 conversations with me is Prena Singh. She is the CEO at Bansali Productions. Prena, welcome to the show. And at the beginning, I'm going to start off by talking about the most immediate thing. Did you really expect the kind of reaction which Nangu Bhai Khatiawari got? I mean in theaters, on OTT, from critics, from the audience. Hi Kabir, first of all, thank you for bringing me on the show. Yes, I might sound little pompous right now and whatever, but the feeling has always been overwhelming. We are a pure content, pure script, original idea. That's the thing that we proclaim all about. And of course, under the leadership of SLB, that's one thing we always feel proud about. He's a man of nuances, he's a man of ideas, he knows how to treat what and he's an extremely passionate maker. So whatever he makes, whatever he has made till now, we know what it delivers and how it delivers. When we released our first poster, of course, this film was made in our era. We started our journey. When the film went on, there was no sign, there was nothing of COVID which we knew. The film went on floor in December 2019. We got, of course, COVID came in Feb and March that time as well. We did not know the intensity, you know, that till how long it's going to be there. And we are a very positive bunch of people. So we thought, oh, it's all temporary. And, you know, we all believe we had a youth set that entire Kamathipura was created at Film City. So we thought, okay, it's a very temporary, you know, in a month's time or something, this will all get over. So we were all trying to be positive. And then suddenly this intensity started catching up. When this, our poster came first, you know, it was in the pre-COVID. When we went on floor, we announced that, you know, Gangubai is on floor. And this is what the look of Alia is. When the poster came out, that's when we got that confidence. And though it was, you know, like, people used to think it's a women's film and whatever. But at the end of the day, the key headline is it is SLB's next after all the three big films that he has delivered at box office. And then that iconic poster came. That's when I got calls from all the exhibitors and and everyone saying, okay, this is truly SLB's next. And, you know, from then our confidence started coming in that, of course, this is going to be a big film. And rest, you know, after that, we don't keep thinking whether it's a big film, small film. This is what SLB always prophesies that, you know, just keep working, keep working, keep making, and things will turn out. But the next milestone was when this entire, you know, COVID was a little slowing down. And just before the second wave, and we thought we thought that, you know, let us announce our release date. So we wanted to do it slightly differently. And we thought that, you know, the world is opening up. So, and the production, of course, with all, you know, like I said, with full positivity and everything, he was on the floor shooting, there was immense support from the key talent and everyone and from our studio. Nevertheless, God's blessing. So we came up with a teaser to announce the film and the release date was also announced. When the teaser came, that's the time, like, the phone started buzzing like how they said, okay, whatever poster you gave poster ke baat jo apne teaser dia, ye toh film abhi blockbuster. And that's when our confidence was rekindled further that now we are making something special. And then from, from there on, you know, the film has only given us, given us all SLB's best effort and, you know, creating those things differently. The film came in theaters, we released the film against all odds. We were the first one when the third wave, you know, when theaters started opening, we were the first one to decide that, you know, let us not wait anymore, because for three years we have been waiting. There were many other factors which was just mounting to the overall budget of the film. Our studio also cooperated a lot in this decision. So what we did is, you know, if we were sitting on a great product, are we very confident about it? So there was some inner conscious call that, you know, if it is a big film, it's been mounted so well, we have come out with a teaser. Now is the time to just give the trailer and trailer is the deciding factor for, you know, the people to say that okay, this is a film I want to go and watch. And also, having said that I can say, and you will also know, and everyone knows that people do wait for SLB. So with that confidence and this idea again came from SLB and he said, Prerna, you are with me and if the studio is with me, let's go and announce and let's go in the theater. People will come. Rest is history, our Saturday numbers further grew, our Sunday numbers further grew. And we did so well as far as Indian box office is concerned, just not in India, but even in overseas. Talking about the overseas release, what I read about Gangubai was that surprisingly, the film did very well in Thailand. Okay, now that probably I think one of the reasons is of course, because of the sex book industry which is over there, it really struck a chord with the people over there. So Thailand is a story I can tell you, our partner Netflix, all of us were at a different level. A lot of people resonated with Gangubai. You know, a lot of UGC content was created and a lot of iconic scenes from the film were created. It has gone at another level, you know, as far as Thailand is concerned. In fact, today people are saying that even if we further go ahead and release the film, it will still do very, very well. So it's good for India, I would say that you know, Indian films, he goes and paves the path and the others can follow if the content is good. And I mean, this is, I mean, definitely has the right now it's known as the best performance to date for the for, I mean, without a doubt the kind of performance that Alia has given under his direction. It's very critically acclaimed, the audience has acclaimed it and all. But what are the, I mean, moving forward, moving forward from Gangubai now, what are the pipeline of movies which SLB has to offer in 2022-2023? What do we look forward? See, right now, as you must have read, Aarol Energy is on Aarol Hiramundi. It's a series again for Netflix. The original, the idea has been there with SLB for a really long time. So he is busy with that. As far as our further work is concerned, we are still working on that too early for me to say anything on that. But yes, we will, we are here to create stories and we will bring to you something really interesting, something really big, but we need some time. At this point in time, I'll not be able to comment. Okay, so right now, right now you're titled about it, you can't talk about it fair enough. But my last, last question really, which I was interested to know was, you're the CEO of Bansali Productions. What is a day like for the CEO of Bansali Productions? What does it entail? Very inspiring, very dynamic and very evolving at every stage. So the best part about being CEO at Bansali Productions is none of the day is mundane for me. Every day is a new story. I have a very exciting day from, you know, I get, because SLB believes that, you know, I have a good sense of story and script. So from giving my to be there to managing the floor to everything to managing the business. So, you know, he has given me that opportunity to look at the holistic, I think from creative to business. So it's a great role for me here. Okay, so nice. I mean, interesting job profile. You look forward to it, which is great. But it was nice talking to Prerna. And I hope next time we can also probably get Sanjaleela Bansali on the show with him, talking about his experiences and all that will be interesting. So let's, let's probably look forward to that. Shoot it at your studio or I assume whatever, but thanks a lot for talking to us and all the best for the future. Thank you. Thank you so much.