There is something indefinable about Arindam Chaudhuri that helps him stand out in a crowd. Is it his gradually thinning ponytail? Is it his fascination with blue? Or is it his ability to give a smile even as he talks? More likely, these are just add-ons for a guy who started off as just another management guru a few years back but managed to find his own spot under the sun. And during recession times too he is shining.

First came the management institute that rolled out MBAs faster than Bollywood churned out assembly-line pot-boilers. Then came the feel-good books and Arindam soon learnt to count his chickens as they hatched! And what is Bollywood but a golden goose? So, Arindam headed to tinsel town, a shade misty-eyed, a dream in his heart, and some management mantras ticking in his head. In came Rok Sako To Rok Lo, a film so wedded to disaster that even Arindam had to shed his market principles, and accept that the film had gone wrong.

More than a couple of summers after the film flopped – the only lasting memory of the film being its hoarding Rok Sako to Rok Lo rather (in)appropriately put outside a public convenience near Delhi Gate – Arindam accepts, “The film was a mistake. I learnt something from it though.” In fact, he learnt plenty.

So, off went his fascination with mainstream cinema with its attendant worship of the youth. On came the thinking man’s cap. And Arindam romanced the off-beat, the niche, the parallel cinema. Dosur. Mithya. The Last Lear. Some did reasonably well at the box office. Others wowed the critics. But all did their bit to bring the smile back to Arindam’s face. He can even afford to be candid talking about his films. “Maybe, The Last Lear was a director’s indulgence but our films come in the bracket of good cinema. They have so far been niche products that need concentrated marketing. For instance, Mithya was a good film, it got good reviews and did quite well at the box office.”

Now, in the times of recession, he is smiling. And still dishing out those huge ads which tell you that you might not love him, or even loath him but you cannot ignore him.

Current crisis

Arindam has a simple defence. “Our research shows that the companies that continued to advertise themselves during the recession, grew at 285 per cent faster rate after the recession.” That the last recession came some 80 years ago is a footnote he won’t allow to take the shine off his headlines. Prod him further, and Arindam lapses into the familiar. “Health, education and entertainment sectors would be relatively lesser affected by recession. This current global crisis has been brought about by a credit-driven economy. They exhausted every credit-worthy man’s limit five years ago. And tapped non-credit worthy guys in the U.S. It created a new generation of cheats with guys coming with proper family values deliberately defaulting on payments. But India should be better off, it is just a setback period. We are in a phase of re-adjustment. In seven-eight months’ time stability will come.”

Till then Arindam is happy to concentrate on the three books he is authoring, and a couple of films he is producing – talk of multi-tasking! “I am happy I am a small budget filmmaker. It is better to be an independent filmmaker these days. A lot of good actors come by. Before you make a film you can be almost assured of certain returns: DVD, VCD sales, satellite TV rights, international market, etc. Films are a business. Financiers are ready to put money into small films. Big budget films don’t do well. For a Rs.15 crore film you need to make about Rs.45 crores. The exhibitors take away some 45 per cent. Then there are taxes, bank interests, and everything.”

So, is Arindam also taking the Mahesh Bhatt route to success? Packing in some good music, touching lyrics, adding a dash of sex and melancholy to predictable fare?

“He has found a niche for his kind of cinema. He has created a market for his films. I want to make films on a budget of say Rs.4.5 crores only and concentrate on middle-of-the-road cinema. I am trying to take advantage of a new psychology: earlier there were people who went for six movies a year. Now, some people go for about 25-40 film a year. The big change is people are going for multi-fold films. So, it is better to concentrate on multiplex cinema.”

But multiplex cinema will soon cease to be a monolith? “I am looking at Tamil cinema. A project with Kamal Hasan is in the pipeline. There is a strong market in Tamil with big stars. So we intend to remake Dosur in Tamil. Then probably we might look at Malayalam cinema. However, we have not given Bhojpuri much of a thought. It makes business sense to make Bhojpuri films these days but my kind of films won’t work there. And yes, in Hindi cinema, we are trying to attract more people with relatively more mainstream films like Do Duni Chaar and I am 24. They are mass films. They have a very different sensibility from our earlier films. In cinema now only advertising does not work. You need to create a buzz with some identifiable concepts of the film. There is an opportunity and a need to create a virtual tool too for the tech-savvy generation of filmgoers.”

Then there are three magazines he edits. And the books coming up. Recession or otherwise, Arindam Chaudhuri’s juggernaut rolls on. Still Mr. Indefinable?