The Hindu Business Line : A change of scene in Bollywood

AT MUMBAI'S New Empire theatre, the sole show devoted to screening Monster opened with a stunning contrast. Ahead of Hollywood's offering came the trailer of Garv. In it, actor Salman Khan did several push-ups and during one animated Court scene uprooted the railings of the witness box and flung it.

Whatever be Garv's claim to fame, Monster's brutal true story told in a cold fashion, stuck to memory. Its main protagonist goes through hell in life, struggles to look tough, kills half a dozen men, is sentenced to death and yet does not have one scene where she goes berserk merely to showcase her anger. The disparity in industry styles was vivid.

Some two years back, there was talk that Bollywood would go the Hollywood way, scripting new alignments across film production, distribution and exhibition. Ever since, there have been many tie-ups. But Bollywood is still far from becoming Hollywood.A year of crisis, the progressive demise of the pan-Indian hit, a splintered market with viable sub-segments, new themes, new talent, the irreversible ageing of yesterday's stars and stories have all wrought a slow change at Bollywood, many authored for the convenience of media firms.Zee Telefilms, a broadcasting and television content company, took controlling stake in Padmalaya Telefilms, which makes films. The Zee Group also got into distribution through an alliance with the Rajshri Group. Known for its television content, UTV gradually entered film production and distribution. It also launched a channel for children — Hungama TV.

Mukta Arts got into distribution in a limited way but has moved into television content as well. K Sera Sera Productions — established in films and now into television software — is eyeing distribution. Balaji Telefilms, synonymous with television soaps, is getting into film production. Some years back, a Rabo India Finance report on the Indian film industry pointed to the possibility of alliances in film distribution and exhibition. UTV, entering domestic distribution through alliances, saw better opportunity in overseas distribution of Indian films. Others making films abroad include Yash Raj Films and Eros Multimedia.

UTV's makeover goes beyond an interest in distribution. Films became a major business for the erstwhile television software producer. For 2004, it has scheduled two big-budget films — Lakshya (already released) and Swades.

UTV sees itself as an entity that "cultivates the exciting new creative forces reshaping the Bollywood landscape". It likens itself to a Miramax or a Fox Searchlight in the US. It has planned a line-up of films — in collaboration with Star TV — with such big names in the film-making business as Ram Gopal Verma, Prakash Jha, David Dhawan and Aparna Sen.

Much of these efforts are aimed at de-risking the current business model. Complete vertical integration is yet a long way off for Indian players. For instance, the music industry is by and large a standalone entity with few players dabbling in film production.

In fact, much of the transformation in Bollywood was triggered by a factor from outside the industry — shifts on the theatre front. The bulk of the new generation films of the recent past were targeted at niche urban audiences — made possible in no small measure by the growing number of multiplexes.

Traditionally, one aspect that differentiated the Indian film industry from its foreign counterparts was the number of films produced. But, according to a KPMG-FICCI report of 2003, about 80 per cent of Bollywood's revenues come from less than 30 per cent of its films.

Right-sized theatres suddenly struck the apt equation between the demise of the pan-Indian film, a consequently fragmented market with niche stories to tell and screening economics. With some more cleaning up on other fronts, including production schedules, the producer today sells his film not just to distributors but also broadcasters and the home video segment. The film additionally recovers a portion of its cost through sale of music rights.

The changes in Bollywood were mainly driven by this sharper edge to marketing. Its efficient hold on the purses of niche audiences, worked its way back to the creative process, a fresh set of scripts being one of the outcomes. New ideas had suddenly become viable.

A new beginning and, more importantly, a much-needed change, but they have their dangers. As corporate entities edge their way into film-making, the process of recovering cost becomes imperative.

The film industry is also adopting an FMCG model, says an FICCI-E&Y report of 2004. "Films are being created like products and treated as brands that cater to specific audiences," says the report. That may enthuse the corporate-minded, but it is like a red rag to a bull for those firmly rooted in the creative.

With good reason, too, for like great writing, a great film is as much meant to entertain as to provoke thought. And who has ever forecast the market value of the unexpected? That grey area is the risk shot down by market surveys and pioneered by creative minds. Equally limiting on Bollywood is the Indian trait of being self-wrapped.

In a world where one out of six or seven people is an Indian, Bollywood is guaranteed eyeballs. The loyalty to native stories underlines the industry's export record too.

Changes are happening in Bollywood, but wait for significant impact. Tales from within still cite scriptwriters waiting for weeks to see a director and dialogues being written on the sets. There is a lot of reel yet to run before the world's biggest film industry becomes a hit.

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