BOMBAY TIMES (June 24, 2019)

After successfully entertaining the audience with their films in the ’90s, Pooja Entertainment has signed talented filmmakers Rahi Anil Barve, Vijay Lalwani and Nitin Kakkar to build on their brand of high-on-entertainment and content-driven films. “Just like the game of chess, in showbiz, too, content is queen. In just one move, the game can change completely,” says Jackky Bhagnani, as he prepares to lead Pooja Entertainment into its next phase.

Nitin Kakkar says, “Working with Jackky has been a wonderful experience, and I am looking forward to my association with him. He is determined to back content-driven cinema, and after Filmistaan, I haven’t written anything on my own. I am excited for the film we are making because it will be written and directed by me.”

Rahi Anil Barve, who had directed Tumbbad, says, “After the tremendous response to Tumbbad by the audience and critics, I expected the banner to brief me on a similar genre. But Jackky’s willingness to explore unchartered territory pleasantly surprised me. A freehand to execute your vision is something that every filmmaker aspires for, and Jackky gives you that freedom by putting you at complete ease and believing in you.”

Speaking about his association with Jackky, Vijay Lalwani adds, “What I like about him is that he’s not just a warm and approachable person, but he also doesn’t flinch while backing ideas that are new and edgy. He doesn’t just put a project together, but he goes all out to manifest your vision. And that’s what makes his production house stand out for me.”

Jackky says, “Times have never been better for good content, and it excites me to see great work happening across mediums — be it films, digital or TV. In fact, it is heartening to see some of our films get massive organic hits on OTT platforms. That just goes to show that our connect with the audience has been intact over the years, and we hope that this bond gets stronger with our new line up.” 

MUMBAI MIRROR (December 12, 2018)

Sohum Shah was a teenager when he fell in love with the movies. In the only theatre in Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, he’d give in to the magic of a Shah Rukh Khan romance or Salman Khan’s charm. “These films were my window into the world. They inspired me to dream bigger and be more,” the actor-producer explains. It was this drive that brought him to Mumbai and made him persevere for six years to make one of this year’s best Indian films—Tumbbad.

Named after a village in the interiors of Maharashtra, Tumbbad is a monster film, a treasure hunt and an allegory for the consequences of endless greed. “When Rahi (Anil Barve, writer and co-director) brought me the script, I was immediately on board. He had even created a printbook with reference images of what the film would look like. It was a very relatable and rooted Indian story; the kind our nanis and dadis would tell us when we were kids.”

Only Sohum didn’t realise how difficult it would be to bring what seemed like a simple folktale to screen. “The idea was to make a small film quickly, but the film kept evolving and growing bigger. Every time someone came up with an idea that could improve the film, it would get added. Most films get made in three stages—writing, filming and editing. In our case, we lost count of the stages,” he says, with a laugh.

One of the biggest changes was what Hastar, the disgraced demon God looked like. Initially, due to budget constraints, the monster was created using prosthetics and the space he inhabits was a cave. “We tried twice to get the prosthetics right but it just didn’t work. Somewhere along the way, someone suggested that the cave should be changed to a red womb. We eventually used VFX to create Hastar and the womb.”

The ‘do what’s right for the film, regardless of the budget’ ethos meant that an expensive scene depicting Vinayak (played by Sohum) and his son walking through the Independence Day celebration in a marketplace got left behind on the editing floor; a crew of 200 people would wait for the rains because the film’s director and cinematographer thought it should always be raining in Tumbbad, and also wanted the right lighting; and, from the motorcycle to the marketplace, the production team meticulously recreated the early 1900s.

Six years of single-minded focus gave Sohum a film that continues to be in theatres almost two months after it’s pan-India theatrical release. Tumbbad was the first Indian film to open at the prestigious Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week. “In these six years, there were days when I was frustrated with how much time the film was taking but I knew that we had something special on our hands. One of the lessons I have learnt from Aamir Khan has been to give as much time to something as it needs. My audience doesn’t care if the film was made in six months or six years; all they’ll care about is how well it’s been made.”

