The Unlikely sTAr
Meet the first-time producer who has collared Bollywood’s big four—Ashi Dua, maker of the smash hit Bombay Talkies, on her dream debut with some of the biggest directors in the industry
A screening of your maiden movie at Cannes, and that to commemorate a momentous occasion like the 100 years of Indian cinema is the stuff
debutante’s dream is made of. So when the multi-directorial, multi-starrer Bombay Talkies was shown at the prestigious film festival to celebrate said occasion, producer Ashi Dua was ecstatic. Dressed in a black gown, her hair falling down her shoulders, the 28-yearold first-timer rose to the occasion, confidently sashaying down the red carpet with the directors of the movie, posing for photographers, and answering questions with the ease of a veteran. “I loved every minute of it,” says Dua, who has just returned from the French Riviera after an extended vacation. “Not only was the movie well-received, it was also screened on May 3, a date when the first Hindi film was released in 1913, making the whole experience poignant. It was perfect.”
What Dua has managed to do in her first movie, few without a Bollywood lineage can boast of—getting a group of seasoned directors to come together to make an anthology of short films with a multi-star cast, loved by audiences and critics alike. The way Dua explains it, things just fell into place. “The idea and format for Bombay Talkies came to me in 2009. That’s when I presented it to Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, and Anurag Kashyap, and they were happy to collaborate on the project.”
The head of Flying Unicorn Entertainment, a Mumbai-based content creation company, Dua had till then only dabbled in television, producing non-fiction shows for Sony TV and Zoom ( Director’s Cut and Cinematographer’s Cut). Though she was involved
in the marketing of films, producing one was something she always aspired to do. The chance had presented itself to her earlier with Dev D, when Dua worked with Anurag Kashyap on the film, but got as far as the music production stage before she had to move to New York for some time. When she returned in 2006, she was convinced that it was on the “business side of movies” that she wanted to be.
And she couldn’t have imagined a better diving board than Bombay Talkies. Working with industry stalwarts, both actors and directors, gave Dua an in-depth understanding into the logistics of making a film. “This was my first film, so just being around them was a learning experience. The four of them are completely different. It was just outstanding.”
Dua, who hails from Bareilly, started Flying Unicorn Entertainment when she was just 22, after studying films at Mumbai’s Xavier Institute of Communications (she watched her first movie when she was 14, and was hooked.) Today, she says she can easily watch four-five films back-to-back, something longtime friend Anurag Kashyap has a role to play in. “Anurag used to live really close to my house, and had a great library of books and movies. I watched a lot of French and Korean films there, and that built my desire to do something in movies.”
Counting QuentinTarantino amongst her favourite directors, Dua is currently working on two scripts simultaneously, and doesn’t rule out the possibility of making a romantic movie in the near future. What about directing a film? “I am not that confident behind the camera yet. But, yes, you have one life to live. So I hope I can.”