R.V Pandit-The Man Who Wanted To Change The Colour Of Money Spent In Making Films

He was a poet who excelled in writing poetry of a very high order (a fact accepted by literary personalities and even the lay man. He wrote

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By Team Bollyy
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Ali Peter John

He was a poet who excelled in writing poetry of a very high order (a fact accepted by literary personalities and even the lay man. He wrote in Konkani, his mother tongue and was the man behind the renowned Nalanda Book Shop at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. He was a known name in many circles, but he neither showed his learning or his understanding of money matters on an international level....

In around the nineties, he thought of bringing about some change in how money was being used, abused and misused in the making of Hindi films. He did a thorough study of the market of making films and discovered that most of the dealings were done in black money and white was the colour of money which was very rare, especially among the very big names. He took a decision to make an attempt to make the scene change...

R.V Pandit started off with a music company called Pan Music which did well, but his heart and mind were in proving his point in the making of films...

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It was at this very time that Gulzar who was known for making sensible and yet saleable films was looking for a producer who could back him in making a film based on the riots in Punjab and its after effects on the people of Punjab and especially the younger generation. Pandit had a meeting with Gulzar and told him about the experiment he wanted to make. Gulzar was not against it or did not have any other alternative. He had artists like Tabu, Om Puri, Kawaljeet Singh and five new actors who were willing to do anything for a film made by Gulzar....

The film titled“Maachis"(this writer was the first to be consulted by Gulzar to know if the title was good enough for the burning subject he was trying to deal with and when the film was a rare success and Pandit hosted a party which was a first for Gulzar, the two men made sure that I got some credit and even presented me with a silver Jubilee trophy, which was perhaps the first time a journalist was being presented with a trophy like this)

The film was entirely shot on locations in and around Punjab and in some studios in Mumbai. The film also gave Vishal Bhardwaj his first big break as a composer and the music was a highlight of the film.

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R.V Pandit had proved hours point as nobody or nothing associated with the making of“Maachis"was involved in black money or any kind of under hand dealings.

Pandit however lost interest both in the music business and in the making of films as he once told me,“the culture of black money has seeped into the system and one R.V Pandit cannot change it". He never tried making films and closed down his music company.

He however continued to meet me at his simple apartment in the Jolly Maker complex in Colaba and we had long discussions on various subjects and even politics. He took me by one big surprise when he showed me a file of some of the leading lights among politicians of all the major parties and even industrialists who he of funded, again all in white. I asked him if I could create a scoop by revealing the names of the politicians who depended on him for their political games, but he said,“what will one scoop do what a disease that has grown so rampant"?

That was the last meeting he had I have always wondered why his system of funding the making of films was not followed by many, which could save so many producers from facing endless hardships and humiliation and so many films dying before they could be made.

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