Being Innovative and Disruptive

In the business of films, one of our proudest and most disruptive acts was when we greenlit the movie No One Killed Jessica. Jessica Lal was a celebrity bartender at a Delhi bar when she was shot dead for refusing a drink to the accused, Manu Sharma, after hours. While there were close to a hundred witnesses to Jessica’s killing in cold blood, very few testified on her behalf, intimidated by the accused and his politically connected family. The ensuing trial was a tragic farce which shredded Jessica’s character and exonerated Sharma.

Importantly, Sharma’s trial had a connection to our film Rang De Basanti, which was released on 26 January 2006. One of the central events in the film is the death of Ajay Singh Rathod, a pilot in the Indian Air Force who flew one of the many Russian MiG aircrafts that crashed ever so often due to mechanical failures. In the film, the blame for the death rests squarely with corrupt politicians, and the revelation sparks off a candlelight march by the youth of India—a first in Indian cinema, as such shows of solidarity were not common then—to India Gate and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Delhi.

Not quite a month later, on 21 February 2006, Sharma was acquitted—a grievous miscarriage of justice. The next morning, the headline in the leading newspaper The Times of India said it all: ‘No One Killed Jessica Lal’. The nation’s spirit was ignited. What played out over the next few days in real life was the candlelight march from Rang De Basanti, not just at India Gate but in the streets of cities and villages across India. For almost a week, media attention remained focused on the nation and its youth, millions repulsed by and angry at the verdict. The pressure on the government to bring Jessica’s killer to justice was immense. When the case was reopened, witness after witness, reluctant to speak on Jessica’s behalf during the first trial, now came forward to testify the truth. Manu Sharma was convicted to life imprisonment.

From the outset, I knew this was a movie we had to make. No One Killed Jessica etched itself onto the consciousness of the country’s youth; it also opened our eyes to that generation’s values and tolerance in a world where these attributes aren’t always present or passed on.

It’s not often in your career you get to make an impact similar to that of Rang De Basanti and then watch the film unfold in real life a month later with a nation in rage. To have the opportunity to document Jessica’s story on film was a rare honour, intensely emotional and deeply satisfying. Despite pressure, legal and otherwise, to mothball the film, we remained undaunted.

When you’re being disruptive, there are no half measures. You go all the way, or you drop out.

There are many more such anecdotes as also real life learnings but for that you will need to read the whole book :-)

[In my book Dream with your Eyes Open, I have spoken out loud about how being innovative and disruptive is the bedrock of businesses in the 21st century. The above is an exclusive extract from one of my chapters on one of many disruptive things we did in our days in media at that time. To order your copy, head to http://t.co/0wKczJDPer ]