Chronicles of Success

“Taking Hollywood movies to the Indian masses started as a huge wave with 2012. It grossed Rs 90 crore — at par with any successful Bollywood film. From one of the top 20 markets,India has been upgraded to one of the top 10 markets,” points out Kercy Daruwala,managing director,Sony Pictures India. “India is one of the very few international markets where The Social Network was shown at a local festival (the Mumbai Film Festival).” The Social Network’s success in India deserves a special mention because it was released only in English,unlike other popular Hollywood movies which are dubbed in regional languages.

The market is growing and tradesmiths believe that the time is just right for Hollywood to cultivate a parallel culture of international cinema in India. “Following 2012’s success,Avatar set new records and introduced the lure of 3D. Ever since,there has been a 700 per cent increase in 3D-compatible screens in India,” says Krishnan. Deepak Sharma,COO,Distribution,PVR Pictures,believes that the rise in the number of multiplex screens,entering tier II and III towns,is a major contributor to this growth. “Even Barabanki in U P cannot be ignored anymore. If the content is good,the audience is willing to lap it up. International films are an attractive alternative to Bollywood films.”

This is where dubbing the films in local languages plays a role. Hindi,Telugu and Tamil — the latter two cater to a larger audience than Hindi when combined — are the most preferred languages for the dubbed versions. However,Spiderman 3,which released in Bhojpuri two years ago,reinforced the notion that the market for Hollywood films is not limited to metropolitan cities. “But the Indian audience for dubbed films generally prefers special effects and action-oriented films because this is a gap in the market that the local film industry has not yet been able to fill,” Daruwala adds. Daruwala,however,maintains that the lure of popular franchises,such as the James Bond series,Batman,Ironman and Harry Potter is always more than other Hollywood films. “Yet,every now and then,an Avatar or an Inception will break these norms. And as Indo-Western films like Slumdog Millionaire dilute boundaries between the two worlds,names such as Danny Boyle become familiar and hence draw an audience in their future releases,” adds Sharma.