Producer with balls

Jhamu Sughand who passed away today was a producer with balls. Unlike most producers he was not a "proposal" film-maker-- one who would look at the box office returns of the cast or the director and then greenlight a project. Most of the films Jhamu financed, he did so on the basis of the passion of the director and his gut feeling for the story.

When Ram Gopal Varma was struggling to make his entry into Bollywood it was Jhamu who stepped in and financed Rangeela. Being a shy man Jhamu valued working relationships. That is why he often bailed out RGV, even though he was never officially credited for it. During Rangeela, Jhamu also got to know Aamir Khan. Which is why even though RGV and Aamir fell apart, Jhamu chipped in when Aamir told him about the film Earth which Deepa Mehta was making. And yes, Lagaan would not have happened if Jhamu had not put in his money and trust in Aamir. How many current day corporates would fund a period film in which characters mostly spoke in Awadhi and where a motley group of villagers beat an English team in cricket? Not to forget directed by a man who had given three flops

Jhamu operated like a true blood venture capitalist. The profit sharing model he worked out with an intense broooding filmmaker in 1998 is a fine example of what studios and corporates have to follow today. Jhamu gave the film maker a measly fee of Rs 15 lakhs and assured him that if the film made a profit he would share a sizeable portion of it. The movie recovered its cost in the theatres but earned crores in proft because of its re-run on television. The film? Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali became a crorepati thanks to Jhamu's profit sharing model.

As a financier sometimes Jhamu's investment were bang on-- Kamal Hasan's Chaachi 420. Sometimes the film didn't yield box office returns but instead introduced fine talent-- Rakyesh Mehra (Aks) and Meghna Gulzar (Filhaal).

Sadly, it was Jhamu's unofficial finance lending to the film industry that backfired on him. Facing a crunch, he started projects, including a clutch of Bengali films, but was not able to complete them-- Sriram Raghavan's Johnny Gadaar and Abbas Tyrewala's Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na.

But there is a saying in Bollywood which has been proved often true. Jhamu jiske upar haath rakha, uski to life ban gayi!