When Gandhigiri Dawns
Audiences have a gala time as filmmakers are breaking new ground

In the dark of his study, the scraggy genius Sergio Leone sits wondering how he would pull this one off. He switches the lights off, and broods. From the storm of his thoughts, fifteen minutes later, emerges one of the finest opening lines in movie history: “Where life had no value, death sometimes had its price. That is why the bounty killers appeared.” And as this historic line fades from the screen, appears a lonely man on a horse in the desert. Out of the blue, the prophetic gunshot echoes, blowing the hat of the rider away... and the movie into being one of the best sequels of all time, For A Few Dollars More. Years later, the Sippy family sits in Bombay, watching Clint Eastwood & Lee van Cleef stalk each other in this monumental work of Leone. And from this exercise is born, indisputably so, the most towering Indian movie of all times, Sholay, truly a cover sequel, if any definition worth its salt were to be chosen. Cut to the present, if last year was a storm, this year has been a hurricane of sorts. In 2005, there was a tremendous hype about how experimentation was changing the rules of the film industry.

This year, even experimentation seems to be an understatement. Stupendously successful sequels like Lage Raho Munnabhai and Krrish (yes, our very own genuine superhero!) dominated the mind screens; and a high voltage action packed Dhoom 2 is to follow, though it remains to be seen how the producers would be able to pull back ‘any’ audiences into the movie halls just to see “stylish action,” a trademark of the first movie. Well, perhaps our audiences really are “no-brainers!” Why, isn’t that the promiscuous logic that permeates a plethora of the movie fraternity flitting around Bollywood, right from the Dons & KANKs to the Fanaas & Phir Hera Pheris, all ostensibly successful movies? For the answer, we suggest you scamper around to the movie house that produced Naksha (yes, it came, it saw, and it really ran like crazy...away!), or holler across to the man who created a new definition of a super-fl op (Farhan Akhtar, who invested such an exorbitantly huge amount for Lakshya, that losses were ensured even though collections were decent; and yes, he’s the one making Don!), or bark a question across to trade pundits on why is it that many big budget multi-starring film producers fanatically focus on just the first couple of weeks’ collections... Aren’t they confident of their movies sustainability quotient? Aren’t they confident audiences are really no brainers? Ahem, we still haven’t rested our case, have we...

Looking at the b‘right’ side!

"2006 has been a more promising year. There were many quality films like Rang De Basanti, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Omkara... the basic quality is improving," pushes Rauf Ahmed, well known senior film journalist. Without taking away credit, stupendous is how some specific film makers have pulled off dramatic product repackaging endeavours, what with the likes of films like Rang De Basanti (the sixth film based on Bhagat Singh, with due respect to the legendary freedom fighter) and Lage Raho Munnabhai (making ‘Gandhigiri’ fashionable in 2006) becoming the top two Indian contenders for the Oscars this year. And the juggernaut doesn’t stop here. This quarter starting October (the hottest season in the Bollywood calendar) sees not only the Shahrukh Khan starrer Don molesting the senses (we guess you still haven’t seen the sneak on the shocker of a song, ‘Khaike Paan Banaras Wala’), but also has Ms.Aishwarya Rai perfect her poise, pout, and prayers (for a hit, for crying out loud) for JP Dutta’s Umrao Jaan. Ah yes, how could one forget Gautam Ghose’s Yatra, in which Rekha will once again play a courtesan from Lucknow and dance to thumri tunes composed by the legendary Khayyam and sung by Asha. We can already see mobs attacking movie halls to be the first ones to get seats! But we’ve not even started talking of small budget films.

All thanks to the growing multiplex culture, there is an aggressive scramble for targeting various niche audiences through unique offerings. The denizens of the film industry have entertained us with intense drama like Omkara, a string of comedies like Golmaal and Malamaal Weekly, thrillers like Gangster and even one day capers like Taxi Number 9.2.11. As far as innovation in film making goes, 2006 proved to be an improved sequel (naturally!) over 2005. Long gone are the days when pasting film posters around city streets and regular teasers were all that producers did to get crowds to theatres. As prerelease controversies become more or less non-controversial and the once reliable ‘formula films’ become unreliable, every one in the industry now swears by the powers of ‘marketing’ and how! Thumps Sameer Joshi, Head, Marketing, Mukta Arts, “In today’s times, so many films get released every Friday, there is a lot of clutter. To get noticed and occupy consumer mind space, one needs to be smart, clever & innovative in marketing efforts.” Says Subho S. Bhattacharya, CEO, Planman Motion Pictures, “With silver & golden jubilees becoming rare, the latest trend is to get maximum Return on Investment (ROI) before the film even hits the screen and ensure good first week collections”. And for that, filmmakers are using every trick of the trade.

