The big picture is changing

FREEZE FRAME

Bollywood is awakening to a new dawn.

"Page 3," "Lucky," "Waqt" and "Kaal" are all Bollywood films, all successful but of different genres. They have quite distinct story lines, actors and even budgets. A few years ago we would have lumped them all as popular kitsch and not all would have had made money.

Today all the four films are attracting varied audiences but all of them are earning mega bucks.

If we look at some of the successful films of the last few months the pattern of business of Indian films, both at home and abroad, appears to be changing.

There are signs that the huge mass market for Bollywood is ultimately moving towards segmentation.

There are large enough sections of the cinema going population which on their own constitute addressable markets. The one amorphous, homogenised audience is slowly fading away.

We are all aware of those magical middle class millions who constitute the great Indian consuming class. All of them are 'consuming' entertainment in larger doses.

In spite of increased competition from other art forms and leisure alternatives, films continue to thrive in India.

The most obvious transformation has been the mushrooming of multiplexes. World-class theatres with their swanky ambience have made cinema going a pleasurable experience.

The consuming class was happy to watch movies of their choice even at the huge premium these cineplexes charge.

Professional marketing and clever programming meant that films which till recently remained in cans or Cannes were showing at a neighbourhood cinema theatre.

Today there are about 75 multiplexes with about 250 screens and another 75 are under construction. It is these cinemas and a handful of enlightened production houses that are heralding a new dawn in Bollywood.

Fortunately the biggest of stars are working with these production companies and unconsciously helping transform the rough and tumble of tinsel town.

Could you have imagined films like "Black" "My brother Nikhil", and "Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi" running simultaneously a few years ago? Interestingly, all these are backed by companies.

A debate rages over whether corporatisation is the panacea for the many ills that plague the film industry. Obviously not.

Unfortunately, many of those who believe that it is confuse this with some glamour struck 'tiewala' representing some multinational with no common sense throwing away good money.

No sir, corporatisation is about systems and processes, about discipline and planning and, above all, an attitude. There is no dearth of good money to invest in film production, distribution and exhibition.

In fact there are not enough companies willing to scale up their operations. Integrated media companies are going to be the order of the day.

Like in other businesses, Indian films can no longer remain isolated from global trends. We may have a large domestic market but that does not mean it should or does behave any differently from markets elsewhere.

If the rest of the world has moved towards weekend watching, why should it surprise us if India too does?

For some strange reason we still keep talking of percentage collections and box office receipts as if they are the only source of revenue for a film.

Traditionalists within the industry "� and it has more than its share of them "� continue to bewail of films flopping and falling box-office receipts even as their moth balled 'classics' are unspooled every few years to fetch lakhs of rupees, sometimes crores of rupees, from the resale of TV, video and other rights.

There is also little realisation that every film need not do well in every market or even segments of it. As long as the film gives its investors a healthy rate of return, it matters little where the rupee came from "�Nagpur or New York, theatre or TV, cable or DVD.

Why is it even necessary for all films to even have a theatrical release? There can be and should be different release patterns and windows for different types of films.

In the US, a thriving industry makes films for cable, video or TV channels like HBO. Soon you will have a similar scenario unfolding in India too.

Zee has commissioned several such films and Sahara is doing so too. This is in addition to both media majors producing big budget films as well.

With newer options like pay-per-view and video-on-demand just around the corner, one will see films being made for home entertainment alone in India too.

Besides, did you know that there are about 500 towns in India which screen Hindi films on 'fixed hires' ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000 and these are seldom reported.

A comment often made is that while producers may recover money from pre-sales the others in the value chain lose. Incorrect.

It is now universally accepted that a cinema theatre makes a third of its revenues from concessions "� the pop corn factor"� so that it has an inherent cushion.

In any case global trends show us that most theatres break even at less than 30 per cent occupancy. If properly marketed, advertising revenues and other endorsements can add to the theatre's earnings as many multiplex chains are already doing.

What about distributors? Except for a few, they are mere brokers with little or no expertise in modern day marketing. They thrive on pilferage and under reportage.

Amitabh Bachchan said in an interview recently that the Indian film Industry looks down upon itself. I couldn't agree more.

Unfortunately the so-called trade press "� from where the mainline media, both print and electronic, gets their numbers "� actually helps in spreading a constant pall of gloom.

What they don't realise is like in the new scheme of things they too will be marginalised.

Read the new Yes Bank-Producers Guild Report . The big picture is changing and fast!

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