He was so focused on getting Tumbbad made that Sohum even refused acting jobs, which had been the main reason for him to come to Mumbai. “I was emotionally and creatively so invested in this film that I passed up quite a few acting opportunities. I only did Talvar and Simran during this period because Tumbbad remained my top priority.”

Sohum’s single-mindedness has been the keystone of his success. The son of a commodities trader, he started helping his father at age 13. In just a few years, he had almost completely taken over the business and continued to ace at college. “My only aspiration was to earn money. I had grown up in a family where we had the basics but never anything extra. I had two sets of clothes and that was considered a luxury.”

By 27, Sohum had diversified into other business, including real estate. “I worked very hard and I was fortunate that success came to me early. That’s when I decided to follow my passion for acting.” Interestingly, Sohum has never acted before he landed up in Mumbai. “I had acute stagefright,” he confesses. During a two-month course in Mumbai, he found the actor within.

For his sophomore effort, Ship Of Theseus, Sohum won the National Award for Best Feature Film. It was a bittersweet win for him because his father had just passed away before the awards were announced. He wished he was present to see him win the honour. While his most ambitious film Tumbbad continues to wow audiences on one of the online streaming platforms, he is back to his first love, acting, and 2019 is already sounding extremely busy for the actor. “I am currently shooting for a series for a popular online streaming platform. There is also Batuni, a comedy that Adesh (Prasad, Tumbbad’s co-director and writer) is directing and I am producing. There are two more very interesting films that are being discussed but I can’t reveal yet,” he signs off.

A booming real estate business back in Rajasthan notwithstanding, Tumbbad's lead actor Sohum Shah and producer talks of what compels him to push the envelope in a creative and volatile field
Jane Borges (MID-DAY; November 4, 2018)

There's an incident from the making of the recently-released fantasy-horror film Tumbbad that director Rahi Anil Barve recounts with part amusement, part reverence. Since rain is an important trope in the movie - shot in nine different locations across rural Maharashtra - Barve had insisted on shooting certain scenes during the monsoon, when the sky was overcast. "But, the region was hit by drought, so rain was often playing truant," he says, over a telephonic interview.

"For days, our set of 200-odd people would wait on top of a cliff, where we had constructed a hill house [for the film], wondering when it would pour. Had it been any other producer, he'd have said, 'F**k these clouds, and let's get on with the shoot. You're wasting my time and money'. But, Sohum [Shah] would sit with us, and watch for those rain clouds."

When we meet Shah, Tumbbad's producer and greedy protagonist Vinayak Rao, we realise that patience is second nature for him. Dressed in distressed jeans and a black shirt over a white tee, Shah doesn't protest when we ask him to move between sofas and rooms, in an attempt for a decent shot at his Versova office. Instead, like a true producer, we overhear him telling the mid-day photographer why he should be watching Tumbbad on the big screen.

For Shah, 37, the last few weeks have been surreal. There's no other word to describe what the critical success of his new production, which has been six years in the making, means to him. Despite essaying central characters in Ship of Theseus (2012) as stock-broker Navin, Talvar (2015) where he played mean ACP Vedant Mishra, and the boy-next-door in Simran (2107), Shah's body of work has gone fairly unnoticed. Tumbbad lifts the veil on another brilliant actor in an industry that is otherwise, star-struck. Shah admits, however, he too, is guilty of venerating icons, and Shah Rukh Khan in particular.

Love for Bollywood
Having grown up in the small Rajasthani town of Sri Ganganagar, 400 km from Jaipur and with a population of 2.5 lakh, Shah, like most kids from the 90s, remembers repeatedly watching Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (KKHH). "The kind of positivity and energy that Shah Rukh brought to the screen, it could fill your life with a lot of happiness," he says. "I remember a doctor friend, who felt that she was going crazy while studying medicine. She told me that KKHH helped her snap out of depression. He has contributed a lot to our culture. To me, he's not just an actor, he is way above. I wanted to be exactly like him."

