Being someone who shied away from publicity, one knows very little about Rajjat Barjatya. But if you Google with intent, there’s a rare interview with him on Indiantelevision.com’s Talking Point with Ritwika Gupta . In the January 2015 interview, the soft-spoken Mr. Barjatya says, about his family, “We are low-profile, but the business is high-profile.”
Anyone who knows the Barjatya family will validate the statement. They’ve been known to be resolutely reserved and Mr. Barjatya was no different. The Managing Director and CEO of Rajshri Entertainment passed away in his early 40s on Friday after succumbing to leukaemia.
“I generally didn’t have any interaction with [the Barjatyas],” says Amul Mohan, trade expert and editor-in-chief of Super Cinema . “But we know that Rajashri is a certain kind of brand, and have been associated with a certain kind of film for several years.” This distinction is not a desire to entertain, but the need to make a difference.
As a child, Mr. Barjatya knew he had to take his filmi lineage forward. It was a calling, but he knew he had to revolutionise the family business. Established in 1947, Rajshri is one of the oldest entertainment studios in the country. And in 2006, a far-sighted Mr. Barjatya set up the digital arm of the firm. “He was not inclined towards making cinema,” says Amod Mehra, film trade analyst . “He was more inclined towards the business aspect of it, and how to develop it. He got Rajshri online, he contacted Shammi Kapoor, and uploaded all those anecdotes about him on YouTube,” says Mehra, alluding to one of the earliest examples of web-exclusive film videos in the country.
Nikhil Pahwa, founder of MediaNama, a website that analyses digital media, says Mr. Barjatya spent years trying to figure out a way to make online videos work with different business models and original content. In a series of tweets, Pahwa credits him as the one who was always present to help out and make digital content open as a counter to piracy.
Rajshri Digital now employs a team of close to 90 people. “Rajshri was one of the first players to get involved in digital and then they diversified,” Mohan says about Rajshri’s diverse content, which includes cooking and fitness shows. “They were the first players to move into [digital] with the same integrity [of their films].” At a time when people use the Internet to avoid censorship, throwing caution to the wind, Rajshri “stayed classy. And they did for so many years,” says Mohan. “It’s a difficult feat.”
Mr. Barjatya is fondly remembered by the film trade as someone who uninterested in the limelight. Mr. Barjatya would invariably give all promotional events a miss. He was absent at Prem Ratan Dhan Payo ’s (directed by his cousin Sooraj) functions. So in this difficult time, it’s perhaps best we pay our respects from a distance.
