Trade Quiz

Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan have worked together in some films. You have to name five such films in which the father and son starred together. Also, name the directors of those films.

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Dasvidaniya

Directed by Shashant Shah

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Quantum of Solace

In Theatres Nov. 07, 2008

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Heroes

Directed by Samir Karnik

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Fashion

A Madhur Bhandarkar Film – Produced by Ronnie Screwvala

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Latest Box-Office (Oct 26 – Nov 01, 2008)

The expected has happened. The audience has given Himesh Reshammiya’s second film as hero, Karzzzz, the thumbs down. Once again, criti­cs and almost every trade analyst fell flat on their faces with their glowing reviews to the Karz remake even as the paying public criticised the film co-starring Urmila Mat­ondkar and new heroine Shweta Kumar.

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HOPE – The Industry’s Most Precious Four-Letter Word!

The film industry survives on hope. If a struggling actor, who is shown the door in every production office he goes to, still continues with his struggle, it is only because he is hopeful that one day, some producer or director will reali­se that he has potential and will give him that much-desired break.

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Festival of Frights – Industry Gets Real

The economic slowdown that’s affecting business internationally, has hit Bolly­wood too. Or has it? Simul­tan­eously with the recession came box-office duds like Drona, Kidnap and Karzzzz, which had a lot of money and hopes riding on them. It is difficult to say whether the industry people have developed cold feet because of the box-office bombs or due to businesses in America and other foreign countries going bust or because of a combination of the two. But the fact is that Bolly­wood, which had been working on perceptions, whims and fancies, is beginning to get real.The slowdown has begun in the film industry albeit slowly.

Corporates, which used to take pride in announcing film ac­quisitions made at unrealistically high prices and the signing of stars for a bouquet of films, again at prices comp­lete­ly unworthy of the ones being sign­ed, are now sitting quietly in a pensive mood. Probably, they are wondering what hit them so badly – wrong business moves, incorrect pricing, global recession or bad content.

Whatever the reason/s, recession is affecting everyone. As Kishore Lulla, the managing director of the AIMS-listed Eros, one of the big­gest players of Bollywood today, concedes,“It will affect the whole world. What has never happened in 100 years, will happen now.” Bombay distributor Ramesh Sippy philosophises, “Finance is neither a well that will never dry up, nor is it a tree that will bear fruits everyday of the year.” Ramesh Taurani of Tips, a company listed on the Bombay stock ex­change, feels, there’s a silver lining to the dark clouds as “I believe, if one is making a viable project, there shouldn’t be a problem. This is because viewers will al­ways throng the cinema halls to see such films.”

Not everyone in the industry feels Bollywood has been hit by recession. “I don’t think recession has affected film business yet because most of the companies have raised funds already,” reasons Man­mohan Shetty who started Ad­labs and made it into a multi-crore company owning a film processing labo­ratory and a chain of multiplexes, before he sold it off to Anil Ambani’s Reliance Entertainment. He adds, “Be­sides, cinema ticket prices and satellite prices have not yet been affected.” San­deep Bhargava, CEO of Studio 18 and The Indian Film Company, concurs with Shetty when he says, “Although recession has not affected the film industry as yet, it is bound to, in time to come. Instead of four movies a month, people may end up watching two or three, so revenues will definitely go down. The television industry will likewise be ad­versely affec­ted because of which the prices for satellite rights of films will decline. No doubt, movies and TV are the only source of entertainment for the middle-class in India and so, they will not stop watching films, but it’s also a fact that the common man needs to take care of his basic needs before en­tertaining himself.” Shetty adds, “Due to recession, the disposable in­come in people’s hands will be reduced. This may have a telling effect on the cinema-going habit of people.” Ronnie Screw­vala of UTV doesn’t agree. Says he, “In an economic slowdown and especially as unprecedented and deep as this, people do not run away from entertainment which is not so expensive, like movies.” He adds, But the youth will be­come more selective.”

Adds Kumar Taurani, “In these desperate times, if we make and release good films, they may actually do more business as they would entertain people in their sad times.” But Lulla would rather take it easy. “Eros has inves­ted Rs. 800 crore in the business,” he claims and then dec­lares, “But we have stopped all new projects until March 2009. We will re-assess the situation and only then take decisions. We’d rather conserve the cash till then.”For some, the current recessional trends were long overdue. Like showman Subhash Ghai, whose company, Mukta Arts, was the first film production house in Bombay to go public, says: “Days of influencing investors by creating media perceptions and paper projections are gone. Only talent and genuine performers will now survive. And only the best will continue to reap the fruits.” But there are some in the industry who feel that al­though recession has set in, what is affecting film business is not just recession. “More than recession, it is the perception of recession which is hitting our industry,” feels Kumar Taurani.

