Meet Bollywood’s Chartered Accountant Bimal Parekh

Bimal Parekh never dreamed he would become the most trusted money guy in Bollywood. He became a chartered accountant just because his father was one. It was not some big plan or fancy dream. In the 1980s, he started working at a CA firm that handled some film people’s accounts like Zeenat Aman and B.R. Chopra. After four years, he wanted to start his own business.

When Bimal left his job, his boss gave him two clients as goodbye gifts. One was Zeenat Aman, whose work he already knew. The second client was a young guy who had not even acted in any movie yet – Aamir Khan. This was the luckiest break of his life. Aamir became his first big client and changed everything for him.

Aamir recommended Bimal to other actors like Juhi Chawla. Word spread slowly in the film industry. At first, Bimal only did tax work and audits. But he noticed that creative people were not good with money matters. They would call him for help with setting up companies, making deals with studios, and deciding how much money to charge for movies. This is how he became a financial advisor, too.

Bimal helped many big production houses get started. When Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani wanted to make “Dil Chahta Hai”, he helped them set up Excel Entertainment. He guided Ashutosh Gowariker after “Lagaan” became successful. Sanjay Leela Bhansali also came to him after making his movie “Black”. Once, he was signing Audits for both Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan’s companies.

Today, after 40 years, Bimal handles money for almost every big Bollywood star. His client list reads like a who’s who of the film industry from Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif to Kapil Sharma. He even co-owns a football team with Ranbir Kapoor. However, Bimal’s success is now based on staying humble and not being showy or trying to get noticed while doing his own honest work. His simple advice to film stars is to save money when times are good because in Bollywood, money comes and goes very quickly.