Imtiaz Ali begins a new journey
New journeys always bring in a lot of excitement. And you can clearly see it on the faces of film-maker Imtiaz Ali and Shibasish Sarkar of Reliance Entertainment, as Reliance Entertainment and the filmmaker partner to form Window Seat Films, LLP, which is a 50-50 joint venture for production of movies. We caught up with Imtiaz and Shibasish for a chat about the new partnership.
Shibasish, what has made Reliance Entertainment tie up with Imtiaz for a joint venture?
We have been in the business for about 11-12 years. But in 2014-15, we took quite a ‘difficult’ call as a studio by deciding to not get into socalled co-production space, acquisition and distribution model as we realised this business can’t flourish without creative leadership. The moment creative minds become leaders based on their strengths; they don’t remain employees. They set up their own establishments because they want freedom. Creative people can participate in your journey only when they have equal partnership in the true sense. So, in 2015, we started our relationship with Phantom, followed by Neeraj Pandey and Rohit Shetty.
And now, of course, it’s Imtiaz…
Vis-à-vis Imtiaz, we discussed internally at our highest level of management for almost eight months. We want to collaborate with those film-makers who have established themselves in a particular genre. In the last decade, nobody has reached the expertise in the romantic genre or the genre wherein female characters are written in a very strong way. Also, Imtiaz was kind enough to gracefully get convinced about this new and exciting journey.
Imtiaz, why did you choose to partner with Reliance?
I have never even signed a two film contract (smiles). As a film-maker, one of the things that I have to protect about my way of working is my freedom. And once I started speaking to Shibasish about this concept, I released that this is something that will empower me to do more things and still give the feeling of being free. So, it’s not something that ties me down; it brings me to a point where I can do more things. It took a lot of time as I would want to keep my process of working unadulterated. I think it’s good fortune that he or the company thought that I am worthy of being considered for such a partnership. nprashant. singh@htlive.com
Shibasish: The collaboration isn’t project-bound or time-bound. Whether he wants to do one thing at a time or four, there is no pressure. He will bring and develop his ideas as per his timeline. Creative minds just can’t be forced. The only film that Window Seat Films (WSF) has officially produced is Highway (2014). But over the years, I have already formed a line production team, which has been doing the production for all my films. Now, WSF also has the money, as it’s a partner with Reliance, and we have a joint company to execute a film in the way we think will be best. Till now, I have kept WSF close to me, as there are forces that can adulterate the core of your work, and I didn’t want that.
Who will own the rights of the various projects under the JV?
Shibasish: WSF and Reliance will be equal partners in the company, which will be led by Imtiaz. He will take the leadership forward and we’ll see how it works.
Imtiaz, will you be free to work with other production houses?
The beauty of the whole thing is now, anything that I want to do is possible. Of course, I’ll look at what works best and the attempt will be to make things happen with Reliance. But if anyone approaches me and wants to have it only that way, it’s possible.
Shibasish: Nothing is cast in stone. You’ve to give flexibility to makers; you can’t have control over them.
Will WSF be line producing films under this joint venture?
Shibasish: The creative, production and the [project] development will be done by the creative side, while we have the expertise in marketing, distribution and monetisation. So, the creative freedom and the production aspect will be left to the production company.
Imtiaz, are web series and short films also in the offing…
Honestly, all the avenues are open. Technically, this joint venture is for the production of feature films, but we will see if there is something that we want to develop in terms of a digital series as well. I am developing a digi- tal series anyway, in my mind, at least. I am interested in that, as it is an interesting way to tell a story.
Are there any projects or an announcement in the pipeline?
Shibasish: It is better that Imitaz answers it, but when you go into a long term relationship without an end date, you don’t need to think what’ll happen three months later. We’ve had almost a year-long journey [of a collaboration with Imtiaz] without thinking of a film.
Imtiaz: Due to the partnership, I can now take time and figure out what are the best stories that I want to make. There are three-four right now and I want to develop them equally to a stage where I feel they are in a shape to be understood, at least by me. Then, I can figure out which is the best one to go ahead with.