| MUMBAI:
Our Top 10 series first featured the top 10 happenings of 2008. It was followed
up with The Top 10 executives from the television business. Now we present the
third in the series called Bollywood's Big Shots - the Top 10 executives from
Hindi cinema. Culled together by the editors of indiantelevision.com, each of
these executives came out tops by the sheer dint of their performance during the
year. They have not been ranked in any order of importance or ranking but have
been randomly listed. Read on to learn more about Bollywood's Big shots.  |
| Aamir
Khan: One man army |
Aamir Khan: Perfection is his middle name and passion his alter ego. Known
for his almost flawless acting and now directorial skills, year 2008 saw him putting
his heart and soul into being a producer with Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. This
Rs 80 million film garnered Rs 560 million worldwide. What a take!! In
the process, it became one of the few films to notch up box office success. His
other film Tare Zameen Par which he co-produced and directed was released
towards the end of 2007 and did phenomenally well at the box office in 2008 raking
in Rs 1.31 billion at the box office. Then
he acted in the year's biggest blockbuster Ghajini which has already raked
in Rs 1.7 billion. He is believed to have been actively involved in Ghajini's
promotion, bringing in a new form of meticulousness to movie marketing. The method
actor has been seen at various events connecting with his fans, promoting his
crew cut and muscular body. Founder
of Aamir Khan Productions, Aamir Khan, who began his professional career with
Holi (1984), has also launched two new films as a producer - Dhobi Ghat
and Delhi Belly - which are expected to rock 2009.  |
| Siddharth
Roy Kapur: The professional |
Siddharth
Roy Kapur: Roy
Kapur works very closely with his boss Ronnie Screwvala, the head honcho of the
UTV group. Along with Screwvala he has developed this innate ability to spot a
winner. The year 2008 saw his studio strike up a couple of big whoppers: Jodhaa
Akbar and Race. The
former Star TV professional has come a long way from his days in Hong Kong where
he headed marketing, and even a longer way from his time at Procter & Gamble,
where he cut his teeth in marketing. His professional exposure has helped bring
the much-needed professional touch to UTV Motion Pictures and in the process earned
him the trust of his boss. Roy Kapur's big dream is to come up with that ultimate
Indian crossover film which will appeal to worldwide audiences. These
days he is busy nurturing, along with Vikas Bahl, UTV's alternate cinema studio
UTV Spotboy. It has had a good run with Aamir, A Wednesday, Mumbai Meri Jaan
and Welcome to Sajjanpur.  |
| Allu
Arvind: Telugu player turned Bollywood champion |
Allu
Arvind: The Tollywod film producer and distributor is the real force behind
the year-end blockbuster Ghajini. With 25 Telugu films under his belt,
he decided to venture into Hindi cinema. And his choice for his debut was an Aamir
Khan film. Promoted
extensively and at a time when most films were bombing - the exceptions being
Karan Johar's Dostana and Adi Chopra's Rab Ne Bana Dhi Jodi - Ghajini
has since gone on to collect Rs 1.7 billion at the box office, probably recording
the maxium revenues for a single film in the history of Indian cinema. Ghajini
has ended serving as a benchmark for Hindi cinema on how a film can be marketed
and promoted extensively. The Indian Film Company probably did play a large role
in it, but both Aamir and Arvind did have a say in it too. His
company Geetha Arts is a powerhouse in Telugu Cinema and has now made a name for
itself in Hindi with this mega film. He is the brother-in-law of south Indian
megastar Chiranjeevi.  |
| Dhillin Mehta:
The Outsider |
Dhilin Mehta: Number crunchers seem to rule in the film industry. Take
Dhilin Mehta, the promoter of Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision. An MBA in finance,
he oversees the entire transactions and operations of the company. Beginning his
career with small budgeted films like Funtoosh and Agnipankh, and
later distributing films like Fida, Dus, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Paheli, Aitraz,
Garv and Main Hoon Na, he has emerged as a player of note in the film
space. To his credit are films such as Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, Golmaal - Fun
Unlimited and Bhagambhag. 2008 saw him release Golmaal Returns which
raked in the moolah and Kidnap which had a reasonable run, following on the heels
of the successful Jab We Met at the end of 2007. He also had some duds
such as Yuvraaj, and Mahaarathi, which simply failed to inspire
audiences. Mehta,
however, has some big releases planned this year in Blue, Run Bhola
Run, Luck (starring Shruti Hassan, Kamalahasan's daughter), apart from signing
on several A-list directors, writers and actors. He's a young man who has emerged
as a tour de force in the industry.  |
| Harish
Dayani: Homing in on video |
Harish
Dayani: Harish Dayani, the CEO of Moser Baer Entertainment, is busy changing
the fundamental economics of the home video business. After spending years at
Saregama India to grow the music and film business, Dayani first came out with
a mass-based pricing for DVDs and is now lapping up Hindi movie content with an
aggression that critics say is making the home video market "unviable." Dayani
was quick to spot the gap in the market nationally, pertaining to home video in
all languages and he made the first marches in regional and Hindi library film
content. He simultaneously exploited his skills to build a pan India 'FMCG-style'
distribution network. But
a big cloud hung over the model as recent Bollywood titles were hard to get because
Bollywood producers like Yash Raj and Reliance Big Pictures have their own home
video labels. Picking up recent individual titles like Golmaal Returns
and Kidnap in 2008, Dayani pursued the chase and was rewarded towards the
end of the year with a UTV deal for 25 movies. Dayani
will get to celebrate 2009 with the distribution of film titles from UTV that
include Jodhaa Akbar, Race, Fashion, Khosla Ka Ghosla, A Wednesday, Fashion
and Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye. His challenge, though, will be to build a broader
base for sourcing recent content. | 
