bad business boys

sadhuji

‘B’, the second letter of the English alphabet, never had it so bad – Bollywoodians themselves are voicing their concerns and talking about all the bad business that Bollywood is spawning of late. It seems that in the first three months of 2005, the industry has reportedly lost up to Rs 100 crores. Out of the 41 films released in this period, 37 have bombed!!!!

It is not that they did not know it; it is only that the realization took a pretty long time to come. Big banners do not necessarily translate into big business but into bad business. We knew from time immemorial all that we needed to know about the birds and the bees, Shakespeare himself pondered whether ‘to be or not to be’. And, only the other day, the stalwarts of Indian cinema were heard ruing that the name Bollywood itself conjures up visions of a clone of Hollywood. They certainly have a case of renaming – if roads, airports and railway stations can be renamed, why not Bollywood? Trying to reverse the trend of flops, by renaming Bollywood could be a step in a different direction. Challenging tradition takes a lot of courage. Let the pundits put their heads together and arrive at a new avatar so that the resources, already available to our home industry, can produce something more creative, more appealing, and more acceptable. That will prevent them from complaining that copies and copies of copies are the routine of one of the largest film producing centers of the world.

Only father Time will tell us whether that direction is the right one.

As it stands today, a lay man considers the present film making of Bollywood as a game played by youngsters who have crores to spend. In lieu of that, they have a real good time (for at least six months!) with a horde of beauties for company and promises of super deluxe travel and accommodation worldwide. A few crores do not make any dent of sorts in their purses.

A different genre of read –
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renedu

In analyzing the B-wood crisis - is it just that the films are bad OR is there increasing pressure due to cable/satellite television, increasing penetration of "western/hollywood" films? Also (not that I am an expert) has not the cost of production gone up as well (especially in the last 10 years) that was one of the reasons originally it was so profitable to mass produce the films.

It will be interesting to see how Aamir Khan's THE RISING does when it is finally released this summer. (It was also a big budget blower as it has been in post-production for over ayear...)

That said, is the new trend of trying to export B-wood (ex. Bride and Prejudice) the right way to go. Miss Rai appearing on both 60 Minutes and on the cover of TIME magazine are big steps (finally) to recognize Indian cinema.

sadhuji

i beg your pardon, in my opinion this is the recognition of an individual, not necessarily an endorsement of the quality of films in which she acts.

crvlvr

the loss is typical of the industry. only 1 in 10 hollywood movies break even in theatrical release (it looks like Bollywood is running at the same ratio). 100 crores ($20million)for the whole industry is not that bad considering that one hollywood blockbuster alone can cost $200million. the industry needs to transform itself and begin to expolit new channels for revenue -- TV, Cable, home video etc. But at the end the day, a bad movie is still a bad movie and may never break even.

renedu

Sorry, but quite frankly I do not see how you can separate her from Bollywood. They did not feature her for winning Miss World 10 years ago. When I worte they recognized Indian cinema, it was not that they necessarily said, oh its great. If she is not representing Indian cinema, what does she represent?

sadhuji

she represents beauty.

byronic

Yes the Bollywood film industry has been in a major slump for the past two, three, years now. The reasons are many… well actually only a few really.

“In analyzing the B-wood crisis - is it just that the films are bad OR is there increasing pressure due to cable/satellite television, increasing penetration of "western/hollywood" films”

Television and especially the VCD/DVD have made a huge dent in the theater going habits of the urban and the rural Bollywood audience. In rural areas, the local movie theater used to be a sort of “town commons”, it was a place where the middle class could gather to socialize, see, and be seen outside of a secular domain. Now with TV and VCD players, many movie theaters in the territories are closing down from lack of patrons. And in the big metro areas the old grand movie palaces are shutting down because of competition from VCDs and the new multiplex theaters.

Hollywood is making little inroad into India, Hollywood movies are a novelty, and only the metros that support an intellectual crowd have any audience for them.

Bollywood will adapt and survive. On my last trip to India everyone knew the latest songs from the latest Bollywood movies. Kids and drivers new all the lyrics from their favorite latest Bollywood films. So even if the films are flops, everyone knows the music. Things may be in a financial mess in the Bollywood film industry, but Bollywood is still a huge part of popular culture.

The main problem has to do with filmmakers not connecting with the audience and in turn the audience rejecting films. Most of the films are same old tired formula. The industry is in a crisis because new formulas need to emerge and what those are seem to be painfully hard to decipher. The secondary problem is there are now three distinct audiences in Bollywood, 1. The new Metro audience made of mostly urban youth (who have modern values) brought up on [V] channel and MTV. 2. The traditional rural audience in the territories, (who also have the old traditional values) that make up a majority of the traditional ticket buyers. 3. Last but not least are the NRI in the Diaspora who make up a small, but lucrative (ticket prices are 10 times higher in the Diaspora) audience. It’s hard for filmmakers to make a universal hit with such a “split” audience.

It will be interesting to see how Metha's The Rising will do when it releases later this year. This is a film that is trying to be the holy grail, the All India hit film.

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crvlvr

byronic,

I think you hit the nail on the head. I hear that the bollywood fiilms targeted to NRI's do extemely well-- financially. Is there some kind of deceptive account of these foreign revenue streams so that the producers can keep the profits while declaring a "loss" at home?

I don't buy the argument that home video is killing the movies. That was the scare back in the 80s. But, theatre attendence actually went up after inception of home video.

Nick-H

The streets of the world are full of beautiful women and USA has got plenty of famous beautiful women. If it was just for beauty they would not have to look so far.

Would Aishwaria Rai have been featured if she was not a beautiful, Indian Film Star?

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

renedu

I think I will start a thread of all the Imers who were extras on the Rising last year, I know of at least four and know there are a lot more out there... Should have had an IM Meeting at Pune last year during the filming. I also wonder how it will do as I think in some ways Lagaan was a better cross-over film (storywise) although too long for many...

Merchant

Supply too high, demand too low. There are way too many movies produced in India for any but a tiny handful to make money. Shah Rukh used to make, what, 7-10 movies a year? Rani Mukherjee does 3 as a leading lady and 6 more in bit parts? The things that add value to the product (marquee stars) are spread really thin.

Also, no one has yet, as far as I know, calculated how much money organized crime skims off the top. What is the value of the financial drag placed on the industry through extortion, kickbacks, protection money, laundering operations, and the forced hiring of certain stars over others? It's a huge amount of rupees in an industry where the margins are already small.

The weird reality is that even the biggest stars like Shah Rukh don't make terribly much money from their films. Their lifestyles are subsidized by product endorsements, which magically also appear in the films. SRK drinks a Pepsi whil chatting on his BPL mobile, etc. That, and making lots of films . . .

renedu

Has anyone read Bombay - Maximum City, there is a very good chapter on the whole Bhai / Mafia / Bollywood biz...