Good luck, Aftab

November 05, 2009 04:48 pm | Updated 04:48 pm IST

Aftab Shivdasani

Aftab Shivdasani

Aftab Shivdasani entered the film industry with Ram Gopal Verma’s Mast when he was in his twenties. He has come a long way since and now makes his debut as a producer with Aao Wish Karein. He talks about the five most important aspects of his debut production.

My Production Company

“I started a film production company called Rising Son Entertainment in November 2006, not knowing what I was going to do with it. Everyone has a dream and my dream was to make a film one day with a great team handpicked by myself. Three years have elapsed and now we are talking about Aao Wish Karein, which I have co-produced with Mumbai Mantra.

My Writer

“I had an idea in 2005; I discussed it with my writer, Ravindra Manga, and he prepared a draft for the film. In December 2007, I was shooting in Mauritius for Money Hai Toh Honey Hai, and while sitting in my car one day, I heard the song ‘Sab se peeche hum khade’ from the movie Let’s Enjoy. It just blew me away. I called Ravindra in Delhi and told him I was sending him the song and that I was going to write the script with him. Possibly for the first time it happened that one writer was in Delhi and his co-writer in Mumbai, and they wrote the screenplay of Aao Wish Karein on the phone.

My Director

“When it was time for me to appoint a director, I felt strange because as an actor I was used to being approached by producers and directors. Here, I had to cast a director. The first person who came to my mind was Glenn. I had worked with him for the first time when I was 16, I had done two music videos for an album called ‘Mitwa’ for Roop Kumar and Sonali Rathod. Since then we have shared a good rapport. I called Glenn to my place and narrated the script; After the narration, Glenn wore a blank expression. I was like ‘I’m banking so much on this guy and he has no reaction!’ He didn’t call me either. I called him up and asked whether he liked the script and he said ‘Yeah yeah’!

My Music Directors

“I was shooting for Aloo Chat and I was discussing with Glenn who the music director would be. I remembered it was Ankur’s song which had struck me in Mauritius, so why not ask him to do the film? We called him and he said yes. That is how Ankur Tewari and Mikey McCleary came in. Then Ankur put me on to Xulfi who sent me songs via email, which was also rather new for me.

My Heroine

“We were discussing who would play the female lead, Mitika, while we were shooting for Aloo Chat. I suggested Aamna’s name and everyone had this huge smile on their faces. We thought she was the ideal choice for the film. We are very happy that such a beautiful face agreed to be part of our film.”

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