How Prernaa Arora Finally Realized Her Long Cherished Dream of Becoming a Film Producer Her first collaboration Rustom went on to be a stupendous success and also got Akshay Kumar his first National Award

Born in Rajpura, Punjab, to an agriculturist father from the North India and an entrepreneurial mother hailing from Mumbai (with a booming business of Kamala Circus owned by her grandfather), Arora as a child nurtured the dream of being part of the B-town. While most new entrant in Bollywood are blinded by the glitz and glamour of wanting to be a star, Arora, on the other hand, closely followed producers, filmmakers and banners in the hope that someday she might produce a film herself.

With faith in her dreams, Arora started at the grassroot level understanding the ropes of the business. Things, however, changed after she met Akshay Kumar, who has been her inspiration and pillar of faith. Their first collaboration Rustom went on to be a stupendous success and also got the superstar his first National Award. And then gained momentum with Toilet Ek Prem Katha and Pad Man.

Talking about her learnings she says, "Smart financial planning is the biggest key when it comes to producing films. Akshay sir has taught us that a film should be made in time, not to overspend, come out faster and pre-sell satellite and digital rights first." Prernaa partnered with Arjun N Kapoor to start their production house KriArj Entertainment. "Krishna- Arjun", symbolic of being warriors and fighting against all odds.

Her future projects include, Kedarnath, starring Sushant Singh Rajput and debutant Sara Ali Khan directed by Abhishek Kapoor; Fanney Khan, starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anil Kapoor and Rajkummar Rao; Pari in collaboration with Anushka Sharma and Karnesh Sharma of Clean Slate Films.

(This article was first published in the March issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, click here)