For a producer, making a film is rarely just about budgets, schedules and business numbers. According to producer Rakesh Dang, the real driving force behind filmmaking is something far more difficult to quantify — passion. In a recent interaction, Dang opened up about the biggest lesson he has learned as a producer, explaining why money alone can never make a film and how the “creative bug” is ultimately what keeps people going in the industry.
Asked what lesson he would want to share beyond the financial side of filmmaking, Rakesh Dang said, “The lesson is that no one learns about this industry just by being taught. It’s a specific kind of ‘bug’—a passion that bites you. Only the person who gets bitten by it ends up in this industry.” He explained that entering the film business is not simply about building a career or chasing a particular achievement, but about developing an almost impossible-to-switch-off passion for cinema.
Dang further elaborated, “It’s not just about building a career or achieving something specific in the field. It’s about the fact that once that bug bites you, you simply cannot stop. Whether it bites an actor, a director, a producer, or a writer—it doesn't matter.” For him, the same creative obsession exists across different departments of filmmaking, regardless of the person's role.
While acknowledging that money is an essential part of producing a film, Dang believes it can never be the only ingredient. “So, while money is certainly required, money alone doesn't make films. A film is truly made only when that creative bug bites you,” he said. His observation captures the unpredictable nature of the film industry, where creative conviction often has to survive alongside the practical realities of budgets, schedules and logistics.
Dang also spoke about his experience working on Welcome To The Jungle, one of the major multi-starrer comedy projects associated with his production career. The film features a large ensemble, led by Akshay Kumar, and bringing such a huge group of actors together has presented its own set of challenges behind the scenes.
When asked about the funniest or strangest thing he witnessed as a producer while managing such a massive ensemble, Dang pointed out that coordinating everyone's availability was one of the biggest headaches. “The problem with making such a big movie is that actors' schedules often don't align. You need dates from the lead actor—Akshay Kumar was our hero, so we needed his dates first,” he explained.
The producer noted that Akshay Kumar's packed schedule made securing the actor's dates particularly important. “The issue is that he works constantly; he has back-to-back shoots. Even when you do manage to secure a chunk of his time, it’s a huge challenge because so many other actors involved are also working regularly—people like Paresh Rawal, Arshad Warsi, Tiku, and others.”
The scheduling puzzle became even more complicated with the large number of performers involved in the film. Dang specifically recalled Krushna Abhishek's availability as one of the tougher challenges. “Krushna was the hardest to get because he had ongoing shows. So, that was the situation,” he said.
While the situation could be stressful from a production standpoint, Dang admitted that some of these scheduling clashes could appear funny when viewed retrospectively. “The funniest moments would be when Akshay was available, but the actor he was supposed to share a scene with wasn't,” he said.
He summed up the absurdity of the situation with a line that will sound instantly familiar to anyone who has tried coordinating a large film set: “You could call it funny in hindsight, but at the time, it was traumatic—thinking, ‘His dates are here, but who are we waiting for?’”
That behind-the-scenes reality offers a different perspective on the making of a big ensemble film. On screen, a multi-starrer can make it look effortless when several familiar faces appear together in the same scene. Behind the camera, however, getting those actors into the same place at the same time can become an enormous logistical exercise.
Rakesh Dang is the Managing Director of SFTV Pvt. Ltd. (Seeta Films & TV Productions) and has worked across the film and television space. Originally a Chartered Accountant,
Dang eventually moved into filmmaking and has been associated with production and corporate film setups for more than a decade. His production credits include films such as Rabba Main Kya Karoon, Mere Naina Tere Naina, Section 108 and The Diplomat, among other projects. His association with Welcome To The Jungle has now placed him behind one of the more ambitious ensemble comedy projects in the Hindi film space.
His comments underline two very different sides of producing: the emotional reason people stay in the business and the practical headaches that come with actually putting a large-scale film together. For Dang, the passion has to come first, while scheduling, budgets and logistics are the battles producers fight along the way. And when an ensemble as large as Welcome To The Jungle is involved, even having the lead actor's dates locked does not necessarily mean the day's shooting is guaranteed to go according to plan.