It's these starry dreams that vacuously occupied most of his teenage years. But hailing from a family, where money was hard to come by - his father was a commodity broker - he decided to assist him in his business, at the age of 14. "As much as I wanted to become an actor, I also wanted to contribute to the family, and improve our financial condition," he says. Two years later, he took over the business. "I went on to dabble in different kinds of commodity trade, including edible oil. Bahut papad bele."

Finally, Shah found success in real estate, and within eight years, he managed to establish himself as a businessman to reckon with, at least in Sri Ganganagar. "When I knew I could run my business on auto-pilot, I decided it was time to make the shift to Mumbai," he says. This was in 2008. Shah hasn't looked back.

Making movies happen
Before Shah moved lock, stock and barrel he had visited Mumbai briefly, somewhere in 2006. "At the time, I thought, I'd make a music video featuring myself and people would take notice of me. That way, I'd get some work. I was so naïve," he laughs. "On a common friend's suggestion, I enrolled in an acting school, but couldn't commit to it, because a lot of work was still stuck back home," he says.

He even befriended Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who hadn't yet tasted success with Kahaani and Gangs of Wasseypur, and took him to Sri Ganganagar for a month, where he trained with him for three hours daily, in between meeting work commitments. When he returned, Shah decided to give himself completely to the movies. "I came from a place, where I had achieved immense success. So, having to start again from scratch, was tough. But, I was not someone who'd live on the streets and survive on vada pav. Yes, Mumbai was a different landscape and initially, I did feel alienated, but I was crazy about the movies and determined to get a hang of it."

Shah first produced and acted in a gangster drama titled Baabarr (2009), which tanked at the box office. A year later, he met filmmaker Anand Gandhi, whom he credits for exposing him to good cinema. He went on to play Navin in the massive cast of Ship of Theseus, which Shah and Gandhi produced under the Recyclewala Films banner.

During the same time, Rahi, who wanted a non-star to play lead in Tumbbad, approached him with the film. "When I heard the script, I jumped. It felt like a grandmother's tale, which was very rooted and Indian," remembers Shah. But Rahi was struggling to get a producer on board. "After seven months of not hearing from me, Shah came back and said he'd produce the film himself," Rahi says.

Even as Tumbbad was in the making, Shah took on side roles in other films. He was last seen in Simran as Kangana Ranaut's love interest Sameer. "Sohum, if cast correctly, comes without baggage. He can easily slip into character and become the person, you imagined. He played the boy-next-door and convincingly," says Hansal Mehta, who directed the film.

That Tumbbad took so long to make, was also because Shah ensured that every aspect of the film, right from the storytelling to cinematography, the writing and the demon god, Hastar, that was first shot in prosthetics before they opted for VFX, was perfected to the last detail. On screen, Shah stands out as the gluttonous Vinayak, and is able to compellingly portray the character's grey shades. That he had to maintain his physique through the many years of shooting the film - he used traditional wooden weights to get the chiselled look - and changed over four coaches to learn Marathi, is reflection of his dedication. "Sohum believed in Tumbbad when nobody else did. It was my baby, but he nurtured it like his own," says Rahi.

Sohum Shah, who earlier produced and starred in Ship Of Theseus, has undergone a striking physical transformation for his next film, Tumbad. “It is a dark period thriller set against the backdrop of colonial India and infused with elements of fantasy. I had to bulk up for my role by following a strict regimen to stay true to the physicality prevalent in the 1930s,” says the actor-producer. 

The team did several test shoots before zeroing in on Sohum’s look. He, too, researched the kind of costumes worn in that era. “Most of the crew found it difficult to recognise me on my first day on the set,” he says. 

Produced by Recyclewala Films, it marks the directorial debut of Rahi Anil Barve whose short film Manjha was released by director Danny Boyle with the Slumdog Millionaire Blu-Ray disk. Some portions of Tumbad, which is scheduled to release worldwide next year, were screened at the NFDC Film Bazaar in Goa last year. It had sparked off quite a buzz among cinema buffs then.