More often than not, when a film becomes a hit, the conversation focuses on the actors. Rarely does it turn to the people behind the scenes: the producers. Dinesh Vijan, however, is an exception, having established himself as one of today’s most successful producers, with a string of memorable films under his production house Maddock Films’ belt. His latest film, the horror-comedy Thamma, has opened to strong numbers too. Excerpts from a chat:

Conviction comes from the gut. The most important decision you make is which film to make. The rest is logistics. I have a line in our company, ‘We have to be unique and audacious’. People want to be surprised when they go in a theatre. We are fortunate that we are getting to make the films we want to make.

My job at Maddock is simple: I take care of the content and a little bit of marketing. I have some beautiful people who take all the stress away from me, so I can focus on this. The day you feel there is a formula, it will be the end. Three or four years back, I remember, some social media comments said, ‘This is a Maddock kind of film,’ and my team got excited. I said, ‘This is like writing your obituary.’ We make what we love, and love is not [meant] to be finite. The day you get stuck, you would want to make films for that acceptance.

A story is never small or big. It’s about the relevance of a story. We think about money last, and that’s why we end up making money. Our most illogical bet was Chhaava. At the scale we made it, it was also about survival. We had to change the cinematic experience. Vicky Kaushal or Laxman Utekar had never made a historical film before; technically, it was not a safe film. Yet it fired [became a hit].

Generally Diwali falls in November every year; this time it fell in October. If you look at it, Animal was also released in December 2023, the same as Sam Bahadur. I feel between the two festive seasons of Diwali and Christmas, a film like Ikkis can come. We are trying to find an exact date and don’t want to clash with any other film. I have loved this story on late Lt Arun Khetarpal’s life for seven years. We got hit by Covid in between; that’s why we couldn’t start the film. I had narrated it to Sriram Raghavan all those years back; generally, he writes his own material and brings it to you. He had a tear in his eye. The idea was to do either Badlapur 2 or Ikkis; he chose this.

I am a Leo; I will obviously want to get there! Honestly, where we have come is so far. I don’t think that boy ever saw it. When you are young, with brashness, you might think so. But the answer is a no. I am fortunate my parents allowed me to do this. My father and I used to watch Amitabh Bachchan’s films together, so that desire was there somewhere. I knew my father couldn’t [pursue what he wanted] because my grandfather had a heart attack, and he had to get into the family business. But I became my father’s Simran, and he let me go. It was tough.

Dinesh Vijan on his Love Aa j Kal director; says he is looking forward to headlining Cocktail, too and that Go Goa Gone 2 is about the world ending
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 10, 2020)

Imtiaz Ali, in a recent interview, had told us that Love Aaj Kal is the only franchise-able idea he has had. His producer, Dinesh Vijan, begins the conversation by saying that he’d love to take the 2012 romcom, Cocktail, which Imtiaz had written with brother Sajid Ali, forward if “we can find the right director—that’s from Homi (Adajania, who directed the film) sitting with me in the car—and the right mix that makes a relationship stick.

In the case of his upcoming Valentine’s Day release, what merited a follow-up was the format and the fact that thematically, the concept of love changes every five-10 years. “The last Love Aaj Kal went back to when there were no phones. But over the last decade, the onslaught of the digital revolution has changed the way people communicate. The millennials are looking for human connect, at least some of them are. If there’s another shift, we can make another Love Aaj Kal, that’s the idea,” he says brimming with the excitement and enthusiasm of a filmmaker who is succeeding with off-beat themes where others are floundering with time-tested formulae going by the success of Stree, Luka Chuppi and more recently Bala.

But with people expecting original ideas from him, how much of a pressure is it to take a successful romcom which people still have a lot of attachment for and ‘twist’ it literally to come up with a new film. The pressure, he says, was to write it better. And Imtiaz has chosen a story with two similar parallel tracks but a new conflict, and new actors playing new characters and speaking the language of today to tell it. “Like Pritam, who has composed a completely new track which has only an echo of 'Twist', the film, too, is a fresh take with just a hint of the old. I’m curious to know how two generations, yesterday’s and today’s, react to this film. What’s reassuring is that over the last decade, Imtiaz has owned this space. If there is anyone people listen to on the subject of love, it’s him,” asserts Dinesh, pointing out that sometimes a character may not merit another journey, but the concept does.

It’s interesting that Sara Ali Khan has taken the baton from dad Saif, but her producer is quick to dispel the notion that she entered the picture because of their relationship. “Sara’s Zoe is intelligent, career-oriented and has a voice. As a character, she’s very new to Hindi cinema, but I could see a lot of her in the way Sara talks, walks, dresses and thinks. Of course, there’s a lot of Sara who is not in Zoe too, but she was the perfect fit,” he avers.

Ten years down the line, will we see Taimur headlining the next Love Aaj Kal? “Taimur doesn’t have dates even today. And by then, Kartik, could also have a good-looking child,” he guffaws. What did love mean to him yesterday and has it changed today, you wonder, and pat comes the reply, “There’s no kal, aagewala ya peechhewala. It’s just love aaj, with the love of my life, my wife, Pranita.”

Meanwhile, he has announced Goa Goa Gone 2. A zombie apocalypse action comedy was a revolutionary film even back in 2013. How do you plan to up the ante with this one? Dinesh informs that writer Gautam Mehra, who worked with them on the Rajkummar Rao, Janhvi Kapoor, Varun Sharma horror comedy Roohi Afzana which opens in April, had come up with the idea. “It’s a stoner comedy of sorts about the world coming to an end. It’s interesting given the state of our planet,” he chuckles. And is there a chance of Saif returning as Boris, the Russian mobster and zombie hunter? “Of course, there is!” he exclaims. “Boris was an integral part of the first film and made it special. As soon as the script is ready, we will go to him. Hopefully, he will like the role and come on board.”

But before this in March, Angrezi Medium which takes the story of Hindi Medium forward, arrives in the theatres. Dinesh, who waited patiently for Irrfan Khan to get back to work, says there would have been no Angrezi Medium without Irrfan. “I’m happy we could come together and make it. It’s Homi's most sensitive story and both Irrfan and he got along really well. Some films change you and this one has. I lost my father five years ago and watching Irrfan play one in this essentially father-daughter story was emotional. He’s put something extra into the role that makes you feel for real. I was to be in London for just one week during the shoot, but he insisted I stay back. And somewhere, in the process of making the film, I’ve become a better human being,” he signs off with a smile.