Profile - Gentleman Film KTK

The scene sent shock waves in the industry. People were awestruck. The Industry wondered; audience enjoyed the scene with bated breath. It was a sheer thriller. Like the James Bond movies, Kunjumon opened his movies with breath taking scenes that prompted people to be seated before the movie started and would draw the audience to the edge of their seats as the movie unfolds. Such was the impact created by KT Kunjumon on the Cine Industry that it would not be an exaggeration if it is said that “such impact was never felt before”.

Kunjumon the name itself means Imaginative, Creative and Gentle. So true to his name, ‘Kunjumon’, the practice in his work is Innovative, naturally. He always wants to be different, New and First. That’s a hallmark of a successful person; who is dedicated to deliver only the best to his customers and incidentally enjoys his work. He always creates master pieces and his creations are unique. He is sure, like, everyone else is that the people need entertainment. The difference is he wants people to come to theatres to specifically see his movies; watch his movies from the beginning of credits to the end. He is different because he wants the audience to watch and enjoy every second of the movie and when they leave the theatre they should take away such a strong message; murmur the songs that they should want to come back, see the movie again.

K T Kunjumon is just not another producer, but belongs to a league of legendary producers of Hollywood; Producer par excellence. When asked about the mega scenes he simply says “I’ve always believed that you have to dazzle the audience to lure them into the theatres.”

He is one producer who knows the pulse of his audience. He has always created awesome movies, invested huge amounts. From the Hero to the Director, he would normally select very talented artists with huge potential, from among the less known people. Then he makes a formidable, super team out of them. His movies are all big budgeted; all of them are box office hits, mega hits. Most of the present days’ superstars from, Director Shankar, Actors Vijay, Sarathkumar, and Actor Director Prabhu Deva, Arjun great music director A R Rahman and lyricists Kavignar Vairamuthu who are legends in their own right now , once got a break By K T Kunjumon and then they broke into big league.

All his movies are path breaking and have set bench marks in the cinema Industry. His commitment to delighting the customers is what sets him apart from the other producers. The fact that he is the only producer to have fan following and fan association, stands as testimony to his extraordinary talent as a producer. A tribute to a man who gave them so many fabulous movies. He always wanted to be unique.
Though he is not formally educated, beyond schooling, his business acumen is stupendous. A very astute student of cine industry; he made good use of his initial days of his business in Travel and Hotel industry and learnt the techniques of Customer relationship and also about the customer behavioral pattern in very hard ways. His long stint as Cinema distributor, having distributed more than 100 movies in different languages, helped him to gain insight into Audience preferences and nuances of cinema production.
He is very much a self-made man. He says very proudly “Every paisa I have earned is by my sweat and blood? Thirty-Eight years of hard grind he underwent in his life and work has inured him to be a good professional. He is branded as a professional producer who always trusts his team, listens to his team, provided spark through his Ideas and discussions, inspired through his encouraging pats, never interfered in their working and only demanded results. He always eggs his people to be innovative, creative and to do something different.

When asked him what has made him so successful? Without winking he says:
“Success is continuous; limitless. Success is to scale up every time you achieve something; better it again and again and so on. Success does not come easily; it is about creating a strong purpose; commit your life to it; Self-belief, Hard work, Genuinity in intentions ie Genuine in being useful to people , Truthfulness, Preseverenes, Discipline, Determination, Quality, Punctuality and topping everything: deliver the promise. Simple: think thousand times before making a promise; but after promise it is your life.

He explains one is spotting talent and nurturing it and another is select the right person for the right job and leave it to him to complete

Therefore every successful person is personification of Reliability and Gentleness.
Business is about spotting the talent and inspiring the talent to become a leader ; building and managing Relationships. And success or money are something that you should not Chase; you should make them to come to you. Concentrate on developing yourself better and better every day through continuous learning and success will come to you. No emotional attachment to Success 0r Failure or there is no failure. Every failure is a lesson. Best example is ‘Phoenix rises from Ashes’. Every time you fail ; get up, note the lesson learnt; gather energy, challenge you and move on. All the successful persons have succeeded only after failure after failure”

His brainstorming and Ideation techniques are unique and talked about by his team that they bring up so many options to decide upon. That is reflected from the opening and climax scenes of his movies, which have taken the audience to the highest level of involvement. He says with twinkle in his eyes “Once I achieve the audience involvement, they erupt in theatres, enjoy seeing my movies in theatres, I am satisfied that not only I have done justice to the people who come to theatres and realized value for their money but also to the Industry. One of the responsibilities as producer is to make people to view cinema in theatres. The life of a large community of people of Cinema Industry depends on that”. His concern for people of his Industry is unmistakably genuine.

