Mukesh Bhatt snubs Rs 100 crore club

Veteran film producer Mukesh Bhatt (Vishesh Films) has snubbed the latest Rs 100 crore film club. “It’s a creation by sections of the media to help spread a feel-good factor for their constituencies,” Bhatt quipped. But some films have been collecting Rs 100 crore? “Don’t mix up two things. Which film actually ends up making Rs 100 cores for its makers? These figures comprise deducted entertainment tax, gross collections and 20 per cent distributors share etc. The producer is not taking home more than Rs 12 crores max. They wrongly tell the world that they are earning so much and the poor public gets fooled. And some of these unfortunate guys on the street then buy shares of the media companies and end up losing their hard earned money. These sections of the media need to be aware of these but you can’t blame them as they also need to run their house,” Bhatt added. Bhatt was making these remarks while talking to the media while launching his movie Aashiqui 2 which stars Shaad Randhawa, Shraddha Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapoor. This remake of 1991 classic will be helmed by Murder director Mohit Suri. “This film will be an answer to those who say Vishesh Films does not make sweet romances anymore.” Bhatt also was dismissive of the corporate film culture, “These guys have no knowledge about filmmaking, they bring money from the stock market and do trading. You can’t sit in an A/C cabin with a Blackberry in a hand and make a film. There used to be time when we had great filmmakers like Raj Kapoor and Yash Johar. You need to be hands-on producers, who go to the sets in the heat of afternoon. But corporates can only provide finances,” he added. “Gone are the days when money was an issue. We had earlier spent a major part of our lives just repaying interest, today every second person in the world wants to make a film, you also can approach financial institutions and banks for funding as well,” Bhatt observed.