"The idea came to me 10 years ago": Manish Malhotra opens up about his production journey

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 30 : Designer-turned-producer Manish Malhotra, who has been in the industry for 35 years, opened up about his journey into film production and how his production house, Stage 5 Productions, came to be.
While speaking to ANI at the Lakme Fashion Week, Malhotra shared, "Actually, the idea of production came to me 10 years ago, and when Mughal-e-Azam: The Play was offered to me, I was so excited because Mughal-e-Azam is one of my favorite films. I offered to co-produce it, not even knowing where the money was going to come from. But I am that person, right? Jump in a well, and you learn to swim."
Malhotra officially launched his production company about four years ago and spent time building a team before starting the search for good scripts.
"I launched the production company about 3.5 years ago, almost 4 years ago, and I set up a team. Then the journey of looking for scripts started. But I was very clear about one thing, which I thought over during the three years or the three or four months we were all at home during COVID--I wanted to be a producer with a new voice," he said.
"Though people expect larger-than-life films from me, with glamour and all of that, it is already being done. I want to be somebody who supports interesting filmmakers with interesting stories, at least the ones that I think are interesting," Manish added.
Malhotra launched his film production company, Stage 5 Productions, in September 2023. So far, he has produced a couple of films under this banner, which include 'Bun Tikki', 'Train from Chhapraula', and 'Ul Jalool Ishq'.