Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Had The Vision To Back English Vinglish When No One Did, Says R Balki

Not many people know that - hailed as the big bull, veteran stock market investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala who passed away at the age of 62 had a connection with Bollywood.

Jhunjhunwala donned a producer's hat for the first time in 2012 Hindi for R Balki's English Vinglish, the film that marked the comeback of Sridevi.

How did Rakesh Jhunjhunwala turn into a producer?

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Jhunjhunwala who has also produced Amitabh Bachchan and Dhanush starrer Shamitabh (2015), Arjun Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor Khan starrer Ki & Ka (2016) and Akshay Kumar starrer Pad Man (2018) -- all films by R Balki -- was fond of the filmmaker.

"I like the man, I liked his movies, he comes from the corporate world. I¡¯m not afraid of losing money, I¡¯m afraid of sour relationships. I know the film industry is not a very healthy place to be in. I intuitively liked his skills, his approach and intuitively trusted him", Jhunjhunwala had once said. He was mighty impressed with Cheeni Kum (2007) and Paa (2018).

How did Rakesh Jhunjhunwala meet R Balki?

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Balki recently told Hollywood Hungama, "I met him at an event after the release of Cheeni Kum. He gave me his card and told me that he¡¯d like to work with me. I had no idea who he was. It¡¯s only later I found out!"

Jhunjhunwala invested in the film without even listening to the script. He had so much confidence in Balki. He knew if Balki was making the film, it will be worth it. "Rakesh Jhunjhunwala didn¡¯t even hear the script of English Vinglish before backing it. He just said, ¡®If you are making it, I am on¡¯."

English Vinglish [Eros International]

Praising Jhunjhunwala, the ace filmmaker added, "I was looking for a co-producer for English Vinglish. That¡¯s when he came on board and our film was able to roll. He had the vision to back a film like English Vinglish at that point in time when many in the industry didn¡¯t have the confidence to do so".

Rakesh Jhunjhunwalla was a dear friend, always been a well wisher of my family¡­specially my daughters Sonam and Rhea .. a visionary and a true Indian patriot .. loved films and music .. we will miss him dearly ¡­?? pic.twitter.com/KG2GpA5Esz

¡ª Anil Kapoor (@AnilKapoor) August 14, 2022

The Big Bull of Dalal Street would also interview Bollywood stars for ET Now. He has had conversations with celebrities like Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif among others. Apart from this, he also had also launched Hungama Digital Media Entertainment. It is said that he was a huge fan of Waheeda Rehman and Amitabh Bachchan.

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