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Cinema has always been a collective art, yet the people who hold films together remain largely unseen. 'The B-IG List', is a new series spotlighting producers, ADs, technicians, and crew whose behind-the-scenes craft powers the film industry.
Meenu Arora is the first person in her family to ever work in films. In 1995, just after college, she joined filmmaker Subhash Ghai's production house Dhrishti India in Malviya Nagar, Delhi. In 1996, she moved to Mumbai to build a career in entertainment. Her first jobs came from the advertising world. She worked with veterans like Mukul Anand and Pradeep Uppoor. But a job with the cult classic television show Boogie Woogie is what anchored her in Mumbai. The show is still going strong and so is Meenu.
"I belonged to an upper middle class family so I did not have to struggle for money. I had to let go of the privileges in my initial years to belong, to learn and to stand up on experience that can only come from discomfort. The five roommates I had at the start of my career, I am still in touch with them."
Meenu Arora
Meenu segued into film from television in 2006. A decade later she opened her own production company Cloud 9 Pictures in 2017. The first film she produced under her banner was Nagraj Manjule's Jhund. The first person she got on board for Jhund was Amitabh Bachchan. It took her a couple of years of persistent follow ups to get a meeting with Mr Bachchan and then she patiently waited to crack the idea that worked for him. The story of Jhund is what connected with him and the rest is history.
Her next was Shazia Iqbal's Dhadak 2 with Dharma Productions. She had watched Pa Ranjith's Pariyerum Perumal during Covid. She fell in love with the film and chased filmmaker Pa Ranjith for the rights. The film's rights were much in demand and Pa was very reluctant to part with them, but eventually Meenu prevailed.
Meenu has 5 projects in different stages of production at the moment. Two of these projects have been announced: a film with director Sudha Kongara written by Juhi Chaturvedi and Bhavani Iyer on Indian swimmer Bhakti Sharma and a film with Junglee Pictures directed by filmmaker Jeethu Joseph.
"A long career teaches you one thing: consistency beats noise. I am proud of the work I have done even when my name was not the loudest in the room."
Meenu Arora
