MUMBAI: Ram Madhvani is a devoted Ad-man, but he is also known for creating fiction that gets into the nitty-gritties of a character. Ad-man turned filmmaker Madhvani is all set to make his mark as a producer and director of feature films, web series, short films with his recently launched production house, Ram Madhvani Films.
Madhvani directed his first feature film Let’s Talk in 2002. The National Award winning movie Neerja came 14 years later. However, Madhvani didn’t lose hope, he kept trying. Sometimes projects would be announced, like fantasy Talisman with Amitabh Bachchan but did not make it to the silver screen. For the uninitiated, his web series Aarya, was initially meant to be a movie, but due to unknown reasons the movie was shelved one month before the shooting. That was seven years ago. Now, Aarya starring Sushmita Sen and Chandrachur Singh will be out on Disney+ Hotstar on 19 June. The show is based on the Dutch drama series Penoza by Pieter Bart Korthuis.
In a special interaction with indiantelevision.com Madhvani spoke at length about his newly launched production house, setting up the entire structure, challenges faced due to Covid2019 and much more.
Madhvani says, “It’s a natural extension of Equinox Films. Equinox will do ads in which we have six directors and four producers. Ram Madhvani Films will produce and create longer content. Both are owned by my wife Amita Madhvani and me. I will very much continue to make ads. I’m passionate about it.”
According to Madhvani the biggest drive for becoming a producer is that it gives you control over your work.
Speaking about how long it took to set up the entire structure he adds, “We actually already had it with Equinox. We are a production house. Producing runs in our blood. This was just a new company.”
When the entire film and television fraternity is grappling with the current situation, Madvani mentions that he managed to finish shooting Aarya before lockdown. However editing, sound, VFX etc were added during lockdown.
Madhvani also thanked his entire team who worked hard from home with full safety while embracing technology.
As the Maharashtra government has given permission to resume production work with certain guidelines, Madhvani feels that safety and protocols are of utmost importance.
Madhvani is in no hurry to release shows, erring on the side of precaution. However, he is working on a couple of scripts, but it will take time.
“Creative people live in hope. And so my hope is that soon, this will pass and we can go back to our ‘normal’ lives,” he says.
Equinox currently consists of Ram Madhvani, Amita Madhvani, Manoj Shroff, Rhea Prabhu and Annum Waris as producers, Nitin Parmar, Deb Medhekar, Sandeep Modi, Priyanka Ghose, Tanvi Gandhi and Madvani as directors while Raja Ved is the CFO. The company has an in-house production designer Anna Ipe.
Apart from this Madhvani has just started Equinox VR, a new virtual reality company where the team wants to make content for the VR world. The producer on Equinox VR is Khvafar Vakharia. These people will also be part of the Ram Madhvani Films team when needed. He adds, “These are our in-house producers and directors that we have known and been together for years. It’s a strong dedicated hard-working team. We also work with a regular team of people who make up the rest of our extended team.”
Madhvani highlights that the most important aspect while setting up a new production company is to continue the reputation that they have built so far.
A pandemic is a difficult time and one must adapt fast to the post Covid2019 budgets. He said, “We are hungry for work and we partner with clients and agencies to understand everyone’s marketing and financial problems. Everyone is there to help and understand each other. We call ourselves the youngest oldest production house.”
He concludes, “There’s only one challenge you always face when shooting and that is ... time. My epitaph will read 'I wish I had more time.'”
