Cash crash in glitzerland

Sometime in 1973, while filming The Mysterious Island, actor Omar Sharif chanced upon a beautiful mansion that was to become a very short-lived affair. The villa, on the island of Lanzarote, was built on the remnants of a volcano. It was massive — with its own private pool, private tunnels, stunning views of the landscape all garnished with lavish furniture. The very impulsive Sharif didn’t think twice... he was in love. He made a few phone calls, rallied his staff, brought in cash and paid the full sum, buying what’s now called ‘Casa Omar Sharif’. It costs £4.5 million today and back in 1973, one can only imagine.

But Sharif never could enjoy his buy. Days later, a British property developer named Sam Benady, challenged the Hollywood star to a game of bridge. Sharif was world-renowned for his skills in the game but Benady himself was that year’s European bridge champion — a fact unknown to the Hollywood star. The game never did go in Sharif’s favour and in a matter of few hours the actor lost the villa — the house he had blown quite a bit of bank on.

It was both Sharif’s undoing and curse. Boredom. Sharif spent years sniffing up casinos for the next big hit and this one night in Paris, he lost a duplex apartment at a game. Millions vanished from his wealth, into the pockets of those who mocked that “crazy old man”.

Later, as his memory began vanishing as well, Sharif’s rambling interviews offered insight into the collapse of a star. At an event last year, during the opening of the Dublin Arabic Film Festival, there was a tiny exchange between the actor and Catherine Mareska, his loyal assistant of over 40 years. Reporters duly noted the whole thing down. “Why did I sell it?” he asks Mareska, referring to the Paris apartment.

“The casino and bad investments,” she replied. He then explained his life in the French capital. “I know no one. I have no friends in Paris. I want someone to take me to dinner, to take me out in the evenings.” And Mareska, when asked why Dr Zhivago was having trouble finding friends in the city of love, said: “When people are superstars, they have 10,000 hangers-on. The moment the lights go out, they’re alone.”

Poof
Sharif is not the only one. Fast forward to headlines from our todays and we have the late Michael Jackson, who was burning through $10 million each year to maintain that zoo in his house; Pamela Anderson, who declared bankruptcy in 2012 and was living in a trailer; Nicolas Cage, who owes millions to debtors (explains why the Oscar winner decided to do the Ghost Rider movies); Mike Tyson, who was spending $400,000 a month on himself and then, Amitabh Bachchan who, faced with imminent financial ruin, picked his phone up “to look for a job” after ABCL suffered that infamous collapse.

The man was gracious enough to accept his circumstances and later, wrote about it on his blog. “In the year 2000, when the entire world was celebrating the new century, I was celebrating my disastrous fortune. There were no films, no money, no company, a million legal cases and the tax authorities had put notice of recovery on my home.”

But unlike the ill-fated radio star, TV actually saved one of India’s best actors. And ironically, the show was called Kaun Banega Crorepati. “An offer for television changed all that when I agreed to anchor Kaun Banega Crorepati much against all the advice and resentment from friends, family and advisers. Taken to the United Kingdom at the Elstree Studios where Millionaire was being recorded, I observed the elan and grace of the show and the immense production values that it incorporated.” Sources claim, Big B’s salary for the first episode of KBC was a mere Rs 60,000.

His return to financial stability and brand revival was even hailed as a success story, worthy enough for school textbooks. In an interview to Forbes, the veteran said: “These are words I keep hearing. I was without a job. So I went across and asked some people for a job and started working, that’s it.” ABCL’s undoing was its monstrous ambition to ‘corporatise all of Indian entertainment’... to bring every TV show, cartoon and Bollywood event under one massive “Big B umbrella”.

For example, reports note that ABCL’s dreamy execs propped up Bachchan and his brand equity alongside Walt Disney, Michael Jackson and Sylvester Stallone. The bosses were confident that Bachchan’s name alone was enough to keep the boat off the rocks. Actors including Aamir Khan and Suniel Shetty (wait, what?) even allowed ABCL to manage their careers, with Bachchan’s blessings.

But all of the above slammed into a wall when ABCL unleashed its first big international event — a Miss World pageant. So short on earnings was ABCL that the firm registered a standing loss of Rs 17 crore in a SINGLE night. It’s a special nightmare when you find yourself alone in the world with no friends, just creditors.
In an interview, the actor described in detail the many failures: “I am not a businessman. I never have been. I have problems dealing with money. My entire career has been managed by family members or managers who have looked after my affairs. I am totally ignorant as far as money matters are concerned.

“For me to suddenly be thrown into this huge corporate ocean without adequate managerial capacity was perhaps the unmaking of the corporation. But I was told that, ‘you’re like the brand figure, you don’t have to get into the nitty-gritty of management’. So I very diligently kept away from it. What was required was to have an efficient executive team where you have CEOs, VPs etc. Which is what I did. I entrusted them with the job of running the corporation. I am sorry to say, but despite all this talk of professional executives and professionalism in management, this was a terrible example as far as our company was concerned. I trusted them but their feedback, their information was inadequate and false. It led to one disaster after another,” he said.