According to Manmohan Shetty, the global recession may adversely affect film and television business in an indirect manner. “Channels and a few corporates which want to raise funds ab­road, will find it difficult to do so in the present scenario,” he says.

Says Screwvala, “There are three aspects: a lot of cheap equity – from people wanting to put spare money into the film industry – has vanished over­night because of recession; since many were playing the market cap game by lining up projects in order to attract equity, they were willing to pay top dollar to jump the queue… and that has dried up now; and, of course, the liquidity issue has worsened matters.”

Not just production and distribution but even exhibition will take a hit due to the slowdown. Explains Ronnie, “The multiplexes needed their stock to do well in the market so that they could raise more money to build more multiplexes, but the market correction has put a stop to that. Coupled with this is the poor content which has adversely affected the revenues of multiplexes, putting them under even more pressure.”

If producers, distributors, exhi­bitors and corporates are convinced that re­cession is directly or indirectly affecting film business or that it will affect Bolly­wood in the days to come, many of them have even gear­ed up to take corrective action to combat recession. “We have- n’t finali­sed a single project after April 2008,” says Lulla who foresees a big change coming in the working of his company now. “Eros will back good and meaningful projects only.” The question, however, is: how does one decide whet­her a project is good? Ghai plans to fight recession “by focussing more on projects with great content value rather than merely be­cause of perceptions. Don’t allow commerce to rule art.”

Ghai can probably say what he is saying because he is a director, besi­des being a producer. But Lulla, who is not involved on the creative side of filmmaking, is right when he says, he is bothered about commerce and money. “The time is not for expansion,” he warns. “It is rather the time for consolidation. It’s best to wait and watch. It’s the time to realise your assets.”Says Bhargava, “We will be a lot more cautious now when green-lighting projects.”The writing is on the wall. Whether they like it or not, the slowdown has started in film business too. Nobody can escape its impact. The sooner corrective action is taken, the better it would be.

WAKE UP NOW, CORPORATES, OR PERISH!

The correction phase has come faster than I thought. I was expecting it in the first quarter of 2009. The precautions a corporate should take to fight the economic slowdown are several: Firstly, cut costs from whichever corner possible. This can be done by first identifying the non-productive dead wood areas within the organisation. Most of the companies are filled with personnel employed at very high costs to the company. Many of them seem to have zero knowledge of the film industry.

They should prioritise the film projects by putting on hold some unviable films and going ahead with all-out commercial entertainers. In times of recession and depression, the audience would like to watch some feel-good films rather than rona-dhona and arty stuff. In acquisitions, corporates should see the product first and then evaluate the price. No more blind acquisitions.

Now is the time corporates should unite instead of competing with each other. They should exchange information as stars and directors are known to play up one corporate against the other for their own monetary gains.

Corporates should spend less on marketing. The normal or, rather, abnormal thinking of these corporates is that the more you spend on marketing, the more it translates into huge revenues at the box-office. This has been proved false by the recently released film which was heavily pro­moted and which bombed at the ticket windows.
Corporates should not outsource their films, rather, they should take up the production themselves. This will result in a good amount of savings.

Make an earnest representation to the government to reduce duties, entertainment taxes, VAT etc. Also, take up the BIGGEST ISSUE of PIRACY with the governments.

Even as I pen down my thoughts, I am given to understand that at least two film corporates have incurred losses of approximately Rs. 160 crore and Rs. 60 crore respectively and they both have put all their future acquisitions on hold. They are reportedly either withdrawing or re-negotiating their existing commitments.
Wake up now, corporate houses, or perish soon. The choice is yours. The stars are always going to shine irrespective of the economic slowdown or recession because you have taken care of their future at the cost of risking your own…

It is time to take pro-active steps to avoid painful experiences in the next two years which is how long the recession is expected to last.

– Ashok Ahuja
Director, Percept Picture Company

Issue dated Oct 26 – Nov 1, 2008

Tips Films

2008 was the year of Race & Kismat Konnection

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Review of Roadside Romeo

On the whole, Roadside Romeo will definitely score in the big cities as it picks up by word of mouth and on the strength of kid audience (with elders), but the business from them may not be enough to justify its high cost. In smaller centres, it will be rejected.

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