There is something in him, very difficult to emulate is that he works 365 days while his team rest in shifts. His energy level apart from concentration level when on a project is incredible. His success is attributed to his single-minded devotion to his work. “I worship many Gods; but believe in only one God –that is my work. My work is my worship” he says. He strongly believes that when work becomes prayer, excellence manifests. He has proved it many a time by his actions and the results he produced. Kunjumon is known to have a penchant for working with artists who are upcoming. Not with standing his flamboyant image, reputation for opulence; he is very meticulous in his planning and in executing his projects .He is reputed to have Eagle’s eyes; seldom anything misses his sight. And he is a producer who knows the game well.

After he became successful as a film distributor and gained in confidence, he tested the waters of Film industry by producing economically budgeted movies in Malayalam and Tamil Then came Gentleman like lightning and thunder; took the industry by storm; Revenue rained. The Industry along with audience was spellbound. People had not stopped talking about it; people were still humming the songs; accolades had not stopped pouring in; Kadhalan came , with Prabhu Deva, for the first time, in the lead. The Movie was a super-duper .A Music extravaganza. The song ‘Muqala Muqabula’ straight out of a Mexican cow boy movie was a hit beyond imagination. The animation work was done in Hong Kong by S T Venki. With the amount spent to bring out such an extraordinary song sequence, some other persons could have taken a movie. The song was the first in the Indian Cinema to be digitally computerized. Acclaimed as technically innovative and creative, the song was a path breaker. His team adored him for his penchant for applying state of art technologies. Kunjumon always believed that the audience should get only the best as that is what they rightfully deserve. He sets trends by introducing new techniques in animation, graphics and Dolbhy and Dts in his films. Kunjumon always believed in setting the Thames on fire.

Kadhal desam was a trend setter; many movies came after that had its influence lingering at some place or other in the movies.
It was Kunjumon who Introduced Miss Universe Sushmita Sen as an artist to the Indian Cinema viewer through his ‘Ratchakan’ and ‘Ratchakan’ was a break for Nagarjuna in a big budgeted Tamil movie. Produced at a maha budget in 1997, Ratchakan was the costliest movie in Indian Cinema, in those times. It was starting of a new era- The Kunjumon era, in Indian Cinema. Indian movie producers were enthused by the success of his movies. Each of Kunjumon’s Movies was a lesson to producers; the grammar of cinema production. Producers gained in confidence and courage to produce mega budgeted movies.
When asked how he would feel about his success, he says “More than the money that I have made from success of my movies, I am happy and very proud of the fact that the people like Director Shankar, Music Director A R Rahman, Kavignar Vairamuthu, Actors Vijay, Sarath Kumar, Vadivelu ,Director and Actor Prabhu Deva, Arjun who got a big break, through my movies are now acclaimed greats in their fields and I would always cherish my association with them. Even Tabu and Nagma were introduced to Tamil audience by me. Great singers Hariharan, Sankar Mahadevan ,Udit Narayanan , and Sonu Nigam started first in tamil movies through my movies. First time in Indian movie industry Kadhalan got five national awards for five technicians – art director, sound effect, and editor, graphic and mixing effect. It’s a record in Indian Cinema.
On people behind his success he was very quick; he singled out his wife as very loving and very supportive. “She was God’s gift to me”, he adds.

He was just not only a trail blazer in producing great movies but also in caring for his people. He was the first in the history of Indian film industry to reward Directors, Assistant Directors, technicians and other staff with Houses, Cars, Two wheelers, Gold rings and what not including rewards to the audience.
When asked about his memorable moments,
Superstar Rajinikanth after seeing Ratchakan in an exclusive show to his family, The Super star appreciated that “Only Kunjumon can do this” ; Mr GP Sippy , the Sholay producer after seeing Kadaalan in Hindi appreciated the Movie for its path breaking technology; Ulaganayagan Kamalahasan introduced Kunjumon to Queen Elizabeth as “Kunjumon a leading cinema producer”, at the inaugural function of ‘Maruthanayagam’; All the Producers, artists , technicians from Malayalam, Kannada , Telugu and Hindi have appreciated the way Kunjumon produced movies and the movies.
Not just that ,Kunjumon is a great Gentleman who walks any distance to help his friends. He always remembers the path he walked through; never to forget the people who were with him ; Kunjumon the Gentleman remembers each step in his life and the friends who helped him and who had been with him through his thick and thin. He worships them. Whenever they got into trouble in life, he reached out to them without waiting for them to seek for his help. No wonder his friends say that Kunjumon is a man with ‘Golden Heart’. This Extraordinary quality of his earned him and continuing relationships and connections at high social and political level all over the world.
Through growing relationships he has continuing his business in Qatar (Doha), Gulf countries, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia..
In spite of his incredible success he remains calm, simple and is always accessible to anyone who tries to meet him. He involves himself in a plethora of social service activities. He never moves on beaten track; he is a path breaker; a trail blazer. He would always say that something extraordinary; a bit special is what the fans would like to see in my movies and that he shall give them more than that they expected .
He is a person who would not rest on his laurels. Kunjumon nurtures dream to produce Hollywood Movie one day.

Philanthropic Activities

Projects handled as Distributor