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 One
of the doyens of the Indian film industry was telling me that the
mood is suddenly better there. A few films such as Bhoot and Chalte
Chalte have at least broken even, and people are beginning to smile
again. Money is slowly coming out again. People are funding films
again-albeit very slowly.
He said the drought of the last few years was
the worst he had seen in his 50-odd years in the business. And we
both were not sure how long this turnaround would last. We spoke
about growing corporatisation-and of getting more professional funding
into films and agreed that it was still far off.
I had spoken on these issues at an industry
conference called frames, where my disappointing conclusion was
that any sensible investor would stay far away from the industry.
This isn't because the industry has dirty money in it-that it does-but
because it simply isn't structured for an investor to get fair returns.
The first thing to realise about our film business
is that the true risk-takers or entrepreneurs are not the producers
or directors. They are the distributors. Here's what typically happens:
producers put together short-term borrowed funds, then directors
and actors make a film. They immediately turn around and sell it
to the distributors. So all the money to be made by the 'promoters'
happens before the film is released. True investors don't like this.
Distributors take the risk if the film flops
and the reward if it succeeds. If they don't buy a film, it dies
in the film can. In effect, distributors determine what types of
films get made. Distributors have built their own thumb-rules over
time. A Shah Rukh film is worth paying Rs X for, a Salman film Y,
Rahman's music is worth Z and so on. A sexy 'item number' adds a
little more.
So, sadly, this is how films get announced.
A producer understands the formula, signs up a few distributor-friendly
stars and music directors and says he's making a film. Nobody really
cares about the story, plot, characterisation. It's just film-making
by Lego. Songs are shot in different locales and stages of undress
around the world. The ensuing hotch-potch is then launched into
theaters.
The only non-cooperator in this chain, of late,
has been the audience, that has been staying away in droves. With
the exception of Raaz, no film has supposedly broken even in the
last few years. No, not Devdas or Saathiya, which highlights a different
problem-large-scale lying about performance.
All aspiring film-makers tell me that the audience
wants films that are 'zara hat ke'. Everyone has a great story she
wants to shoot. I can't agree more. But the hurdle is distribution-if
the film doesn't get picked up at all, the effort goes to zero-and
believe me, I've seen enough good films lying in cans that haven't
made it to the screens at all.
There are a couple of ways out. One is to pay
your dues and build yourself a stature where stars agree to work
for you for less, and distributors are willing to buy whatever you
produce. One man has mastered this-Ram Gopal Varma. But what if
you're not Ramu yet?
The second way I've been pushing for a while
is: forget about the Indian terrestrial market, where being bought
by distributors is an all-or-nothing gamble. Look overseas. Virtually
every Indian-themed film released in the US-even the really crappy
ones- makes at least $300,000 to $500,000. Some like Bend It...
or Monsoon Wedding go on to make tens of millions. Now add Indian
satellite TV rights of about $100,000 if you're not a pathetic piece
of dreck-and a little more for European and other rights and you
can look at some sort of an 'assured' return of about $400,000 for
a half-decent film.
Which brings us to the point-can you make a
good, proper film within this amount? The answer is a loud 'Yes'.
We can afford to produce a technically competent film with Arri
cameras, Kodak stock, top-notch crew and great actors from nsd for
less than that magic figure of Rs. 2 crore. You can't do this elsewhere
on Earth.
Of course, you need to have a global outlook
and understand overseas distribution. But every entrepreneur should
have that anyway. Indian distributors will also come around, once
they realise that the old formula isn't working any more.
Mahesh Murthy heads Passionfund,
a firm that invests in and advises companies.
You can reach him at Mahesh@passionfund.com
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