From Below-the-line To Above-the-line, How He Shaped His Career In Bollywood

A whiteboard that hangs in his office in Juhu could be the metaphor for Alan McAlex’s life. His career began from being a camera assistant on the sets of Ghajini to becoming a line producer and, then, a producer and it always involved wiping the slate clean. It wasn’t planned. He was born in Saudi Arabia and moved to India right before the Gulf War. His father sent him to meet a friend of his in Delhi and his neighbours had given him a gift that was to be delivered to someone in Noida. He met a woman there who was going for a film editing course and he tagged along. He enrolled in 1998. He later became interested in camera and lighting and worked for years as an assistant and then became a line producer.

Until 2010, McAlex, 46, was among the below-the-line crew list and then he entered the realm of those above-the-line.

(This appeared in the print edition as "A Picaresque Passage")