Film producer and actor Ananta Jalil has announced that he is stepping away from cinema for the time being, citing mounting pressures in his garment businesses.
Jalil, who entered the film industry in 2008 with ‘Khoj: The Search’, said his focus has shifted entirely to stabilising AJ Group and AB Group, the garment enterprises he runs with his wife and frequent co-star Barsha. The couple have appeared together in all of his films, most notably ‘Most Welcome’ and ‘Din The Day’.
According to Jalil, the two groups once employed around 12,000 workers, but a sharp decline in orders has forced large-scale layoffs, reducing the workforce to about 4,000. With the businesses under strain, he said it would be unrealistic to continue acting or producing films at this moment.
“Even when I was doing films, I was never obsessed with cinema,” Jalil said. “I am a business-minded person. During shoots, my attention was often on business matters. Until the business situation improves, it would not be right for me to return to films.”
He added that dealing with crises directly has always been his approach. “When there is a problem, I concentrate fully on fixing it. If I ignore the business now, the situation could become much worse in the future.”
Jalil stressed that his departure from films is temporary and that cinema has never been his primary profession. “We do films as a hobby,” he said, referring to himself and Barsha. “If we return, we will return together. Otherwise, neither of us will do films.”
Several projects involving Jalil remain uncertain. His films ‘Netri The Leader’ and ‘Operation Jackpot’ were mid-shoot, while ‘Cheetah’, part of the Masud Rana franchise under the Jaaz banner, was announced but never went into production.
In the future, Jalil said, he would only resume work if circumstances allowed. “If the right time comes, I will return to movies. If not, I won’t.”
