In Goa, Shailendra Singh is known for many reasons. He is a film producer, author, businessman and one of his first loves was cinema. He has produced path breaking films through his production company, Percept Picture Company. His first film was 1999’s, ‘Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi’ with the catchy song, ‘Musu Musu Haasi Deu’ which was shot in Goa. What is Shailendra’s definition of cinema? “Cinema has the power to make a social difference and it is a mirror to society. This was the deep thought why I started in cinema. It was not a random thought to start projects. I have many firsts in Indian cinema like ‘Hanuman’ in 2005 was India’s first full-length fully animated feature film, ‘Makdee’ was the first children’s horror film, ‘Phir Milenge’ with Shilpa Shetty and Salman Khan was the first HIV film in India. I had a reason to do all that. Cinema is my first love,” says Shailendra.
During Covid, in the peace and quiet of the country, Shailendra travelled to experience a different side of the country. He worked on short films and dreamt of films that could reach a wider audience. A producer of 72 feature films and 12 national awards including Best Film and Best Director for ‘Kanchivaram’, his love for films rekindled during this period and now he is on the lookout for great content. “I felt there was a great opportunity in this post Covid crisis because we have issues of economy and unemployment. As a producer, I thought of making a comeback and my approach would be to find content from India for the world. 99 percent of cinema that we are making in Hindi, we are making for the Hindi consumers. There is no language barrier in cinema. I want to look into content and makers and I am interested in finished and semi-finished content. I can’t afford to waste time in development and I am here to acquire. As a country we are rich in stories and culture, we need to tell compelling stories,” says the man, who claims to give five lakh debuts through his films.
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He further adds, “I bought ‘Khuda Kay Liye’ from the International Film Festival of India. That film was doing the rounds at IFFI for three years and yet nobody touched it because it was a Pakistani film. I flew in 14 people from Pakistan for the premiere in Metro Cinema in Bombay. Art has no borders. The film was special because it was the first Pakistani film to be released in India in almost half a century, and it was the first ever Pakistani film to be included in the official selection of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). With the same director, I bought ‘Ramchand Pakistani’ in 2008, two Pakistani films to ever release in India were by me from IFFI. I’m a firm believer of cinema and the story that I am marketing. I’m not into big names. I dream, I believe, I do. I was against the tide always and I’m ready to be an active producer for the Indian cinema but for the world.”
‘Unplugged in Mumbai: starring Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Shailendra Singh’ was directed by Shailendra Singh when the Hollywood celebrity couple travelled to Mumbai and spent a day with Shailendra. “I have known Michael Douglas and his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones for 17 years. We spent a day together travelling to different places in Mumbai including Dhobi Ghat. I shot the entire film and at the end of the film, they say that they would love to star in a film directed by me, which is a huge compliment. They have seven Oscars and nine Baftas between them. I read ‘The Guide’, I’m thinking to do something on similar lines,” says Shailendra.
With so much on animation coming from the West, Shailendra too has already put in his time and effort to creating a new avatar of Raavan for the big screen. He was also the producer of ‘Hanuman’ in 2005, India’s first full-length fully animated feature film and ‘Hanuman: Da’ Damdaar’ a 2017 Indian mythological-adventure animated film. “I’m creating a universal Raavan and on January 7, 2023, I’ll be releasing the poster. Its 3D psychedelic animation, so it gives me liberty to play. I’m making these characters into real life characters like Spider-Man and Iron Man. My characters like Kumbhkarna, Hanuman and Raavan are real life characters. The story is based in the present time. I have done ‘Hanuman 1 and 2,’ so I understand these sensibilities. I’m not new to the field,” says Shailendra.
Explaining the story of the film, he says, “The world is already at war right now. Kalyug is here so Ravaan wakes up and says you have made me the evil spokesperson but here humans itself have messed it up. So now I will come and destroy you. He is very clever and wants to cripple the economy and the science of this generation. He wants to take humanity back to the dark ages.”
Shailendra is also working on his biopic which will be a four season long series with eight episodes each. “It’s a rags to riches story. I went to Bombay with nothing, in a truck, with my father. It’s an intense story. I’m not very educated but then I built 23 businesses in 23 years and became Asia’s largest music producer. Just before Covid, I signed my life rights and fought for my title ‘Singh is Kinng,’ which was given to Akshay Kumar. After 12 years, I got the title back. I gave my life rights to Shoojit Sircar. I signed Hansal Mehta, signed the MOU and later, Hansal signed 12-14 movies. He sent over writers to my place who did two workshops of nine hours each on camera. After the Reliance capital collapse, I took all my rights back and we are rekindling the process. My biopic is already written, its four seasons and it’s called ‘Singh is King’.
I have to get a studio and a director. The story is contrary to what we look like. I come from an old school joint family and in my career, I have never been involved in any controversies,” says Shailendra.
