Narendra Hirawat on his journey in showbiz

Mr. Narendra Hirawat is a self made man. His glorious journey of 36 years in entertainment business started from Jaipur, Rajasthan, where he was engaged in the business of diamonds in initial days of his professional life. In the year of 1980, he thought of becoming a film distributor. His first film as a distributor was the action-thriller ‘Meri Awaaz Suno’, starring Jeetendra, Hema Malini and Parveen Babi in pivotal roles and produced by G. Hanumantha Rao under Padmalaya Studios. He distributed the film in Rajasthan territory. In the following years, he went on to distribute films like ‘Himmatwala’ and ‘Aaj Ka Daur’ to name a few. Once his business grew well, he started coming to Bombay quite frequently, to meet his friends and well-wishers. One fine day in 1983, he met producer-director-screenwriter Vijay Bhatt and bought the rights of his films like 1962 film ‘Hariyali Aur Rasta’ and 1965 film ‘Himalay Ki God Mein’. Both films starred Manoj Kumar, Mala Sinha and Shashikala in lead roles. He also bought the negatives of Harsukh Jagneshwar Bhatt’s 1961 film ‘Payaase Panchhi’. But his fortune changed in 1986 when he distributed Manmohan Desai’s blockbuster film ‘Roti,’ starring Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz, produced by Rajni Desai. And then, Ram Maheshwari’s ‘Kajal’ turned out to be the biggest money spinner for him. It was the first film he distributed in Bombay territory. First he released it with just 8 prints, but after seeing the demand he bought 16 more prints of the film. In 1987, he acquired the negative rights of one of the biggest blockbusters of all times, ‘Amar Akbar and Anthony’ and released it at his own. It was a turning point in his career and since then there has been no looking back for him. After ‘Amar Akbar and Anthony,’ he compiled the biggest library of films. Currently, he has over 1400 films with him. These films are in some of the widely spoken Indian languages like Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam and Tamil. Also, he has with him movies of some of the biggest production houses like BR Films and Mehul Kumar Films. After covering this eventful journey with hard work and perseverance, Mr. Narendra Hirawat laid the foundation of his new venture NH Studioz. It is an extension of Narendra Hirawat & Co, which helps clients by offering a preview theatre that can be pre-booked for previews and movie screenings. It also offers state of the art facilities for recording, animation, VFX and dubbing. The multitalented man has now ventured into film production as well. He has co-produced Ajay Devgn’s much anticipated film ‘Shivaay,’ which has already created a lot of buzz all over the world. Within a few days of its release, the trailer of the film garnered over 17 million hits on various social networks. This is indeed remarkable. Besides ‘Shivaay,’ he is also distributing the Amitabh Bachchan starrer and Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury directorial ‘Pink’ all over. The film is ready to release on 16^th September. In an exclusive interview with Bollywood & TV Reporter, Mr. Narendra Hirawat talks about his films, his plans for business expansion and how his son Shreyans Hirawat is helping his company in reaching new heights.

First of all congratulations that your first film as a co-producer Shivaay is about to release. Could you please tell us how this film is different from other action films?

Thank you! Shivaay is completely different from other action films that one has seen in Bollywood till now. The film has been shot at a lavish scale at freezing snow-laden peaks of Bulgaria. It boasts of some of the best action sequences and gravity-defying stunts that you will see for the first time in any Bollywood movie. Ajay Devgn has given his blood and sweat to the film. He has worked really hard on this project. The trailer has already attracted a lot of eyeballs, and I am quite hopeful the film will click with the audience.

You are associated with upcoming film Pink also. Please tell us something about that?

I am distributing Pink on all India level. The film features megastar Amitabh Bachchan along with Taapsee Pannu and Kirti Kulhari. Shoojit Sircar, who has directed critically acclaimed films like Vicky Donor, Madras Café and Piku, is the producer of the film. He is an extraordinary filmmaker.

It seems another corporate is in making! Are there any other projects in the pipeline?

We are in talks for 5-6 projects, but it will be too early to reveal anything about them. As soon as deal any of them is finalized, we will officially announce them.

Last year, you opened NH Studioz. What kind of services it offers to the industry?

NH Studioz, which is spread across 20,000 sqft of area, has been set up with a vision to provide customized solutions to our industry people. It offers theater for previews and screenings of movie. Our aim is to reach out to the entire film industry, directors, ad filmmakers and also independent artists to use our world-class facilities like sound recording, dubbing, animation and its trained technicians under one roof. Besides this, NH Studioz is planning to produce around 6-7 films a year from 2017 onwards.

Your son Shreyans Hirawat has also forayed into family business. How is he helping it grow?

Shreyans is a young and dynamic individual. He is well equipped with the kind of knowledge that is required to run this business. Currently, he looks into digital domain of the organization. He is in charge of digital content and animation wing of the business. His wish is to start a big distribution company in times to come. As a father, I just hope all his dreams come true and he gets success in all his endeavors.

What is your guru-mantra?

I believe in Karma. I think that with honesty and dedication, anyone can succeed in life one day or the other. There is no shortcut to success. Everyone will have to strive hard to achieve their goals in life.