Shah is everything that a typical Bollywood personality is not. The 41-year-old hails from Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan where he had built a flourishing real estate business before coming to Mumbai in 2008 to become an actor. The world of Hindi cinema intrigued him, and he considered actors to be gods. But the ‘outsider’ was not aware of the challenges he’d have to endure. “It was a layered struggle,” says Shah, who, ironically, had stage fright in school and college, and had watched only four English films dubbed in Hindi—True Lies, Speed, Jurassic Park and Titanic—as a youngster.
He hadn’t heard about Marlon Brando or Al Pacino either. The only Hollywood actors he knew were Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose photos were plastered on gymnasium walls. “I had to deal with anxiety in Mumbai… everyone around me was speaking in English, this was a new world for me. I was not able to fit in. I felt suffocated, I felt inferior. I thought people working with me were superior because they had access to the English language and culture,” admits Shah, who left the city for a while, but eventually returned in 2016 after realising that “ultimately it’s your work that counts”.
His work has indeed done the talking. As founder of Sohum Shah Films (previously named Recyclewala Films), he’s backed off-the-beat films such as Ship of Theseus (2012) and Tumbbad, and has another, Crazxy, coming up in March in which he plays the lead role. In an interview with Forbes India, Shah speaks about his varied choices, his faith in Tumbbad that was in the making for six years and why there’s no better job than acting. Edited excerpts:
Q. Did the success of Tumbbad when it re-released surprise you?
Actually not. The fact that it re-released was a surprise. I wasn’t surprised with the success because when I had made the film, I knew it would receive a lot of love from the audiences. It didn’t do as well as it should have in 2018. We didn’t market it properly… we couldn’t take it to people. Also, the time then was different. You wouldn’t get a release date. This time we got a free run for a month. It’s all about destiny.
Q. What would you attribute the film’s box office success in 2024 to?
We went all out to promote the film this time. We made a lot of material—teasers, trailers, posters, behind-the-scenes footage. And we uploaded those on Instagram… that developed a lot of curiosity. The marketing of the film played a huge part in its success. Also, I had been getting a lot of comments about its re-release, especially from those who had seen it in 2018. So, I knew Tumbbad was a big-screen experience, and that it would do well.
Q. It took six years to make the film. What was going through your mind in that phase?
It was a test of patience… I was waiting for the day the film releases. It was a tough period. I was the lead actor… one also has to keep age in mind when playing a role. There was a lot of struggle to complete the film. We rewrote the film after shooting about 80 percent of it… the editing took a year. Everything was challenging, but despite all these obstacles, my instinct said people will wholeheartedly accept and love this film as it was different. Occasionally a thought would cross my mind that I should leave this film and make another one, but then I’d tell myself what can be better than this.
Also read: From Tumbbad and Rockstar to Laila Majnu and Veer-Zaara, re-released films are winning the box office
Q. Were you disappointed when the film didn’t do well when it first hit screens?
I was heartbroken. I told my family ‘I’ve failed’ after the initial response. I was fine after a couple of days though. There was a ray of hope as the daily box office collections had stayed consistent, although the numbers were small.
Q. Could you stay invested for so long because of the financial heft that you had as a result of your real estate business?
Definitely. There were offers from studios here and there that agreed to come on board for the post-production work, but they didn’t look at the film the way we did. They looked at it from a commercial lens. They would say things like ‘There’s no item song in this’. I saw meaty material in Tumbbad and decided to produce it. I don’t know what kind of an actor I am, but I know that I am a very good producer. I’ve nurtured Tumbbad like my own baby. I did everything that had to be done… it is impossible for any other person to do that. I take full credit for it… no other producer could have done justice to Tumbbad.
Q. Take us through your early days, before you became an actor.
I was the youngest of five siblings. My father was a commodity broker and used to earn ₹3,000 a month in 1994-95. There was no concept of pocket money for us. I used to carry lunch to my father’s office and assist him after school. I did other things as well before getting into the realty business which is flourishing in Rajasthan. I have created everything on my own. I feel I have lived multiple lives in this one life. Films were not my bread and butter. This was just a dream, to become an actor.
Tumbbad did a business of ₹38 crore after it re-released in 2024
Q. What were your learnings as an entrepreneur?
I didn’t even know that what I was doing was called entrepreneurship. I was just earning money. I got to know of the word ‘entrepreneur’ when I came to Mumbai. The goal was to earn money and do well. And when I had earned a lot of money, I realised that beyond a point, so much money is of no use. It’s only a number… when I realised that in 2008, I felt devoting my whole life to this is stupidity. I thought I should do something else, see the world. You have other learnings as you go along, and those come in handy in your work. One of those is that a businessman and an actor are completely opposite. A person from any other profession can easily become an actor. A businessman is calculative, he thinks everything through. And an actor is someone for whom everything is about feelings. It can’t be mechanical. So, it was tough for me to unlearn—how to become an actor from a businessman.
Q. How did you decide to become a producer?
I wanted to only become an actor. Being a producer is a thankless job. But the kind of films that I wanted to make and was interested in were not being made. So I decided to produce them myself. I had a vision… I wasn’t shooting in the dark. I had earned money, and even today, my house does not run from here [films]. Films are like true love. And if you are in the movie business, you can’t do anything else. They take everything from you.
Q. Did you perceive backing films like Ship of Theseus and Tumbbad as risks?
I never thought of them as risks… I was sure that this is the way forward. I don’t think there’s a better investment than this. It’s a big achievement that a boy from Ganganagar has made films like Ship of Theseus and Tumbbad, owns an office-bungalow in Juhu and is an actor. If you have the capacity to bear financial losses, and build such credit, it’s a very good investment, according to me.
Q. What is the long-term goal of Sohum Shah Films?
We’ve made a film like Tumbbad, and we want to make nine other movies that are the Kohinoors of cinema. We’ll continue to make different kind of films, with good stories. And entertain the audiences. We have a homely atmosphere and everyone who works here is passionate about cinema.
Q. Your next film, Crazxy, releases in March. Tell us about it.
It’s a crazy ride. It’s way different from Tumbbad. It’s a new concept, you’ll enjoy it. We take time to make films because we spend a lot of time editing. For me, editing is like writing.
Q. What was tough—being an actor or producer?
It wasn’t so tough producing films because I know business. Acting was tough because it’s a skill that I learnt slowly. You can get anxiety as an actor because people judge you all the time. As a producer, no one judges you. But once you know how to act, there’s no better job than acting.
Q. Are you looking at creative satisfaction or profits with your films?
No, money is not the criteria at all. I have earned my money. I have enough—a house, car, a production house. There’s no end to that. I want to make eight or 10 films that people remember.
(This story appears in the 10 January, 2025 issue
of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Actor and producer Sohum Shah