Actor Anupam Kher recently released his second film as director, the drama Tanvi the Great. He went on a publicity spree for the film, appearing on popular podcasts and on television channels. He even leveraged his friendship with the Oscar-winning Robert De Niro by having him attend a ‘premiere’ of the film in New York. The movie was also screened at the Cannes Film Festival (unofficially) and in London. But, having debuted alongside the box office juggernaut Saiyaara, Tanvi the Great could only manage to earn under Rs 2 crore in five days of release. By Anupam Kher’s own admission, it cost Rs 50 crore to produce, and the funds were cobbled together with the help of his friends and acquaintances.
In an interview with Republic, the actor-filmmaker said that the person who had initially agreed to fund the project backed out with only weeks remaining till the start of production. Faced with an indefinite delay, Anupam decided to push through, and reached out for funds to ‘doctors, businessmen’ he knew. He said that there are as many as 10 producers on the film, and that multiple people put in the money needed to get it going. Anupam said that he didn’t want to work with a studio on the project, because he wanted to hold on to his creative independence. He revealed the film’s budget to be Rs 50 crore, and said that none of the actors took any payment for it.
He said, “It has not (delivered) earth-shattering collections or anything. Unfortunately, what has happened in the last 10 years, cinema has become so much of a business, we think that if a film does not do well that means it’s not a great film… I am not speaking defensively about it. I am also a part of the business world.” He continued, “When we made the budget, it came to around Rs 50 crore. There was a gentleman, who said that he will give us 50% of the budget, which was a huge amount. Lansdowne was decided, Army came on board, etc. One month before the shoot, I was told that they cannot finance the film.”
So, Anupam turned to other independent financers. “I called up a few friends of mine in US and in India. We have 10 co-producers on this film. It’s basically crowd-funded. I sent them the synopsis of the film, and none of them have anything to do with films. They are businessmen, they work in banks, they are doctors. They didn’t have to (give me the money). But they said okay. I said I will return the money when the film gets released, but none of them have asked for it… You know something more interesting? All my main four cast members decided not to take money from me till I have it. Arvind Swamy, Jackie Shroff, Pallavi Joshi, Boman Irani, I went to them and said this is what has happened. I said, ‘I will pay you’, and they said, ‘Did we ask for it?’.”
Tanvi the Great was released alongside the runaway hit Saiyaara, starring newcomers Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda. The romantic drama has made over Rs 150 crore so far, while Tanvi the Great hasn’t cracked the Rs 2 crore mark.
