A rollicking year

Freeze Frame

Some year-end musings, peppered with some unanswered questions, all with my tongue firmly in my cheek.

It's been a rollicking 12 months for the Indian entertainment industry. The much missing feel-good factor suddenly made a re- appearance.

Yuletide this time is seeing many more smiles in showbiz. Revelry is in the air. The economy is on a roll. Stock prices are on a high. There are hits once again in theatres. TRPs (television rating points) are on the rise.

The ad breaks are longer. Page 3 people are a national obsession now "� not in the same league as cricket and movies yet but sharing the limelight all the same on TV channels.

Bollywood was bewitching, beguiling and and bewildered as before. Yash and Karan Johar produced another humungous hit, "Kal Ho Na Ho," as did Rakesh Roshan, "Koi Mil Gaya."

The elder Bachchan ruled; the younger stumbled once again. Shahrukh had a bad back but "Chalte Chalte" kept on winning accolades. Salman Khan went in and out of courts and shirts with equal finesse and yet managed a hit.

Amir Khan endeared with his Coke commercials even as he prepared to play Mangal Pandey in Ketan Mehta's "The Rising." Hritik Roshan re-emerged from ignominy and Vivek Oberoi lurked in the shadows of stardom and of Aishwarya Rai. Most trade pundits, though, are putting their money on Preity Zinta and Rani Mukherji.

Star TV, UTV and Zee TV and Rajshri Pictures announced tie ups for film production and distribution. 2003 definitely saw a shift towards a corporate Bollywood.

But more than that it was the year of the rise of the multiplex. From Jamnagar to Noida, from Chennai to Chandigarh, cinema theatres are once again becoming favoured hangout zones. Family dramas with misspelt titles invariably beginning with a 'K' continued to dominate the tube.

However, this was the year of the news channels. Aroon Purie launched dud Headlines Today; Sahara launched several duds, Prannoy Roy launched NDTV in English and Hindi with a lot of hype and fewer TRPs.

Star as usual lost its way in the corridors of power before finally getting legal permission to uplink Star News via a convoluted deal with the ABP group. Good old Doordarshan re-re-relaunched its 'new improved' news channel.

In spite of a boom, TV news degenerated into stereotypes. Prabhu Chawla continued to show his plastic smile and fancy ties in 'Seedhi Baat,' Raghav Behl his turtle necks and incredulousness in '55 Minutes' and Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt raved and ranted at hapless interviewees.

Nidhi Razdan and Sonali Chander (NDTV), Sheren Bhan and Paromita Chaterji (CNBC), Radhika Chaurvedi and Aparna Kala (Star News), Ritul and Namita (Aaj Tak) "� the names are just indicative of a malaise. All fluttered their eyelashes while making news a trivial pursuit.

Earlier in the year, the Cricket World Cup generated a lot of advertising bucks for SET Max and Nimbus and set the tone for a revival in TV broadcasting.

Sony managed a minor hit with a local adaptation of a Spanish soap, "Jassie Jaisa Koi Nahin." Zee made its annual management and programming change but with little impact.

In any case there was no breakthrough programming during the year. Isn't it sad that within a decade of its reel life, TV is already touching the heights of mediocrity?

Radio is in a revival mode courtesy private FM. The exorbitant licence fee and restrictive programming have stunted growth and resulted in bleeding balance sheets.

Today all FM stations sound the same and play the same music. But they are attracting listeners and advertising. Some respite may be forthcoming in the wake of the Amit Mitra Committee report which talks of shifting to a revenue share liberal regulatory regime.

The music industry, on the other hand, is stuck in an old groove, out of sync with the digital world. The year saw falling sales, rising piracy and not a single runaway hit.

Most music companies are downsizing and groping to find an answer. Unlike most multinationals, the homegrown T-Series continues to prosper in a dwindling market.

Like its counterparts elsewhere, Indian music companies must reinvent themselves or die.

Everyone seems unanimous about the entertainment industry's potential. It has in the year gone by attracted a fair amount of private equity, some venture capital and had a couple of successful IPOs "� BAG Films and TV Today.

Governments, both central and state, did little more than give lip service and set up committees. But the great thing about showbiz is that it blossoms even in the most adverse environment.

In a decade when India is the flavour, want to bet that 2004 will be a leap year for Indian entertainment?

Amit Khanna is chairman of Reliance Entertainment. The views expressed here are his own