Big money hurts small Bollywood producers

Find big stars, ace directors and top technicians no longer within reach.

Bollywood's independent film producers are a worried lot. They fear getting wiped out by the financially strong companies and foreign studios that have ventured into the films business.

Their rhetoric is that corporate houses are throwing money at films stars and technicians are pushing up their asking prices.

Says film producer Pritish Nandy: "Too much money is chasing popular cinema. The few saleable stars are being locked into long-term deals by big companies and their performance fee is shooting up."

Agrees producer Mukesh Bhatt: "The star fee has gone up by 300 to 400 per cent in the last two years. Though I welcome the inflow of capital into the system, the economics of the business looks unrealistic."

Bhatt should know. For, together with his brother Mahesh Bhatt, he has made nearly 50 films. He feels that corporates are paying ridiculous prices to stars and directors that are not in sync with reality.

Gripes producer and film trade expert Vikas Mohan: "Independent producers can no longer hope to work with the stars."

Percept Picture Company, TV18's Indian Film Company and Adlabs have locked in directors and actors such as Madhur Bhandarkar, Anubhav Sinha, Sagar Bellary, Priyadarshan, Onir, Anurag Kashyap, Hrithik Roshan and Akshay Khanna.

However, director Vipul Shah says that not too many stars have tied themselves down to companies. "Star rates have gone up but if the script is good they are willing to work for less. But I agree that making a small budget film is becoming difficult."

Critics say that with each production studio talking about investing Rs 400 to 500 crore, at least Rs 2,500 crore will be poured into Hindi cinema in the coming two years pushing up the cost of an average film.

"A film costing Rs 40-50 crore was seen as a big budget film earlier. Today such films are the norm," says Sandeep Bhargava, CEO, The Indian Film Company.

Bhargava, however, believes that foreign studios and corporate in Hindi cinema will not kill independent producers.

"We complement each other. While corporates bring marketing skills and finance to the table, producers can mount the projects without having to worry about promotion or revenue generation."

He says producers will align themselves to the large studios "" Indian or foreign. Vipul Shah agrees. "Their independence may be compromised if producers align themselves with studios but the flip side is that their risk is taken care of."

Experts predict a makeover of the Indian film industry. The industry will consolidate and mergers and acquisitions will be common, they say. "There are four to five studios overseas and everybody works for them. The same thing will happen here," says Shah.

Mukesh Bhatt and Pritish Nandy, however, say that though big money is being poured in, returns may not be as healthy. "If you jump into four feet of water thinking it is 40 feet deep, you are heading for a crash," warns Bhatt.

Bhargava does not agree: "The cost of the stars and making films may be rising, but newer revenue streams are also opening up. For instance, earlier there were no film rights for DTH, broadband or a Video-on-Demand."

Film producer Sunil Doshi who made Bheja Fry has a different take on why some producers may be whining.

"Earlier, the producer took away 90 per cent of the booty from a film. Today new business models are evolving centering around an equitable distribution of wealth that may not suit the producers," he says.

For instance, actors and directors may ask for equity in the revenues generated by the film.

"Earlier it was just the producers who held the film rights for perpetuity and enjoyed its benefits. Changes in the IPR models may change the rules of the game," he says.