Bollywood, renowned for plots filled with twists, some predictable and turns, some outrageously surprising, could never have scripted a story such as this. October has just begun, the three months when production houses release their big movies and film-goers flock cinemas (October, November and December are India's extended equivalent of the Western world's Christmas-New Year season) lie ahead, and already, India's Hindi motion picture industry has seen 15 hits, with the top 10 grossing over Rs 330 crore. The reasons range from production houses that approach the process of making movies differently to the mushrooming of multiplexes across the country (at last count, there were 73 multiplexes with 276 screens). Apart from promising a better viewing experience, these have a role to play in everything from helping segment audiences to reducing the threat of under-declaration (of takings) by exhibitors. There are other strands to Bollywood's makeover, including the tentative entry of corporates into the industry and the use of marketing techniques borrowed from the FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) industry, but if there is one thing that stands out, it is this: through 2003 and 2004, Bollywood's popular refrain was "let's cross over", a reference to everything from making motion pics with an international appeal to the phenomenon of Indian actors bagging roles in Hollywood projects; now, the industry seems to have realised that it can do better (as it indeed has this year) by simply borrowing best practices from Hollywood and catering to India's huge domestic market. It is an irony of sorts that the most clichéd management slogan of the 1990s, Think Global Act Local, describes best Bollywood's success at breaking away from clichés.

All Hail The Assembly Line

The factory approach works. Just ask the makers of some of this year's monster hits.

YASH CHOPRA Yash Raj Films

KARAN JOHAR Dharma Productions

RAM GOPAL VARMA The Factory

Hollywood's studio system-studios retain directors to produce motion pics for them; they work pretty much as companies should, financing the movie, marketing and distributing it-has fans and foes in equal measure but it is, inarguably, one of the things that has built America's film industry into the global force it is. Bollywood doesn't have studios, at least, not yet; what it has are production houses, sort of precursors to studios. Film makers like Yash Chopra, Ram Gopal Varma, Subhash Ghai, Mahesh Bhatt and Karan Johar have all formed production houses, in the process transforming themselves from well-thought-of directors into full-fledged businessmen. There's enough motivation for them to make the shift to production house: it is a low-risk model that promises a steady flow of releases.

It's all about numbers, insists Varma, who has, aptly enough, named his production house The Factory (it had five releases in 2004 and already has four thus far in 2005 and Varma insists that "Entertainment is a product"). And if Varma's current obsession is Mumbai's underworld-three of the four releases The Factory has had this year have to do with this-that of Vishesh Films' is sex (see Sleaze Fest). "Next year, we will release six films," says the banner's promoter Mukesh Bhatt.

Directors do not seem to have a problem working with production houses. After all, they benefit from the support of a large banner, a fixed remuneration and the possibility of doing more films with the company, if one works. And most production houses allow directors the leeway they need to make a film. "All creative decisions are mine," says Nagesh Kukunoor, who recently made Iqbal under the banner of Mukta Arts. The low-budget film cost Rs 3 crore to make, and Mukta spent another Rs 1 crore on marketing it aggressively. "We have already grossed Rs 3 crore," says Ravi Gupta, CEO, Mukta Arts (the film was released on August 26 and is still showing).

BLOCKBUSTERS SANS STARS

I wish I knew how a film without stars could be a blockbuster," says Nagesh Kukunoor, the director of one such, Iqbal, celebrating the fact that his film could be the surprise package of the year. Then, there is a star in the motion pic which has become a talking point within the industry; it is cricket. Theme, some film makers maintain, is becoming critical to success of motion pics (and in a cricket-crazy country like India, Kukunoor could have done worse than make a movie about a young man's struggle to become a fast bowler). However, there is more to Iqbal's success, something that highlights Bollywood's attempt to segment the audience. Mukta Arts, the production house behind Iqbal, kept costs low (a total budget of Rs 4 crore), released the movie in eight cities (its appeal is largely urban), and focussed its marketing efforts on ensuring a good opening in these cities. Maybe, just maybe, there is a method to making a blockbuster sans stars.

MUKESH BHATT Vishesh Films

Although directors are allowed their creative space, production houses do bestow, consciously and unconsciously, their own flavour to a movie. And that, say industry executives like Uday Singh, Managing Director, Sony Pictures Releasing of India, results not just in more releases, but more hits. "I think a banner like Yash Raj Films has really got its act together; some big players like them have moved from making one film a year to about five." For audiences that have grown to expect something from directors like Chopra and Ghai, any release from their production houses, Yash Raj and Mukta respectively, promises a bit of the same. The year's biggest hit (thus far), Bunty aur Babli, came from Yash Raj and it wasn't directed by Chopra.

Not surprisingly, the people behind production houses have started looking beyond their next release, at the creative and financial legacy they will leave behind. "We will supervise creativity and outsource production and direction," says Varma. "There will be a time when I will not matter so much to the company."

Not everyone buys the production house concept. There are film makers like Filmkraft Entertainment's Rakesh Roshan (he produces and directs, and his son Hrithik stars in his films) who believe the benefits of genre films as well as having several releases in the same year are over-rated. "I like to make one film at one time and the quality of that is important," he says. This film, he adds, should appeal to everyone, not one segment of the audience, and "by becoming a production house, I do think I may have to compromise on quality". That's one school of thought, but with 14 of this year's 15 hits coming from production houses, Roshan may soon find himself in the minority.