In 1995, two cousins decided to move on from their family business and start something of their own. They had had enough of their family-owned rakhi manufacturing business, and wanted to dive into the unknown waters of film distribution. There was nothing remarkable about their decision, except everything that came after it.
22 years and over a 100 films later, the two cousins are Bengali cinema. Coming from a background that was light years away from their present domain, Shrikant Mohta and Mahendra Soni have revolutionised the business of film-making. They might have abbreviated the name of their organisation from Shree Venkatesh Films to SVF, but their influence has followed the exact opposite route—of enviable expansion and then some more.
Where outdoor shoots once meant a couple of days in nearby Falta or Shantiniketan, where the mountainous backdrops for song sequences were provided by Darjeeling, or, if one had a generous producer, Sikkim, Bengali films are now being filmed in every corner of the world. Thanks to the no-holds-barred approach of the Venkatesh duo, better known as Moni-Shrikant in the film industry. With pockets as deep as their vision is wide, they have made Bengalis look forward to vernacular movies.
Consider the recent Durga Puja release Yeti Obhijaan, parts of which were shot in the snowy Alps in Switzerland. Or the yet to be released Amazon Obhijaan, which, as the title suggests, was extensively shot in the jungles of South America. Amazon Obhijaan is the most expensive Bengali film till date. Appropriately, its poster was unveiled a few weeks ago, not in some shopping mall or conference room, but spread across the entire playing field of the Mohun Bagan football club.
However, ‘big’ is not always the operative word in the Shree Venkatesh vocabulary. They are driven by an almost feverish urge to entertain the Bengali audience in every way imaginable. It is this urge that made the cousins focus on film production, from being merely distributors. From Rituparno Ghosh’s critically acclaimed Chokher Bali (2003) to Haranath Chakrabarty’s potboiler Sasur Bari Zindabad (2000), from the romantic drama Sathi (2002) to the action thriller Baishe Srabon (2011), they have provided rich, varied content for both the class and mass. They have been behind popular TV soap operas like Behula, Bojhena Shey Bojhena and Bhutu. They own one of the most viewed Bengali song channels, Sangeet Bangla. They have digitised cinemas with Qube. Their film distribution now includes Hollywood and Bollywood films.
And most recently, Venkatesh Films have launched their own web platform, Hoichoi. Built along the lines of Netflix, Amazon Prime and other web streaming platforms, Hoichoi provides original content like Byomkesh, Dupur Thakurpo and Hello, along with a rich collection of Bengali films.
This launch has come hand-in-hand with a reinvention of their own brand. They have shed the extra kilos of ‘Shree Venkatesh Films’ to become the much easier on the tongue SVF. They have re-launched their website and shifted base from two small offices in Lake Gardens and Waterloo Street to one sprawling address in Acropolis Mall. The stunningly decorated new SVF office is the favourite hang-out spot for all the big names in the Bengali film industry. Drop by any day and you are likely to bump into the likes of Srijit Mukerji, Prosenjit Chatterjee and others. Not to mention the countless aspiring talents who have been launched by the two cousins. From young directors like Birsa Dasgupta to current superstars like Jeet, almost half the Tollygunge film industry owes their success to SVF. No wonder then that SVF is often referred to as the Yashraj Films of the East.
They say that behind every successful man is a woman. The saying runs a little differently here in Tollywood. Here, behind every successful man or woman, are two cousins.
