Bollywood,beyond a bad year

In April,My Name is Khan was released with 50 prints in Poland. It will release in France this month and arrive in Germany in June in a dubbed version. It will then go on to Spain,Russia and Italy. Finally,there will be the ensured icing on the cake when satellite rights are sold,which will be some time from now.

The fact of the matter is that,after a 15% growth between 2006 and 2008,the film industry de-grew last year. According to the Ficci-KPMG report,the industry declined by nearly 14% last year,descending to Rs 8,930 crore from Rs 10,400 crore in 2008. This was largely on account of lower domestic theatrical collections in 2009 compared to 2008—theatrical collections comprise at least 77% of a film’s revenues. So,it is not surprising that players are exploring ways and means to lower their dependence on the box office. Exploring new markets is one way; monetising the film on other platforms like DTH to mobile phones is another.

If the film is supremely successful,like Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots,which has grossed Rs 200 crore net worldwide already,the aim is to monetise it further. At the Cannes Film Festival,the largest film market in the world,which started on Wednesday,Reliance Big Pictures will look for further deals to distribute 3 Idiots to new territories. Satellite rights also remain to be sold. For both My Name is Khan (Fox) and 3 Idiots (IM Global),international distributors are coming in handy to make the films reach wider audiences.

At the Cannes Film Festival,Reliance will be a part of the IM Global office. Reliance Big Entertainment has just bought an undisclosed majority stake in IM Global,founded by former Miramax International head,Stuart Ford,in 2007,and one of the top film distributors in Hollywood. In February,the two companies had formed an alliance that led to IM Global handling Reliance’s Hindi films internationally. Another top Indian production house,UTV,is taking its full slate of 12-14 films,besides being associated with first-time director Vikramaditya Motwane’s Udaan,which has been produced by Anurag Kashyap,and is competing in the Un Certain Regard section. UTV will also be looking to strike new deals,preferably in uncharted destinations.

Even before Eros International’s Housefull’s first day first show—a film made at a budget of Rs 50 crore—the company had got returns on investment through grants (the film was shot in the UK and so is eligible for a grant from the UK government) and sale of rights in some territories. When the film opened—it opened wide in over 2,000-plus screens—it gathered Rs 70 crore worldwide in the first week itself. From the second week,the viewership slumped,but some returns had already come into the kitty.

What no one has control on yet,though this is changing too,is content and how it will go down with the multiplex audience. Already,some of the films expected to do well at the box office haven’t. Rann,Karthik Calling Karthik,Paathshala,Well done Abba—it’s a long list of duds. And in what can be a dampener for first-time film makers or independent film makers,producers and distributors are complaining that it’s difficult to monetise low-budget films,however good the script. They argue that for one Aamir that succeeds,there are 10 that don’t.

With IPL eating away at least two months of release time,Bollywood is already producing far too many films (1,000-odd) than it has windows for. When films release in a rush,like we saw last year,each eats into the other’s revenues. This year,Bollywood is far better organised in its management of releases with big budget movies enjoying quite a space between releases. So we have Hrithik Roshan’s Kites on May 21,Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti on June 4 and Mani Ratnam’s Raavan on June 18. These are the biggest summer releases,with almost Rs 150 crore riding on them. August will see Vipul Shah’s Action Replayy,Aamir Khan Production’s Peepli Live,November will launch Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish and December will see Farah Khan’s Tees Maar Khan and Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar.

Producers and distributors will definitely give these films a wide release so that they take in the maximum possible monies in the first weekend itself. And even if they don’t,screen time will be shortened,there will be dubbing in foreign languages and marketing at places beyond the UK,the US and the Middle East. It’s an exciting time for a leaner,well-oiled marketing machine that is Bollywood,but there’s a dearth of stories. And even when a good one comes along like Udaan—its journey to Cannes took seven years—there are few risk-taking producers around. No one is willing to bury the formula.