Joginder Tuteja
It all started with D-Day (2013) when director Nikkhil Advani, with Kal Ho Naa Ho fame, decided to launch his own production house Emmay Entertainment with partners Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani. The idea was to make films across genres. A fantastical tale that was centred on the core theme of bringing back Dawood Ibrahim (played exceptionally well by Rishi Kapoor) from Pakistan to India. D-Day had a superb ensemble cast ranging from Irrfan Khan and Arjun Rampal to Huma Qureshi and Shruti Haasan. The film could not cover much of a distance commercially but saw good appreciation coming its way from most of the people who saw it.
Six years down the line, the production house has set itself well in the industry, with two big successes in a span of one year. On the Independence Day in 2018, it was Satyameva Jayate that worked tremendously well with the masses. On the Independence Day in 2019, it is Batla House which is seeing houseful boards amongst the class audience. For the trio of Nikkhil, Monisha and Madhu, this has turned out to be one strong foundation indeed. Now, they are firmly placed to consolidate from here on.
Of course, there have been a few deterrents as well. Hero and Katti Batti, the films that came after D-Day, were not really high on the charts. The former, at least, had the distinction of setting the record for the best opening numbers [6.85 crores] for a newcomer film (Sooraj Pancholi, Athiya Shetty). It went past the first day collections (6.63 crores) of Heropanti (Tiger Shroff, Kriti Sanon). However, Katti Batti just came and went, also turning out to be the last big screen outing for Imran Khan.
There were good things waiting to happen though as Emmay backed Airlift, the film which also marked the 10-successes-in-a-row streak for superstar Akshay Kumar. Kumar is continuing his success with Mission Mangal. The film was critically acclaimed. It also saw very good commercial success coming its way, hence emerging as a clean superhit. For the team of Emmay, this was a good shot in the arm. Soon, they ventured into the small screen arena as well with P.O.W. Bandi Yuddh Ke.
On the movies front, the team tried to step into a different territory with Farhan Akhtar-starrer Lucknow Central. But, the film could not cover much of a distance. However, that shortfall was more than filled by Milap Zaveri's Satyameva Jayate that came a year later. The film was not just John Abraham's biggest opener till date. It also set a record for the biggest first day ever for an A-rated film as it shot past the 20-crore mark.
Later in 2018, came Baazaar which was waiting for the right arrival for some time. It came on the heels of several commercial disappointments that Saif Ali Khan had seen in the recent times (Kaalakaandi, Chef, Rangoon) but ended up surprising many when it sustained well at the box office after an ordinary opening. The content of the film was appreciated by its target audiences at the multiplexes of major cities and, eventually, the film sailed through.
However, the big moment for the production house has come with Batla House which has worked across the country and that, too, across multiplexes as well as single screens. As things stand today, the collections would go past Satyameva Jayate. Moreover, for Nikkhil Advani, the film is a double whammy as he is the producer, as well as the director, here.
While the going has been good for Emmay Entertainment now, all eyes are on their next two confirmed releases, Marjaavaan (arriving in November) and Satyameva Jayate 2 (slated for Independence Day 2020 release). With a couple of other films, as well as TV shows and web series, planned to be unleashed in the coming months, rest assured there would be a lot that would be heard about Nikkhil Advani and his production house in time to come.
(Joginder Tuteja is a trade expert and film critic, and loves to talk and write about anything that is related to films. Views are personal)
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