Turning around
An investment banker from the ABCL era explains: “There was this dream to build on top of Bollywood, to build atop brand equity. There was however no good research being done. At the end of the day, all these entertainment products were beamed into homes of India’s middle-class. But did we really understand what they wanted at the time? No.” But uncertain times also bring out fantastic stories of human persistence... about going up against the night. Rakesh Roshan’s story is one such. Just like the Big B, he turned his story around.

“I struggled, yes. I became a hero, a villain and also played side-characters several times. I did films such as Jeevan Dhara, Aap Ke Khatir, Khel Khel Mein, Khandaan and Kaam Chor. Often, I was even deprived of credits that scroll at the end. But I kept my head high and my ego calm. I stayed sincere to my work. And my wife offered me her fullest support. When I did Kaamchor, I faced several problems. I wanted a shoot done in Ooty but I didn’t have money for it. So, not ready to compromise, I went ahead and pledged my car. My wife had no problems going around in an autorickshaw and always received me with that warm smile... family is what helped.    

“Mind you, even when I was doing Kaho Na Pyaar Hai, I did not have any money but I didn’t compromise. I went ahead and shot the film in Thailand. You know, I would have been lost in this pseudo aristocratic world of glitz if I had given up,” says Roshan. Such risk-taking didn’t work for some. Someone who lost it all in a blink was Bhagwan Abaji Pandav, or Bhagwan Dada from India’s black and white era. Dada made the classic, Albela (1951) with Geeta Bali. A smash-hit, the film was that year’s third-highest grosser at the box office.

But he had absolutely no luck when he tried to repeat his hit-making skills. The final blow to the bank came when a project with Kishore Kumar, Hanste Rehna, collapsed. There is also an accusation that Kishore Kumar’s erratic behaviour was the reason for the film’s failure to even take off. Dada had pawned his wife’s jewellery and had pushed his life’s savings into the movie and soon, the actor found himself staring at empty cupboards.   

His circle of friends — who used to gather at his sprawling 25-room sea-facing Juhu bungalow for regular parties — vanished too. Along with the seven cars he had — for each day of the week. Dada’s last days, over 600 films later, were spent in a two-room Dadar chawl, where he was looked after by his daughter and youngest son. The only memory of the film industry was whenever Dilip Kumar passed by. The man would keep honking outside Dada’s house and would refuse to move unless there was a mutual greeting. That was it.

A success story

But is there an exemplary example to bring in now to show there’s still “brains” in showbusiness? Sure. Try Jessica Alba. It was about 20 years ago that Alba began a career that was chiefly aimed at teenagers. Now though, she’s worth over $200 million and her firm, Honest Company (which sells zero-chemical baby products) hit a valuation of $1 billion — within just three years. The firm saw $10 million in revenue in its very first year, shot towards $250 million in 2015 and finally, hit the stunning $1 billion mark. There has been no success story this spectacular in recent times.

“People just saw me as this girl in a bikini in movies kicking butt — maybe not the brightest bulb. It took three-and a-half-years of condescending nods and pats on the back of ‘good luck’, or ‘go back to endorsing things or go do a perfume’,” the actress said during a conference last year. Also, initial capital came from the box under the bed. “I made a lot of money in entertainment at a very young age and I saved it. I just needed to make as much money as quickly as possible, knowing it was going to go away at some point. I was very deliberate about it,” she added.

Alba’s little firm is expected to grow beyond its wildest dreams. The business tactic was simple — mums worldwide were worried about rashes on their babies from chemicals. And it took a smart-thinking, smart-saving Hollywood actress to find the ultimate answer. The generation of today’s stars then, unlike their risk-loving, ill-informed ancestors, are wiser, more careful with their cash. Hard-earned money is applied into property, small batches are moved into few carefully-crafted ventures and overall, ambition is being matched with grounded analysis.

I will be “Yes, they are smarter now. Earlier, stars had someone from the family handling all of their wealth. Some even used a sole accountant they knew to handle it all and there were no clear risk perceptions or adequate protection measures being implemented. No insurance against losses either. But today’s generation of stars are better informed. They consult professionals. Akshay Kumar, for example, is an extremely smart investor. The younger crowd too are getting early lessons in financial literacy and that’s a positive thing. Plus, there are plenty of options now to both expand and protect wealth,” explains Vishal Baxi, founder and CEO of Mumbai-based KV Wealth Advisers.

Noted film critic and columnist Khalid Mohamed sums it up perfectly. “The ones who died in penury included stars like Bhagwan Dada, Bharat Bhushan, Nigar Sultana and Pradeep Kumar. In his heyday Bhagwan Dada had several cars... but spent all his money on women, wine and song. “Today’s generation has become smarter. They are investing their money wisely and instead of the bar, they hang out at the gym.”