Mission Majnu producer Amar Butala: The post-pandemic effect on film business will continue for a few more years

Amar Butala, one of the producers of the Sidharth Malhotra and Rashmika Mandanna-starrer Mission Majnu, opens up on why he decided to produce a spy-thriller set in 1970s. Amar is a prominent Indian film producer who has earlier co-produced films like Mission Mangal, Kesari, Love Sonia and Bajrangi Bhaijaan, having closely worked with Bollywood superstar Salman Khan.

The producer is gearing up with the new film that he has produced alongside Ronnie Screwvala and Garima Mehta.

As the business of cinema is seeing a tough time, especially with box office collections since footfall in theatres has dropped visibly post the pandemic, the veteran producer mentioned that everyone is going through a learning phase.  

Amar said, "I think that we all (producers) are learning post-pandemic with the changing economy of filmmaking and it will continue for the next couple of years. But I also think that good content is really not going to be wasted, it will find its space. We have a great story and a wonderful star cast for Mission Majnu. We are really lucky to release our film on Netflix. I appreciate the way they put this film on the pedestrian and I really hope it gets a lot of love from the audience."

He was present at the launch of the first song Rabba Janda from Mission Majnu, along with the lead pair of the film, Sidharth and Rashmika.

Rabba Janda has been written by Shabbir Ahmed and composed by Tanishk Bagchi while the singer Jubin Nautiyal lent his voice to the track.

Asked about what made him choose to back this film, the producer said, "It's because the story is so impactful. It is based on a real-life incident of an individual. When the writers came to us with the script, we could feel the story. We did not know about the story of some of the unsung heroes, like undercover agents. Their story never gets written in history and this is our way to thanking all the soldiers and people on the battlefield who are constantly putting their lives at risk to save our country. This story really needed to be told."

Directed by Shantanu Bagchi, and produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Amar Butala and Garima Mehta, Mission Majnu also stars Parmeet Sethi, Sharib Hashmi, Mir Sarwar and Kumud Mishra. It is slated to release on Netflix on January 20, 2023.