishesh Films for the year, De said, "Raaz – The Mystery Continies has been a good success."
Vishesh Films has been the producers for films like Dil Hai Ki Maanta Nahin, Jism, Raaz and Jannat to name a few that were made with an emphasis to make medium budget films by introducing new talent. With big budget films failing to generate returns, the Bhatts reinvented the medium budget films with a dash of glamour and sex. The star system was done away with and home grown directors who were elevated from assistant directors began to direct their films.