Show me the money jerry!

In much similar fashion to Mr. Jumping Jack (Tom Cruise, if you insist) in Jerry McGuire, producers are insanely screaming at the top of their voices to their directors to show them the money! Though the crossover phenomenon may still be in a bedlam, there’s no denying the fact that quite a few Indian movies are making a lot of money abroad. Take the case of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, a movie that has proved to be an anomaly from the Karan Johar stable. For starters, it was not a Diwali release like earlier blockbusters from the Dharma stable. Worse, this movie did not receive the expected mass euphoria. And correctly so. While the masses could not identify with the idea of adultery itself (the Salman Khan starrer comedy No Entry had a rank better description of adultery), there was a vivid discontent among the upper classes as well, who found grave fault with the ridiculous emotions displayed, the most being with even the logic of why the protagonists (Shahrukh Khan and Rani Mukherjee) fell in love in the first place.

But as per a release by Dharma Productions in August, in the first week itself, the film claims to have recorded collections of GBP 1.14 million (Rs.97.7 million) in the UK, $1.76 million (Rs.80.59 million) in the US and $0.26 million (Rs.11.9 million) in Australia. On the back of over a thousand prints, the film grossed close to Rs.400 million in the first two weeks, but collections dropped tremendously afterwards, proving clearly audiences’ preferences. On another front, a key contributor to ROI are the distribution rights to be sold. Apart from just the prints, producers make significant amounts of money by selling off distribution rights for mobile phone content (ringtones, call back tunes, screensavers, games, wallpapers, movie scenes, et al), premieres on cable TV and radio. The nation’s mania clearly has moved beyond the screensavers and ringtones; now movie based games, clippings, videos et al are the rage. And more is still to come. “We are working on Bollywood-Mobile chat channels, where people can chat with their favourite celebrities through their mobile phones by paying a small sum,” informs Rajiv Hiranandani, Country Head – India, Mobile2win (a wireless solutions provider).

While Rs.10 may seem to be a small barter for owning the latest chartbuster ringtone, it’s a major revenue source for the producers. Out of every application downloaded, the producer gets 50-75% of the share. And a movie on an average clocks over half a million ringtone downloads. “Since mobile content has become such a huge hit, producers are now upping their shares,” adds Rajiv. Considering that India’s mobile density is increasing by the day and is now penetrating the smaller cities, the Bollywood clout on mobiles is just going to grow. In-film advertising has been another major revenue generator, as exemplified by the immensely successful Krrish from Rakesh Roshan’s Filmkraft Productions. Apart from merchandise (masks & toys), which became a rage among the kids, Krrish has made quite some money through the ‘in film’ product placement route – Bournvita, Lays, Tide, Halls, Singapore and Star TV figure prominently in the movie.

But be it Singapore Tourism Board giving out special promotion offers based on Krrish, Compaq promoting its Presario through KANK, or a Moto RAZR in the forthcoming Don, all and sundry are lining up to capture the customer mindspace via Bollywood. Asserts Shashank Jare, CEO, Filmkraft Productions, “With the coming up of so many non-physical rights beyond the traditional 35 mm rights, there are many more avenues to earn. With DTH, things are going to get even better.” Shashank asserts that each product placement can earn the producer anything between Rs.500,000 and Rs.8 million. One reason why perhaps several brands like Worldspace, GoAir, IOCL, Kurkure and Good Day shared a screen presence with the whacky Munnabhai-Circuit duo. And as Vidhu Vinod Chopra takes the movie to the Oscars on an independent level, there are also reports of a Munnabhai-Circuit comic book coming soon. And for UTV, the producers of RDB, those were tie-ups with brands like Provogue, LG, Airtel and Coke (a special edition RDB Coke bottle was brought into the market) that brought in a super colossal Rs.800 million revenues.

