Few days back Pehlaj Nihalani released Khusboo but the flick is dramatically announced as flop by critics. But the veteran producer is not afraid of flops, as he expresses his opinion about flop theory in the industry, his long journey as producer and little more…

Q. According to the critics, the fragrance of Khusboo failed reaching people. In other words, Khushboo didn’t get good reviews, what went wrong?
A. They have damaged the prospects of the film miserably. Reviews never make a film Hit or Flop. I had not shown the film to anyone before release, then how come they take a call if the movie is good or bad. So by giving poor shows, the multiplexes want to monopolize and finish off single producers like us. But I won’t let that happen.Q. The industry and the distributors have this very strong feeling that a film with newcomers never works…
A. With newcomers you have to be extra careful to bring out the best work from them. Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan wouldn’t have been there if every person starts switching him off from newcomers. Even Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan had a string of flops in the initial part of their careers. Abhishek had nearly 12 flops early in his career.

Q. You had a big hand in launching Manisha Koirala in Bollywood. But do you feel that Manisha has messed up her career today?
A. I agree with your views. Manisha was a fine artist. She has messed up her career in her own way. Every person in life does make mistakes and Manisha is also one of them.Q. What’s your take on issues like piracy and the new technologies which are eating into the business of films?
A. I think you cannot stop piracy which is going on free of charge. If people stop seeing pirated VCDs and DVDs then piracy would be killed quite automatically. But in our country with the level of corruption it’s quite a challenge. New technology has helped in fighting piracy. You can see a new movie on the same day even in a village, so in that sense technology has provided a solution to fight against piracy.

Q. Who are your favourite actor and actress who you have worked with?
A. I loved working with Mumtaz. She has always been my favorite. She is a nice human being also. Another great person is Pran saab who has given his everything for this industry. I am grateful to them for providing me with the opportunity to work with them.

Q. Who is your inspiration to make films and who does give you perspiration while making films?
A. I was inspired to make films since Class 5. I used to bunk school and go to Jaihind cinema (Lalbaugh) to watch movies. I made a film banner right during my school days, in fact. I used to visualize my wife (my girlfriend) during my school days as the heroine and me as a hero (laughs).

Q. Who do you think is the most promising newcomer? Harman, Nakuul, Adhyayan or actors in your Khusboo…
A. I believe, even if your first film flops, it doesn’t make any difference. You must remember that Akshay Kumar (Deedar), Rani Mukherji (Mehndi), Urmila Matondakar (Aa Gale Lag Ja) and even Kajol (Bekhudi) had a flop debut. So you never know who will succeed and when? I am pretty confident of both my debutants Rishi Rehan and Avantika.

Q. What are the future projects which you are associated with?
A. I am planning Aankhen 2 and am also planning to make a film with Anil Sharma based on the true story of Kandahar Hijack of Flight 814.

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Harman Baweja is turning out to be indeed different from the rest of his ilk who love making tall claims about their films for weeks before they hit the theaters. He would rather want audience to look at the way his Love Story 2050 has turned out to be and though he knows that nothing to a scale like this has ever been attempted before in India, it would be fool hardly to expect it coming close to what Hollywood has accomplished in the decades gone by.

“There is no point stating that this is going to be the film which would give Hollywood run for it’s money”, says Harman who has been literally slogging 24X7 to keep the momentum on for the promotion of his film, “Seriously, it is impossible to match the kind of standards that our counterparts from the West have set. It all boils down to the budget at the end of the day and with the kind of resources we work with, even though we may hire the best team out there, you can’t expect results on the same lines.”

But isn’t the budget of Love Story 2050 set around Rs. 50 crores? Isn’t it good enough to set a solid enough platform for his futuristic/sci-fi film?

Agrees Harman, “It is indeed good budget but then we are talking about a film which is primarily a special effects film. Every shot out there requires to be painstakingly shot and then mastered in the editing room. It is an extensive process and requires lot of time, hard work and money. Yes, we have spent a great amount of money into the project.”

“In fact during the making of the film in the last couple of years,” adds Harman, “the talks used to be centered on budget, budget and more budget. We would get over one obstacle, move on to the next and happily come out unscathed yet again. But still, it was a constant battle.”

Reasons Harman, “There is no point trying to set Hollywood as a benchmark though. Look at Tom Cruise. Just his remuneration costs around 10 million dollars and we are not even talking about the overall production cost of the film. Now compare it for yourself with the budget that we have on our hands for making a film. Yes, we have created the best that Bollywood has ever seen in a special effects film but we surely have some way to go before we can tell the world that we have arrived.”

The honesty in Harman reveals the facts behind the fiction but the audience will surely wait to witness the fiction with best ever effects in Bollywood and that’s packaged with a sugary coat of love between off-screen pair Priyanka and Harman. Will that be enough for the movie to flaunt a hit at the box office or should the reality exposed by Harman will cease pe

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