Guneet Monga reveals Karan Johar gave The Lunchbox its GAME-CHANGING headline; says “He spent Rs. 6.50 cr on P&A for our Rs. 10 cr indie film…helped us get 500 screens” : Bollywood News
Guneet Monga had a wonderful conversation with Karan Johar on aspects of production, the reach of Indian films globally and much more. One of his most notable films was The lunch box (2013), starring the late Irrfan Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Nimrat Kaur. Guneet spoke about how she raised funds for the film and how Karan Johar came on board.
Guneet Monga Reveals Karan Johar Gave The Lunchbox Its Game-Changing Title; says “He spent Rs. 6.50 cr on P&A for our Rs. 10 cr independent film… helped us get 500 screens”
Guneet Monga said: “A lot of credit for The lunch box working in India goes to Dharma Productions for their real marketing. At the time of production, I was told: “Isko Kaun Dekhega?’. Earlier, it was a Rs. 1000.10 million budget film. Raising such a sum was difficult in India. When we collected Rs. 5.50 crores from France and Germany, the project became commercially viable. I was able to recover the balance Rs. 4.50 crores via MG within 48 hours of the Cannes premiere! The Indian rights had not yet been sold, but its collections would be a bonus.”
She revealed: “I contacted Karan. He was also in Cannes for the premiere of Bombay Talkies (2013). I saw him having a meal. I introduced myself; it was my first meeting with him. I told him, ‘You’re the master of love stories and I feel like I’ve made a great love story.’ It broke out here in Cannes. We sold the rights to the world. Could you please watch it?’. This is how our friendship began. He gave me his number and asked me to show him the film in India.
Guneet continued: “Once back in India, his film Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013) had been published. A week later he saw the movie and loved it. He came out and gave us the tagline for the movie: Can you fall in love with someone you’ve never met? Then he called me to his office and asked, “What do you need?” “. I said, ‘A big outing. We have done 100 screen releases and we can do it. I want a 500 screen plus a version’.
Guneet Monga added, “He then called UTV Motion Pictures. He even invested Rs. 6.50 crores in P&A. It was a huge amount for a film like this. It was still a film with no songs, English dialogues, etc. This question of ‘Kaun aayega dekhne’ was valid even at the time. However, I feel like we judge our audience a lot.
At another point in the interview, Guneet also spoke about how she raised funds from France: “I realized that there was a treaty between India and France, which was signed in 1985. I was the first to use this treaty for co-production in 2011-2012. That’s how I collected 50% of the budget from France (smiles).”
Also Read: Was there tension between Irrfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui on the sets of The Lunchbox? Guneet Monga breaks the silence: “It was part of the process… not significant…”
More pages: The Lunchbox Box Office collection, The Lunchbox film review
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