Gandhi, Bhagat Singh; Who's next?
Distribution... and better marketing!

Interestingly, with the changed face of the film industry, many producers are also donning the distributor’s hat. For example, Yash Raj Films turned distributor for KANK in select territories of India and UK, as well as in US, Canada and UAE. While larger producers are raking up more moolah by taking up distribution of their own films as well as of others, exhibitors like Ajay Bijli of PVR Limited are also jumping onto the bandwagon. Says Bijli, “In any case we have to pay for the film rights, but when we take the distribution of the entire film, the cost comes down in a big way.” At the same time, noted analyst Taran Adarsh also attributes the increasing number of successful films to the cliched “rising multiplex culture,” due to which films can become hits on the weekend (of release) itself.

But, to get the audiences to watch their films on the first three days is a tricky job. And that’s where marketing comes to play. While the year 2005 saw innovative promotional campaigns of movies like Hum Tum (cartoons in TOI, Saif appearing in Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin, and an MTV song) and Bunty & Babli (Abhishek and Rani appearing as two newsreaders on a leading news channel, apart from acting in MTV Bakra) becoming milestones, the year 2006 went many steps further, especially in terms of marketing budgets. “Every film we produce has a unique marketing proposition. And the marketing budget is 75-100% of the production budget,” acknowledges Pritish Nandy, Chairman, Pritish Nandy Communications. Reveals Siddharth Kapoor, VP (marketing & Communications), UTV, “We spent around Rs.200 million for the promotional campaign of Rang De Basanti.” TV, billboards, radio, publications, roadshows, promotional campaigns, hiring PR firms, you name it, and production houses are following the strategies on a warpath.

But that’s not to say that cheap, and non-mass audience options like the net are ignored. While KANK’s song Where’s the party tonight played back to back on MSN’s Desktop TV, Munna and Circuit, like so many other celebrities before them, went online to chat with their fans on MSN messenger. Even relatively smaller budget films have been given a boost with innovative advertising and branding. Siddharth reveals that UTV spent around Rs.170 million on the promotion of its small budget film Khosla Ka Ghosla. Mukta Arts generated hype around the number ‘36’ for the promotion of its murder mystery 36 China Town. And Nagesh Kukunoor, Director of Dor (produced by the Sahara group) ensured prime time press coverage using various seat-of-the-pants tactics, like a special well publicised personal screening for Sachin Tendulkar.

Time to show the other cheek

“These days filmmakers throw in lots of money, buy huge spaces and then think they have conquered the world. But, big movies are not (merely) about big budgets or big stars or big promotions, they are about big ideas,” snaps Pritish Nandy, castigating the big-budget approach. Cutting edge corporatisation, aggressive marketing and powerful promotions can at best ensure that the movie recovers its money, and that too perhaps only in this year. Unless marketers respect the intelligence of the audience, the bullet that shot the hat off the cowboy’s head, could well now find its way right into the heart of Bollywood!

Hero, it’s not just the plot you’ve lost...

We’ll say it again: It’s not just the plot that many of the big budget filmmakers seem to have lost comprehensively, but in fact even the literacy to respect the intelligence of audiences. To say that Indian audiences are undergoing a copious historic transformation is to say the least. Audiences have started rejecting ‘big-budget’ multi star driven movies that have ludicrous story-lines and worse screenplays, what to talk about the ridiculous direction. Of course, some producers have banked on distributing a massive 1,000 prints (costing Rs.5 crore additional by itself) to cash in on the first one or two weeks’ collections that occur simply because of the marketing hype. But clearly, in the coming year, with people showing a clear shift in preferences towards non-star sensible movies, movies similar to KANK, Fanaa, Phir Hera Pheri – that, despite lacking sensible story-lines, ostensibly claimed to have made money – may find it tough to even pass muster the first week. This is not to take credit away from heavy duty movies like Lage Raho Munnabhai, Krrish and Rang De Basanti, which proved how respecting the intelligence of audiences – and not simply an oversized planetary cast – can give mammoth super-grossers! And the astounding success of smaller budget movies like Dor, Khosla Ka Ghosla only reinforces the “anti big-budget” argument... Don’t lose the plot!