Bollywood trend: Actresses take control behind the lens

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With The Buckingham Murders poised for release this week, Kareena Kapoor Khan is now the latest actress to turn filmmaker—she has co-produced the detective drama, with Ektaa R. Kapoor and others. Her elder sister, Karisma Kapoor, had blazed a trail by becoming the first-ever lady Kapoor to act in a film.

Today, almost all male actors have turned producers, and the ladies are following suit. In fact, if the Kangana Ranaut-produced and directed Emergency (which is facing controversies) had released on September 6, this would have been the first time ever that two actresses made debuts as producers within a week of each other!

The success-failure ratio of women has depended on various factors, and we have mentioned the successful films in bold font.

It all began with Devika Rani!

Devika Rani, superstar of the 1930s and 1940s, was the first prominent actress to take on the reins of a producer, with Anjaan in 1941, followed by Basant, the blockbuster Kismet (1943) and a few more in collaboration with her late husband Himanshu Rai’s partners, Ashok Kumar and S. Mukerji.

And Shobhana Samarth was the first actress to turn director (in a total of three films) and launch her daughters Nutan (as leading lady) and Tanuja (as child artiste) in Hamari Beti. Geeta Bali, among heroines, pioneered the concept of “home productions”: her film Baaz (1953) was produced by her sister, Haridarshan Kaur, incidentally mother to 1970s star Yogeeta Bali, wife of Mithun Chakraborty. Yogeeta quit acting in the 1980s but turned producer with Enemmy (2013) featuring her husband and elder son Mahakshay Chakraborty.

Among old-timers, we also must mention Kamini Kaushal, who produced Chalis Baba Ek Chor, a children-oriented film in 1953, and Shashikala, whose husband produced her home production Karodpati in 1960. “With this film, we almost turned kangaalapati (paupers)!” she had quipped once to me.

Besides enjoying an illustrious career as an artiste, Durga Khote, who made her acting debut in the silent era, and is a Dadasaheb Phalke laureate, has produced several ad films and documentaries and became the first woman to run a television software production company, Durga Khote Productions, which made Wagle Ki Duniya (1988) among others.

Shammi, known as Shammi Aunty, who made her debut in 1951 as a heroine with Malhar, also turned producer with Pighalta Aasmaan (1985) starring Raakhee, while another Phalke laureate, Asha Parekh, was producer and director of several successful TV shows like Kora Kagaz, which ran for 15 years! Asha was also to originally direct Bhairavi (1996), but backed out of the film due to creative differences with its producers.

From the heroines of the 1960s, Nanda also produced films unofficially, in her brother-in-law, C.V.K. Sastry’s name. Beginning with Joru Ka Gulam and Naya Nasha, she went on to back his other films when she had stopped acting: The Great Gambler among them, with artistes like Jeetendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna and others.

Sadhana too had home productions like Inteqam (a huge 1969 hit) and Geeta Mera Naam (1974), for which she even took the director’s credit when it was her husband, R.K. Nayyar, who had actually directed it! Obviously, she also had a creative say in his later films, Qatl and Pati Parmeshwar, in the 1980s.

…And then we had a deluge!

After these 10 examples since Hindi cinema began, there came a deluge from the 1970s onwards. Here is the list of the females in the cavalcade.

Jaya Bachchan (then Jaya Bhaduri)’s secretary, Sushila Kamat, joined hands with Pawan Kumar, secretary to Amitabh Bachchan and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, to produce the 1973 hit, Abhimaan.

Raakhee’s first home production, Pugli (1974) was produced by her secretary, Yusuf Hasan. Her next two home movies, Taaqat (1982) and Zindagani (1986), were produced by her brother, Shibranajan Majumdar, the former with Raj Grover.

Sharmila Tagore was the ghost-producer of Tyaag (1977), officially produced by her secretary, N.S. Kabir.

Hema Malini’s home productions were fronted by her family members: mother Jaya Chakravarthy (Swami, Dream Girl), brothers R. Kannan and R. Jagannathan (Ratnadeep, Sharaara), aunt (Do Disayen) and uncle (Marg). Another relative produced Sharafat Chhod Di Maine), but Hema took official credit as producer and director with Dil Aashna Hai and other films.

Reena Roy’s home productions were produced by either brother Raja Roy (Muqabla, Lakshmi) or sister Barkha Roy (Sanam Teri Kasam, Karishmaa).

