While a college student at Wharton, Jason Kothari scraped together money from family and friends to save his childhood favourite comic book company, Valiant Entertainment, from bankruptcy and bring it back to life. A few years later, he transformed Valiant into the third-largest superhero entertainment company in the world after Marvel and DC Comics and sold it for $100 million. Jason then became a professional turnaround leader and went on to transform distressed Indian Internet icons Housing.com, FreeCharge and Snapdeal, helping save billions of dollars in value, and advise giants like technology investor Softbank and real estate developer Emaar, who have invested billions of dollars in India. Irrationally Passionate by Jason Kothari reveals the inside story of how a rebel, train-wreck kid transformed himself into a successful young entrepreneur and business leader who became one of the top ten paid executives in India while only in his 30s. Irrationally Passionate is a highly personal, authentic, open and complete account of a young entrepreneur’s life. Brimming with practical advice and philosophical insights, it will force readers to reflect on how they perceive life, work, family and spirituality by giving them a fresh perspective. Here is an excerpt from the book -

I had no idea where I would work or who would employ a teenager with zero skills. So I tried to think of things that aligned with my interests. Because I loved comics I also had a natural affinity for movies and entertainment. In Hong Kong, the film industry largely revolved around kung fu films. I’d always been a fan of Bruce Lee, but I knew next to nothing about the movie business. Still, I’d heard a major production and distribution company, called Media Asia Films, was located not too far from where we lived.

Through a family connection, I went to their office, filled out an application and got interviewed. When I learned I’d been hired, I was excited. When I learned who I would be working with, I could hardly believe it. Neither could my parents.

‘Jackie Chan?’ my mom asked.

‘That’s correct,’ I said.

‘As in Jackie Chan, the Karate guy?’ my mom asked.

‘Yep, Mom. But it’s not Karate, it’s kung fu.’

‘The Jackie Chan that’s in actual movies?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘And you’re sure that this is real?’

‘Mom … yes! It’s real. They told me I will be assisting Mr Chan while he’s on set shooting films.’

The fact that I would be little more than a glorified towel boy didn’t matter. I would get to observe and learn about the entertainment world up close and personal. Better yet, I would also be working for one of the coolest martial artists in the world. I couldn’t wait to start.

When I first met Jackie I hardly recognized him. He was in plain clothes and had yet to get into wardrobe and makeup. He looked tough as nails and no-nonsense—a drastic departure from his onscreen fun-loving, family-guy persona. The rest of the day, my heart pounded like a hammer inside my chest. I remember thinking: whatever you do, don’t mess up or do anything stupid.

Lucky for me, the job initially consisted of running simple errands and fetching anything Jackie wanted or needed. Once filming started, Jackie morphed into character. He was the consummate professional. He was deeply committed to entertaining people with the slapstick action and family-value themes audiences have grown to love. That meant he took his craft seriously. He knew his lines by heart. Not surprisingly, he nailed his stunts and fight scenes as well. One thing surprised me, though. The director made Jackie repeat kicks and punches over and over so that the cameras could pick them up at different angles. Instead of a fluid, seamless choreographed fight sequence, things on set felt interrupted, with lots of starts and stops. Still, getting to see it all behind the scenes was a real treat.

I remember, one day, famed Hollywood director and producer Brett Ratner came on set to show us a movie trailer. It was for the blockbuster Rush Hour film series that he had directed, featuring Jackie and comedy star Chris Tucker. Brett asked us, ‘Well, what do you guys think?’

I thought it looked terrible, so I stayed quiet. I’m glad I did, because the Rush Hour movie series turned out to be one of the most successful action-comedy sequel series. (Shows how much I knew!) But as fate would have it, fifteen years later, I would cross paths with Brett Ratner again, as a partner on a film project.

To read more, you can get a copy of the book here - https://www.amazon.in/Irrationally-Passionate-Turnaround-Rebel-Entrepreneur-ebook/dp/B08431V51G