Ritesh Sidhwani has three rules of business: Never sell the rights to your creative work, build relationships but be selective, and go slow
I am all by myself in a corner room of a seventh floor apartment in Santa Cruz, Mumbai. Inside, I see two walls painted a subdued orange, the other two are white. The paint is peeling in a few places in a very artsy way. On the orange wall, a bookshelf that looks very 70s and very Euro, holds a bunch of encyclopedias, two books on Hindu and Parsi names, a copy of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, old issues of National Geographic and the book Dateline Kargil. Alongside the books are rows of trophies from the film world. Below the bookshelf is a low table and under it are several spirally bound books. These are scripts. Then there are autographed photographs of Hollywood actors, a CD rack, a bottle of wine, a motorcycle helmet and an old school blazer. This is director Farhan Akhtar’s room but I am not here to meet him.
(This story appears in the 03 July, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)