FilmIndia (1940)

Three Magnates ot High Finance Mr. KEVALCHAND MEHTA Eighteen years back when Mr. Kapurchand Mehta first came to Bombay, all that he could get as his share from the world was Rs. 5 a month as an accounts clerk in a jeweller's shop. Today, he is the biggest financier in the film field whose transactions during the last ten years have gone into eight figures. The jeweller who first took him on, could never have dreamt that In his five-a-month employee he had a multi-millionaire of the future. He sent him to Bangalore as his trusted lieutenant and young Kapurchand was soon earning Rs. 500 a month. What could Kapurchand do with all that money? One thing he had learned in life was to spend less which he did by cutting down his needs. So he brought out his two brothers Zaverchand and Kevalchand and gave them a cap manufacturing business in Bangalore. Very soon that business also ne^Utd Kapurchand and he chucked his job and himself went into it. The cap manufacturing business grew and new lines in piece goods wure added. And soon enough Kapurchand Brothers secured monopoly of Lalimli Woollen goods. Money was coming in, whether the three brothers wanted it or not, Mr. KAPURCHAND MEHTA and they had to meet someone to find new avenues of investments. Dr. Ambalal Patel who then controlled some theatres in Bangalore suggested to the brothers the possibility of financing the film industry. Thought has been action with Kapurchand who with his characteristic quick decision financed the Sagar Film Company which Mr. Chimanlal Desai had started. It is a long way since and almost all companies including Ranjit, Paramount, Saroj. Hindusthan, Mahalakshmi. Saraswati, Jayant Pictures, Prakash. etc., have been financed by Kapurchand Brothers at one time or other. Film finance is not such an easy job as it seems to be. It is a highly speculative pursuit in which there are more chances of losing money than of making it, especially so when the security offered is a picture that takes shape — certain or uncertain— after the finance has been spent, often in illegitimate pursuits by some irresponsible producers. Kapurchand's hard earned money had a tradition of stability and when producers trembled between success and failure, the three musketeers of finance poured in more money and saved the producers from crashing. Mr. ZAVERCHAND MEHTA A hundred times during the last ten years has the Indian film industry been saved this way. And though Kapurchand made money doing so, one must still admire his courage and enterprise in lending money to such people who never earned money enough to maintain even a current account in a decent bank. Today the business of Kapurchand Brothers is spread on three fields of activity; piece goods, film industry and real estates. As sole monopolists of the Cawnpore Woollen Mills in Bombay and South Mr. Zaverchand Mehta controls a very prosperous trade. The film business which includes film finance, film distribution and exhibition in Bombay and Calcutta is controlled by Mr. Kevalchand Mehta— the youngest brother of Mr. Kapurchand whose sharp tongue and quick decisions are so well-kncwn to our film producers. The real estate and general finance are controlled by Mr. Kapurchand himself who as a man is perhaps the most modest amongst the financiers of the city. And yet eighteen years back Mr. Kapurchand Mehta was earning a pittance of rupees five a month. Could life be more romantic? 37