I Like To Invest In All Asset Classes

‘The Big Bull’ is an upcoming Hindi language crime drama film directed by Kookie Gulati, produced by Ajay Devgn, Anand Pandit, Vikrant Sharma and Kumar Mangat Pathak. The storyline of the film is based on the life of Harshad Mehta, a stockbroker, involved in financial crimes over a period 10 years, from 1980 to 1990. Abhishek Bachchan has portrayed the protagonist in the film. In this interaction with Rajesh Padode, Managing Editor of DSIJ, Abhishek Bachchan talks about what drove him to do the film and his own interest in the financial markets

- Rajesh Padode

What appealed to you to select a film on the subject of the stock market?

To be honest, very rarely is a film chosen based on the backdrop of a film. I believe that a film also has to be chosen on the basis of the story, the emotional quotient and any sort of arc the character may have. It is the first time I am doing a film based on the backdrop of the financial markets of India and I was very excited to do such a film. I am a person who follows the stock market very closely.

Do you think your perspective about the stock market changed while working on this film?

Well, I think I got an in-depth view of the inner workings of the stock market. I don’t think my perspective changed but I acquired detailed education of how the stock market functions. It’s almost like taking like a gamble on the stocks, but the kind of research these people do on a particular stock and the kind of information they collate is amazing and that was an eye-opener for me. Sadly, there is still a notion that it is all guess work though there is a huge amount of skill involved in reading the landscape, reading the market, all of which is so very important.

Were you tempted to invest in any stocks while shooting for the film?

Well, I have had an active portfolio since the last seven years and I maintain the same. The film is based on the stock market from 1980 to 1990 and so most of the stocks we talked about in the film are now not performing or don’t exist; hence there was no question of a stock tip to be taken from the film.

Which asset classes do you normally invest in?