Picture this: father and son fight; father kicks son out of the house; a soft toy, a giraffe called Gerri, if you must know, effects the reunion. If that sounds unbelievable, picture this: Gerri was developed by Archies Limited, and the company claims Gerri Giraffe merchandise, including the soft toys themselves, tissue box holders, pillow cases, napkin holders and photo albums, are a big hit.

The movie was Waqt (it ranks fifth in the list of top 10 grossers of the year) and if Bollywood execs are to be believed, it marks an inflection point in the industry's tryst with merchandising. Even the outfits sported by the motion pic's female lead Priyanka Chopra were merchandised out to apparel maker Biba.

The producer of Waqt, Vipul Shah, is reported to still be raking in royalty from the sales of Gerri merchandise; apparel-merchandising deals involve a one-off payment rather than a royalty, points out Rupali Mehra, Director (Marketing and Alliances), Ad Vista Mumbai, an advertising agency. Spykar Jeans struck a similar deal with the makers of Kya Kool Hai Hum.

Still, efforts such as this (and an earlier one by Filmkraft Entertainment, the company behind monster hit Koi Mil Gaya to sell Jadoo toys, based on the friendly et-like alien that stars in the movie) are the exception rather than the norm. "Brand merchandising should be much, much higher than it is," says Tarun Tripathi, Senior Executive (Marketing), Yash Raj Films. "Producers do not know how to exploit their intellectual property rights, not like in Hollywood," adds Vishal Patel, Head of Marketing and Distribution, Dharma Productions.

There have been some efforts at innovation-Tanishq, for instance, designed the jewels used in the movie Paheli and launched a similar range to cash in on the movie's success, reminiscent of Ray Ban's special made-for-Men-in-Black glasses and Nokia's phone that was specially designed for The Matrix-but as Ad Vista's Mehra points out, "there should be merchandising of more and more products integrated with films".

In Hollywood, for instance, merchandising accounts for 10-15 per cent of the industry's revenues. In India, the corresponding proportion is estimated at a meagre 1 per cent. One reason for that could be the lack of IP protection in India (and where the laws exist, the monitoring isn't stringent enough). For every apparel maker that ties up with a producer, there are a dozen that do not and simply rip off the designs.

The company that takes the legal route to merchandising often stands to lose (not only does it pay more, its products are unlikely to sell because unlicensed and lower-cost alternatives abound). Hollywood, with its financial muscle, can combat this menace (and only just). Bollywood will take a while to do that; only if it ever wants to be a serious industry it had better start the process now.