By: Entertainment DeskMumbai | November 9, 2025 01:17 PM IST 4 min readFashion designer Manish Malhotra is stepping into film production with his banner Stage 5 Production. He is gearing up for the release of Gustaakh Ishq, a romantic drama directed by Vibhu Puri and starring Vijay Varma and Fatima Sana Shaikh, which arrives in cinemas on November 28. His other production, Bun Tikki, directed by Faraz Arif Ansari and featuring Shabana Azmi and Abhay Deol, is already earning attention at film festivals.Malhotra doesn’t feel he’s taking a chance with Gustaakh Maaf at a time when such a film is usually relegated to streaming. “I don’t feel like I’m taking a chance, but a lot of people feel why don’t you think of taking it directly to a streaming platform. But I say no, it’s got beautiful music and good visuals. I want to release it in the theatre. Now, if the film does well, people would say, ‘Visionary!’ But if the film, god forbid, doesn’t do well, people would say, ‘I told you so.’ But for me, it’s not about the film doing well or not,” confessed the fashion designer.“For me, as the first film of the Stage 5 Production, it was very important for it to release in theatre. That’s my sense of achievement, not the success. While the world might see that way, I am not. It’s not like let me see if the first three films do well, and then I’m going to think about the next three. I’m already working on the next three. Suppose if this doesn’t work, I won’t go back to making only clothes and not films. I’m still going to take chances,” added Malhotra in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India.Vijay Varma, who’s the lead actor in Gustaakh Ishq, said he’s had discussions with several filmmakers to “bring the palate back” and do their bit to “revive” the smaller, content0-driven independent film. “It’s like what they say in neuroscience, you need to keep firing those neurons,” said Varma.Shabanz Azmi believes a film can’t be constructed like a project. “It should be a story that inspires you, and then you can think which actors to take. That’s the most important. We’re only making proposals, and we’re getting lost in those proposals because there’s no guarantee. It’s not like if you’ve cast a star, then it’s not necessary it’d work,” argued Azmi.Divyendu Sharma, who’ll be seen in the Stage 5 Production Ye Saali Mohabbat, which mark the directorial debut of actor Tisca Chopra, feels casting a star is in fact even a riskier proposal. Fathima Sana Shaikh, however, believes not every well-intentioned film with a good story and decent actors always works. To that, Abhay Deol claimed that a film also needs to be marketed well to reach its audience.Also Read: Pitcher with Rs 16 lakh revenue demands Rs 5 crore valuation on Karan Johar-Manish Malhotra’s show Pitch to Get Rich, shocked judge respondsStory continues below this adHe quoted the example of his 2007 thriller, Navdeep Singh’s Manorama Six Feet Under. “We made Rs 3 crore at that time. It could’ve made Rs 5-6 crore easily. But they had 60 screens and marketing worth Rs 25 lakh. No one’s going to come then. It was always a struggle to put a film out there. While the 20 years I’ve been here, it’s become more and more insecure instead of secure. You thought corporatization would democratize it. While it did for a bit, they retracted because even the people working at corporates are looking more at numbers,” claimed Deol.Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.© IE Online Media Services Pvt LtdTags:Manish Malhotra