Filmmaker, producer Nikkhil Advani on why 'content is definitely king'

Drawn to real-life events, Advani tells Shine Jacob that the pandemic has made people more selective, so content will be the star of cinema

If there is one word to describe Nikkhil Advani, it has to be “prolific”. "From working on one or two films a year, we have got into the habit of making six. Currently, at least four are simultaneously in production," says the 51-year-old filmmaker, writer and producer, who is basking in the success of Rocket Boys, a series based on the lives of Homi J Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai.

That the gripping series also invited some serious criticism from writers and reviewers, who said it distorted history by fictionalising events and reduced legendary scientists to Bollywood stereotypes, isn’t something Advani is fazed by. The 2016 Airlift, a blockbuster inspired by the mammoth evacuation of Indians during the Gulf War of 1990 that he had co-produced, too had invited similar criticism, including from the external affairs ministry. But Advani doesn’t look back. There is no time to.

I am to meet him for lunch but it is still early in the day. So when he logs in from his home in Mumbai at noon, it is with a cup of coffee and some snacks. Sitting miles away in Chennai, I listen to him as he declares while settling down: "Content will be the star of what is going to be made now."

And content is what the man behind films like D-Day, Batla House, Satyameva Jayate, Baazaar, Sardar Ka Grandson and Bell Bottom is focused on. It was the reason he co-founded the production house, Emmay Entertainment and Motion Pictures, 11 years ago – to make films that he felt he would “not be able to convince a lot of producers and studios” to put their money into.

An out and out Mumbaikar, Advani wasn’t really born into a Bollywood family. His father, a Sindhi, worked in the chemical and pharmaceuticals sector, and his mother, a Maharashtrian, was in the advertising industry. The cinema connection came from the extended family: producer N N Sippy was his granduncle, and Tusshar and Ekta Kapoor are his second cousins.

After starting out as a writer for Sudhir Mishra’s Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin (1996), Advani worked as an associate in films such as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Mohabbatein and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. It was in 2003 that his first directorial venture, Kal Ho Naa Ho, got released. The film received 11 nominations at the 49th Filmfare Awards and won eight, the most for any movie that year. The filmmaker says it was Shah Rukh Khan who told Yash Johar that he would do a film for Dharma Productions if Advani directed it.

Kal Ho Naa Ho might have been a runaway success, but the movie that changed everything for him came 10 years later: D-Day, starring Rishi Kapoor and Irrfan Khan, two wonderful actors who passed away within a day of each other in April 2020.

“D-Day allowed me to settle; it liberated me and gave me the confidence to do those kinds of movies,” he says. D-Day was not a commercial success, but it is a film that remains close to his heart.

Advani says the doors of Emmay Entertainment, which he launched with his sister Monisha Advani and friend Madhu Bhojwani, are open for young filmmakers. “We select a story if it appeals to all of us, if we believe that we can do justice to the subject and if it is something that all of us want to watch,” he says.

In 2016, before the over-the-top (OTT) space exploded the way it did, Advani came out with a series called P.O.W. – Bandi Yuddh Ke. “We would like to take credit for anticipating the OTT revolution,” he says. “Monisha and Madhu are strategic thinkers.” The team that started with one or two films a year is now handling multiple projects simultaneously. “I look at the artistic side of it, while Monisha and Madhu steer the business aspects. We have also developed a second layer of leadership to smoothen the functioning,” he adds.

With Emmay reportedly in talks to raise institutional funds, Advani is confident that both OTT and the big screen will co-exist. This, he adds, is a great time for storytellers, with multiple platforms to showcase their work.

The pandemic, despite the blow it dealt to the movie industry, has opened up more business opportunities for filmmakers, says Advani. India's OTT market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 20 per cent over the next decade. "I think the pandemic definitely had an impact as people have become more selective. I hope there will be an audience for such cinema in theatres.”

Advani is also upbeat about his upcoming film, Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway. “Like Rocket Boys, it is a true story and falls in the space Emmay is known for – hard-hitting, real-life stories,” he says. His 1911, based on an iconic football match set in the Calcutta (now Kolkata) of pre-Independence India, was also in this realm. He both directed it and wrote the script for it. “I write only because the writer takes too much time,” he says. And that frustrates him.

His Next project is SonyLIV’s political thriller drama series, Freedom at Midnight, based on a book by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre on the events around the independence movement and Partition. Advani will be the showrunner of the series to be co-produced by Emmay Entertainment and StudioNext.

“I grew up seeing production companies like Dharma and Yash Raj Films,” he says. “I want to be in that league. We want to ensure that good content gets associated with Emmay. Content is definitely king.”