Mahaveer Jain, who arranged for the meetings, has made a short film on Narendra Modi and is a producer on film about Balakot air strike
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 1, 2019)

Mahaveer Jain has been in the news recently for arranging several meetings between B-town biggies and prime minister Narendra Modi to discuss the various challenges faced by the film industry. The first of these interactions took place last year in October in the Capital at which Aamir Khan, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Aanand L Rai and Ritesh Sidhwani among others were present. In January he once again flew down with Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra, Ayushmann Khurrana, Karan Johar, Ekta Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, Rajkummar Rao and Rohit Shetty to meet the PM. The filmmaker reveals there are more to come.

“This is the first time that the government and the film industry have come so close and on top of our agenda is building more cinema halls. China has over 50,000 screens and our PM wants the two and three-tier cities to have many more screens, a vision our film industry shares,” informs Mahaveer.

He comes from a business family which primarily deals in textiles. A passion for cinema, along with entertaining and educative Aamir Khan-starrers like Taare Zameen Par and 3 Idiots brought him into show business. “I have been lucky to meet good people along the way,” smiles Mahaveer who turned producer in 2011 with Mangesh Hadawale’s children’s film Dekh Indian Circus. It bagged four National Awards. Last year, he made a short film based on the early life of Modi, Chalo Jeete Hain, also directed by Mangesh. He is now collaborating with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Bhushan Kumar and Abhishek Kapoor to produce a film on the recent Balakot air strikes which will be directed by Abhishek.

“Our film is a tribute to our brave soldiers who risk their lives for the country, it’s a story very close to our hearts. Abhishek and his team are presently working on the script after which we would begin casting. Presenting it right is a huge responsibility,” he admits.

He is producing another film with SLB which will launch the latter’s niece Sharmin, and Jaaved Jaaferi’s son Meezaan and is once again being directed by Mangesh. “Sanjay ji is a little reserved but I’ve got to know him closely over the years and realised that he has a heart of gold. I’m hoping to collaborate with him again,” says Mahaveer who is also backing a slice-of-life entertainer. “We have finished 70-80 per cent of its shoot. Sonakshi’s (Sinha) character is trying to realise her dreams with Varun Sharma as her brother. He will remind you of Choocha from Fukrey. We are also exploring the idea of getting Sonakshi and Badshah to sing a song,” Mahaveer signs off. 

Mahaveer Jain played a key role in giving Bollywood’s young stars a chance to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; January 12, 2019)

On Thursday, a contingent of Bollywood’s head-turners and game-changers — Ranveer Singh, Varun Dhawan, Vicky Kaushal, Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar, Sidharth Malhotra, Rajkummar, Rao, directors like Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari and Rohit Shetty and producers like Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor — marched to Delhi (in a chartered aircraft) to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is the third group of celebrated names from the fraternity that has had an audience with the Prime Minister.

Back in 2018, a set of producers, including Aanand L Rai, Siddharth Roy Kapur and Rajkumar Hirani, met him on October 26 in Delhi. This was followed by a meeting with an 18-member group in Mumbai in December, comprising actor-producers like Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn along with filmmakers like Karan Johar. On January 10, Karan, along with producer Mahaveer Jain (instrumental in setting up the previous meetings, too), organised a tête-à-tête for Bollywood’s young guns with the Prime Minister in Delhi. The primary motive was to discuss the participation and contributions of cinema’s youth icons in nation building.

The meeting went on for about 50 minutes. What was meant to be a short meeting turned into a healthy dialogue between the PM and the delegation. Elaborating on it, Mahaveer Jain told BT, “For several months, Modi ji has been discussing the fact that our music and films have become talking points internationally and are widely appreciated. He acknowledges that the creative forces have a huge role to play in nation building. The PM has been keenly working towards strengthening the entertainment industry, which he feels has a strong presence as a soft power in the country. He thinks that entertainment can change mindsets, initiate social change and increase harmony in society. That’s the reason he has been meeting different sets of people from the entertainment industry to know and to adequately understand what their stumbling blocks are, and what is it that he can do to help them grow and flourish.”

While the contingent that met him in October was pleasantly surprised with the openness with which the PM approached the industry’s issues, the December meeting was widely talked about, too. It was within days of this meeting at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai that the GST rates on movie tickets were considerably reduced.

The recent meeting with Bollywood’s young blood revolved around discussing what each individual in the room has achieved in his or her career so far. They also touched upon what their contributions can be in the act of nation building and putting India’s vibrant cultures on the world map. “Modi ji was aware of what each one in the room has done so far. For instance, he was very appreciative of Alia’s work in Raazi (directed by Meghna Gulzar), Ashwiny’s film Nil Battey Sannata, Ekta’s Udta Punjab (directed by Abhishek Chaubey), Ayushmann’s nuanced approach to taboo subjects, the way Ranveer balances entertainment with substance, what Bhumi Pednekar’s Toilet - Ek Prem Katha (directed by Shree Narayan Singh) did to further the cause of Swacch Bharat, Rajkummar’s contribution to cinema with acclaimed films like Newton (directed by Amit Masurkar) and Rohit Shetty’s attempt to dish out pure entertainment, among other things. He asked Ranbir Kapoor about his father Rishi’s health. Modi ji also congratulated and blessed Ranveer for his wedding with Deepika Padukone. His discussion veered towards clubbing entertainment with social issues. He asked the actors and filmmakers about their general opinions on governance, the problems they face in their professional spaces and what they think could be done to address their concerns. After the PM met the group, his core team sat with the contingent and noted the prime issues that need to be addressed,” informs Mahaveer, stating that the group returned hopeful and excited after the meeting.

Hearsay is that a grand announcement is on its way which could potentially resolve a lot of concerns that the industry has at the moment. “This is with regard to something that the industry has wanted for the last 20 years or so. It takes a lot of planning before anything can be executed, but the next few months will bring a lot of good news for the industry,” says Mahaveer.