Modest beginning
Son of a fruit juice seller in Daryaganj market in Delhi Gulshan Kumar founded Supercassette Industries (SCI), a music production company in Noida, near Delhi. Kumar is credited by some with starting the practice of exercising a loophole in Indian Copyright Law , creating cover versions of popular songs. In the Seventies, Eighties, Kumar was on a virgin wicket. Audio cassette production was defined as a small-scale industry for the next five years. This meant that it got subsidies, loans and all the other perks. Now, all Kumar had to do was set up a plant to manufacture cassettes whereby he could come overground. There was a huge unsatisfied demand for cassette music. Kumar undertook an Operation Flood. Everyone began stocking products of T-Series. With a dream of turning his company into one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world, Kumar, with a well-thought-out-strategy, an insightful mind and a never-say-die attitude catapulted his company into a multi-product, multi-function company.
Films
Gulshan Kumar made a host of films, the important ones being Papa - The Great (2000), Char Dhaam (1998), Jai Maa Vaishanav Devi (1995), Bewafa Sanam (1995), Kasam Teri Kasam (1993), Aaja Meri Jaan (1993), Jeena Marna Tere Sang (1992), Meera Ka Mohan (1992), Shiv Mahima (1992), Sangeet (1992), Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin (1991), Ayee Milan Ki Raat (1991) Jeena Teri Gali Mein (1991), Aashiqui (1990), Bahaar Aane Tak (1990) and Lal Dupatta Malmal Ka (1989).
Into the future
The promise of tomorrow starts with today. For all of the 25 years of its existence, Kumar never believed otherwise. An ear finely tuned to the ground has certainly helped. With the exemplary vision of Kumar, the group rose to phenomenal heights. Inheriting the same farsightedness and ability to capitalise on small opportunities, Bhushan Kumar, the present managing director, leads the group into the future with the same fixity of purpose. “Today, we are a diversified group with $ 90 million in our core business of consumer electronics, CD’s, Audio/Video Magnetic tapes and cassettes. All of this has been achieved through keen perception of changing consumer practices, infrastructural investment, technological upgradations and a skilled, cohesive workforce and above all, an aggressive commitment towards quality through technical and professional perfection,” avers Bhushan.
Flashback
Following Kumar’s untimely death, the mantle to lead the company fell on his son Bhushan Kumar. “Soon after my father’s death, when I stepped into his shoes, I was faced with the big problem of how to regain trust of the film industry. But it was God’s grace that we could acquire some good music from hit films like Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya, Aflatoon, Dulhe Raja etc. Soon after we started getting good support from the industry and things fell into place. Soon we got a hit film like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam that catapulted us to stardom. After that there was no looking back and slowly we acquired music rights from most big producers,” reminisces Bhushan.
“Once I knew that we were sound on the music front, I thought of venturing into making films. My first film under the banner of T-Series was Tum Bin. The music was good but didn’t fare well at the box-office. Fortunately, we recovered our money by distributing the film and selling satellite rights. But it was the music of the film that gave us an overflow. All my films have been musically good like for instance Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, Aap Ka Surroor, Bhool Bhulaiya, Darling and the recent Karzzzz. Of these, Darling didn’t do well but we recovered money from ringtones,” adds Bhushan.
Music
SIL has issued a number of albums featuring pop music. “I have a great sense of music and to test my ears decided to try my hand at the then-emerging pop music. I decided to make an album Deewana with Sonu Niigaam who was not inclined at the first place. His fear was whether the album would work; it being the first private album dedicated to pop music. I assured him that the album would work. And I was not wrong, the album went on to become a massive hit so much so that Screen awarded SIL the Best Album Award. Once we consolidated on that front, we ventured into Punjabi pop. Our albums, sung by Hans Raj Hans, Harbhajan Mann and others, did a huge business. After consolidating on this front too, we ventured into ghazals. We had three albums of Jagjit Singh and four of Pankaj Udhas. We also dished out a few superhit albums of Adnan Sami which became a rage. All this besides bhajans and devotional songs that happen to be our forte.
Future projects
SCI has three films in the pipeline. “one will star Akshay Kumar, the other directed by Anees Bazmee will have Salman Khan while the third is in the finalisation stage, “