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Until a few years ago, the Hindi film industry worked like a traditional business where individual investors provided film budgets and not studios. They had everything to lose, because a bomb would often mean bankruptcy for them. This made filmmaking a dangerous financial game which is why many producers lost their fortunes because they bet on the wrong film or the wrong stars. Producer vashu Bhagnani, who recently had a massive setback with Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, faced a huge loss in early 2000s when one of his most ambitious projects sank and he lost all his money.
During a recent chat, Vashu's Son, Jackky Bhaganani, told IIMUN’s YouTube channel that his father lost all his money after he made the 2002 film Om Jai Jagadish. This was Anupam Kher’s directorial debut; it starred Anil Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan, Fardeen Khan, Urmila Matondkar, Mahima Chaudhary, Waheeda Rehman, Parmeet Sethi, Annu Kapoor, and Om Puri, among many others. In fact, it was rumoured that the film was first being produced by YRF, and was first offered to Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan, but the three stars refused. After their refusal, YRF backed out, and Vashu landed the project. As per Box Office India, the film was made on a budget of Rs 13 crore, but could only earn Rs 8.5 crore.
“When he came to Mumbai, we had nothing. He made it all and then he lost all his money in a film we made called Om Jai Jagadish and he started from ground zero again,” Jackky shared. Before Om Jai Jagdiah, Vashu had produced a string of hits like Coolie No 1, Hero No 1, Biwi No 1, among others.
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Jackky shared that his father made his fortune all over again, but with 2024’s Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, starring Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff, he suffered another massive setback. “Recently, a year and a half ago, we had a colossal flop loss film called Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and it was not the best 12 months in terms of finance and company, restructuring, stuff like that. But I have seen that too many times in my life. You can build it back again,” he said.
Bhagnani built his fortune with his construction business in Mumbai, which he also expanded to the UK. In a chat with Ronak Kotecha on YouTube, he shared that he expanded operations to the UK in 2018, and that has brought him good returns. “I don’t believe in making money by investing your own money in projects. I make buildings like I make films… I’m the only person from Bollywood who has set up a studio in London. We have two floors with 60-foot high ceilings. It’s a two-acre property, I have a VFX set-up there, I have vanity vans there,” he said.
In an earlier chat with SCREEN, Jackky shared that the company faced significant losses because of Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and said, “I would like to say that the returns are not even less than 50%. I don’t think anyone can understand what our pain was.” He added, “As a family, we have mortgaged our properties to make this film. We realise that there is no point in saying anything or speaking anything.”