Neetu Singh’s mother, Rajee Singh, presented their home production, Chorni in 1982.

Smita Patil, along with Raj Babbar, were said to be the backdoor financiers and producers of Pet Pyaar Aur Paap (1984).

Zeenat Aman was actually said to be the real producer of the 1986 film, Baat Ban Jaye, officially produced by character artiste Manmohan’s son, Nitin Manmohan.

Anita Raaj’s brother, Bobby Raj, was the front-man for her when she backed her films, Mera Haque and Taaqatwar, from the mid-1980s. For those interested, Taaqatwar marked the debut of David Dhawan as director! Padmini Kolhapure produced Dav Pech in 1989.

Madhuri Dixit Nene was the last actress to be behind-the-scenes as a producer with films like Dil Tera Aashiq, Yaraana, Mohabbat (1997) and Gaja Gamini (2000). But after her comeback in the 2010s, she has also officially turned producer in Marathi cinema, with 15 August and Panchak.

It is in the late 1990s that Pooja Bhatt turned producer with Tamanna (1997) and Zakham (1998), which won Ajay Devgn a National award. She next produced more films like Jism (2003), which introduced John Abraham to us, and Paap (2004) with which she turned director as well. Aruna Irani, who has also been a leading lady in the 1970s, turned producer with Anaari No. 1 in 1999.

…And then they dared!

And so it is entirely probable that the emerging era of clean finance (through corporates et al) and co-productions along with a change in ethic in filmmaking (with films being declared an official industry and having safeguards like insurance and contracts) emboldened actresses to get into production with their names featuring officially.

As we saw above, even Madhuri is now an official producer. And Yogeeta Bali produced Enemmy, Mithun’s home production.

Sridevi has officially produced three films, none of which had her as actor: Shakti—The Power, Run and Bewafaa.

Juhi Chawla joined hands with Shah Rukh Khan to produce Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, Asoka and Chalte Chalte. Raveena Tandon Thadani produced Stumped (2004), a film on cricket. For good luck, she got her first (Patthar Ke Phool) co-star Salman Khan to do a cameo in it. Manisha Koirala, in the same year, made Paisa Vasool. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s brother Aditya Rai co-produced Dil Ka Rishta with Tips Films, a movie written by their mother, Brinda Rai.

Shilpa Shetty Kundra (Dishkiyaoon), Preity Zinta (Ishqq in Paris), Lara Dutta Bhupati (Chalo Dilli) and (after she left acting following marriage to Akshay Kumar) Twinkle Khanna (beginning with Tees Maar Khan with more films) also stepped into production.

Anushka Sharma, supported her brother Karnesh Sharma as he produced her films NH10, Phillauri, Pari and a film in which she did not star—Bbulbul, which introduced Triipti Dimri. Sonam Kapoor was cast by sister Rhea Kapoor in Aisha, Khoobsurat and Veere Di Wedding, among others.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas achieved special eminence here, beginning with the Marathi film, Ventilator, which was remade in multiple languages and followed by a chain of purposeful (mostly successful) films in diverse regional languages. Her maiden production in Hindi, The Sky is Pink, however, did not do well.

Deepika Padukone was one of the many producers of Chhapaak and 83, Taapsee Pannu of Blurr and the film Dhak Dhak (in which engrossing film she did not herself star). Esha Deol turned producer with the short film, Ek Duaa even as mom Hema tried to re-launch her in 2010 with Tell Me O Kkhuda. Jyotika (who began life in Hindi films in 1998 and went down South to carve a niche as a Tamil film actress and producer) turned Hindi film producer with Sarfira) while Alia Bhatt achieved distinction both as actress and producer with the OTT release, Darlings.

And now, another top name, Kriti Sanon, turns producer with Do Patti, co-starring Kajol.

ACTRESS-DIRECTORS

Shobhana Samarth (Humlog)

Sadhana (Geeta Mera Naam)

Hema Malini (Dil Aashna Hai)

Pooja Bhatt (Paap)

Simi (Rukhsat)

Aparna Sen (36 Chowringhee Lane in English, produced by Shashi Kapoor in 1981/ Hindi films much later)

Revathi (Mitr—My Friend in English in 2002 followed by Phir Milenge in 2004 and others)

Kangana Ranaut (Manikarnika—The Rani of Jhansi)