With the release of its first Kannada movie, Houseful, a comedy starring south Indian actor Diganth, Maverick Productions ventured into regional cinema in July. The mid-rung Bollywood firm is making three more regional movies, one each in Kannada, Gujarati and Malayalam, slated to be released this year.
At least 10 other mid-rung production houses are following, mainly driven away by the high production costs of Bollywood movies. Further reasons like entry of corporates into production of Hindi films, a growing regional film sector and a rising number of multiplexes across states are other reasons.
Ultra Distribution, Shri Ashtavinayak Cine Vision, Seven Star Creations, Down Town Films and Spectra Multimedia, among others, which were into production of Hindi films, have already lined 10-12 regional films this year.
“We ventured into production of regional movies as costs of producing Hindi movies have escalated. Producing a Bollywood movie involves a high-degree of risk compared with that of a regional film, which is still a niche market,” Ultra Distribution’s Chairman and Managing Director Sushilkumar Agarwal told Business Standard.
The cost of an average Hindi movie is around Rs 30-35 crore, more than 10 times that of the average regional film. It would cost around Rs 1-3 crore for making a Gujarati or Marathi film, while a Bhojpuri one would cost around Rs 50 lakh to 2 crore. So, too,with Malayalam (Rs 80 lakh–Rs 3 crore), Kannada (Rs 1.5-3 crore) and Bangla (Rs 80 lakh- Rs 3 crore).
Ultra, which only recently ventured into regional movies, has already produced four this year (three Marathi, one Gujarati), while it has commenced work on another Marathi film.
Also Read
Anuj Saxena, Chief Executive Officer, Maverick Productions, opines that the company’s regional foray is to expand presence across the country. “Regional movies provide us with an opportunity to establish a pan-India presence and build our brand name,” Saxena, who himself is an actor, said.
At present, the company is working on one movie each in Malayalam, Marathi and Gujarati, while it has already commenced work on another Kannada film.
However, Bollywood production houses are keeping away from making Tamil and Telugu movies. This is because production costs are similar to that in Bollywood (high costs are incurred due to expensive sets, global locations and highly paid actors).
According to a Mumbai-based analyst: “It’s difficult for a medium-sized production house to compete with the might of an established corporate or other large companies entering into film production. Other reasons like increase in success rates of regional projects (movies), as many TV channels like STAR TV are also looking for content, is another reason.”
Apart from established players like Yash Raj Films, RK Films and Mukta Arts, corporates like UTV Motion Pictures, Zee Movies, the Anil Ambani group’s Big Pictures, NDTV Imagine, Sun TV and Mumbai Mantra (a Mahindra & Mahindra company) are among others to have entered film production.
Spectra Multimedia has done three films in Marathi. Shri Ashtavinayak Cine Vision (which produced the Hindi hit, Jab We Met) is producing four films in the Tamil and Telugu segment.