Global stardust

FILMS: Forget revenues "" for now it's enough to have the best world cinema at the nearest multiplex.

Until not too long ago, if you wanted to watch Truffaut's cult classic Jules et Jim, your only recourse would have to be the scratchy, smuggled versions you could buy in Paharganj. Or if you were a member of a film club or society, you could catch a few world cinema classics from time to time.

But suddenly, now, you have more options. A number of Indian media companies are looking at world cinema as a business proposition. To be sure, none of these has really taken off and so it might be a little premature to talk about them.

Shemaroo, the home entertainment label, is likely to start a world cinema line sometime soon. Confirming this, Hiren Gada, managing director, says, "We have acquired a few titles and are in the process of finalising branding, promotions, a release plan and pricing for these DVDs."

In Mumbai this Sunday, another interesting experiment gets under way as Enlighten Society, an NGO formed to screen national and international classics and spread love of good cinema among Indians, will screen Godard's Breathless, Fellini's 8 1/2, Ray's Pather Panchali and Coppola's Godfather at four Cinemax theatres in Mumbai.

In early March, UTV announced the launch of a new business vertical: UTV-Palador "" "a 360-degree initiative in world cinema". Its collection, branded Olive, was to have the largest library of world cinema under one roof with over 1,000 film titles from 20 countries that had won over 3,000 awards "" BAFTA, Cannes, Pusan, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and the like.

In April-May, there were also screenings of City of God and Double Life of Veronique held in Adlabs theatres in Mumbai and Pune. Besides, there was an eight-film package aired at 3 pm Sunday on Zee Cafe.

Then came the break with Palador, which changed the scene somewhat. But the UTV world cinema project is coming along. "We plan to roll out the world cinema DVD label in the next two months, the world cinema film channel by end of 2007," says Siddhartha Roy Kapoor, executive vice president (marketing, distribution and syndication).

Palador Pictures too has its business plans. Gautam Shiknis, managing director, Palador, is negotiating with a number of non-Hindi channels, but what really excites him is video on demand which will assure him a targetted audience.

These distribution channels are to be functional in the next two months, while at the end of this fiscal will come a 24-hour TV channel. Limited releases in theatres, tapping the rural areas with dubbed high-action films (for example, the Japanese Godzillas, part of the Palador library), helping film festivals curate and source films and, of course, a DVD label, are other revenue streams Shiknis is looking at. By end of the next fiscal, Shiknis expects revenues of $ 18 million.

So what has changed?
Roy Kapoor sums up the sentiments thus: "This is one of the best times for Indian entertainment. Today, the Indian audience has matured in its entertainment tastes; they are willing to experiment with new and different kinds of cinema. The audience is exposed to international entertainment and, at the same time, the spending power of an average Indian has grown multiple times due to the surge in the economy. All this put together makes world cinema an interesting business venture."

For Gada, the multiplex culture could have something for different audiences with very different tastes, even avant garde ones.

Both are agreed, however, on one thing: that it is too early to think economics, and that it may take two-three years before returns start coming in. And then, of course, there is the problem of censorship.

But for world cinema lovers, it is time to make hay while the sun shines.