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"We’re already producing short films very actively, now it’s time to make feature films too,” says Cyrus Dastur (pictured), founder and chief executive officer of Shamiana Short Films (SSF), Shamiana Education and Shamiana Cine Café (see "Dastur’s digital discoveries,” Parsiana, October 21, 2015). The producer moved into the genre of commercial Hindi cinema with his first feature film Sweetiee Weds NRI [(Non-resident Indian) (SWN)] that released all over India on June 2, 2017. A short film spans 90 seconds or even half an hour while Bollywood is known to entertain for three hours plus. Dastur put together this two-hour romantic comedy with co-producers Dhaval Patel, Sada Bhuvad and Tariq Mohammad, and director Hasnain Hyderabadwala.
The film "has been an exciting journey…” keeping the Hindi movie naach-gaana (dance and song) routine intact. It has met with a "good response,” Dastur sounds animated over the phone, a fortnight after its release. With an average rating of three stars, Dastur is pleased with his first attempt although The Times of India of June 22 gave SWN a two and a half rating on a scale of five with the reviewer recommending the movie to "romantic film buffs.” The movie has received maximum accolades from the north of the country and especially Gujarat where the film was shot, the producer tells us. The entrepreneur was raring to take the foreign-crazy theme abroad to the UK, USA, Middle East — Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and wherever else its wings take it. The NRI leitmotif  helps with greater empathy and identification.
Publicizing SWN was a "wholesome experience, fun, I got to understand people better,” says the 39-year old producer. "It was a learning curve with good, bad and some not-so-good experiences.” He debunks the perception that Bollywood people are uncooperative or petty, while praising the people who have been supportive and helpful to him.
"Commerce is a very important part of cinema, so I was clear that the films we made or invested in had to make commercial sense,” the marketer states. He terms the two-year experience "a long, eventful journey,” one which kept the crew working for extended hours. Dastur personally selected the music. If satisfaction and reward are part of the deal, so is exhaustion.
Approximately 350 Hindi films are released a year — about five to six a week, states the filmmaker. SWN cost four and a half crore rupees to make plus another three crore for publicity and advertising, he states. Promotion costs include the whole gamut of digital marketing, posters, media, hoardings, on and off line and television. They had specially targeted Bombay railway stations with SWN hoardings, he discloses. For a film to be a hit, marketing is essential although the outcome may be uncertain. The Indian film industry bolsters the economy in making money whether through distributors, theater owners or merchandising. Thousands of families depend on the trade through catering and food sales directly or indirectly. Digital and music rights also generate income. 
The market is growing exponentially, he declares. Formerly, if a film grossed Rs 100 crores there was celebration and if Rs 300 crores, jubilation. He predicts that Rs 100 crores will be the new norm and Rs 300 crores, celebration time.
SWN has stars like Himansh Kohli, Zoya Afroz, Darshan Jariwala and Kiran Joneja. It also has three Parsis — veteran actor Adi Irani, Shreyas Pardiwalla and Farzil Pardiwala. All play major roles. As Jazz Mehta in SWN, Irani is the antagonist who has a negative but endearing, funny role. Brother of  yesteryear actor Aruna Irani, this is Irani’s silver jubilee film appearance on the big screen. His hit movies of the early ’90s were Dil, Beta and Baazigar, over and above several serials on television. Shreyas plays Einstein, a fun-loving and funny character who is the lead actor’s close friend. He had debuted with Yaariyaan. Farzil as DK  helps run the Desai household but of course goofs up instructions given to him.
The story revolves around Sweetie Desai who threatens to marry another if her indecisive lover does not make up his mind. All his life her father has aspired that she get married to an NRI. The daughter, of course, has other plans. "It’s an out and out comedy about a messed up wedding,” Dastur divulges just enough in his chat with Parsiana at a coffee chain so that the dénouement is not revealed. The promotion clip showed a relative shouting "Jijaji, dulho bhaagi gayo (Brother-in-law, the groom has run away).” There is a smattering of Gujarati in the film as it is shot in Baroda, Gujarat, where the Desai family live.
As for Parsis being depicted in Hindi films as comic, absent minded and womanizers, Dastur responds, "No one wants to see caricatures anymore. Sadly, there are now new caricatures.” He had declined such a role as he was not only uncomfortable playing it but also he did not wish to depict Parsis in a mold that is passé. Other communities and professions are being targeted, he feels.
He  recounts the role of Parsi pioneers of the 1920s and 30s in the film industry — whether directors, actors, script writers, distributors or cinema owners. He rattles off names of several theaters owned by Parsis in Bombay. Cinematographic history projects this fact all over the country where Parsis were owners of film theaters and talkies, as the old theaters reinvented themselves from silent movies to "talkies.”
Would he recommend the film profession to Parsis? He shoots back with a "Yes,” then adds a caveat, "I tell new comers to always have a plan B in case cinema does not work out. We only look at the successes. There are scores who don’t make it... Today this business is all about being prepared, ready and trained. It’s not only about creativity and good looks but also sharp skills of all sorts. You need to play your cards well.” Being commercially savvy ensures no one cheats you. He recommends having formal training and going to a film school as "no one has the time to train. Supply (of talented actors) is so huge that it is difficult to sustain oneself over time.”
Drawn to theater from his college days, mother Dhun recognized his obsession. She knew early that he would not join the family industrial chemicals business which his late father Framroz had started. The business is handled by Zubin, his older brother.
An ardent, practicing Zoroastrian, he desires to be reborn as one. He bemoans though their propensity to take extremist stands and the diminishing numbers. As a weekly columnist with Afternoon Despatch & Courier he writes on current and political affairs, seldom on films! He started his career as a columnist with MumbaiMirror.
He so closely identifies with SSF that he admits it is still synonymous with his name. Aware that SSF is concept driven, he states, "Shamiana will and has to grow bigger. We will diversify. A template has been created which is clean and clear. It (growth) will follow.” This confidence has steered him to commercial feature films where the stakes are higher, mistakes cost dear but the gains too are proportionately greater. It is almost willy-nilly the path to follow.
The short or feature film mediums have their pluses and minuses, he continues. In short films "there is little commercial pressure. You work with people you want and like, at the pace you want. The game and stakes are smaller.”
Aware of having to "play his cards well,” he declares, "Make a film with your heart and make it intelligently and honestly, it’ll work. If any ingredient is missing it won’t succeed.” Other requirements include "Hard work, sincerity and understanding of audiences.”