The rise and rise of Bhojpuri cinema

ENTERTAINMENT: Bihar's dialect cinema is coming of age with bigger budgets and national distribution across state boundaries.

For many Indians, the small screen shenanigans of Bigg Boss were the first indication that there was an industry of something called "Bhojpuri films".

Apparently, one of the inmates of the celebrity house was an actor of no mean following in these dialect films, called Ravi Kishan.

The sulky actor may have faded from viewers' minds, but there is little doubt that the popularity of Bhojpuri films is growing exponentially. Not only are more Bhojpuri films being made, even the size of their budget has shot up extensively "" and their shooting locations as well as distribution network is spilling across all state boundaries.

Three big-budget Bhojpuri films hit Bihar's screens last Friday: Rajendra Patel's Londonwali Se Neha Lagwali, shot in London and Mauritius, Ramesh Raao's Banke Bihari MLA, starring Ravi Kishan and Tamil actress Rambha, and Suresh Maurya's Kahan Jaibo Nazar Churake. None of the filmmakers is from Bihar.

Patel and Raao say Bhojpuri films have emerged as the new box-office hope for filmmakers. Raao's Rs 1.5 crore Bhojpuri production follows a decade spent in Hindi films and television serials.

"I made a film in Bhojpuri because there is a huge resurgent market for films in this dialect. What's encouraging is that this market is growing nationally and internationally."

The size of the Bhojpuri film industry is around Rs 100 crore with the Bihar government collecting Rs 10 acrore as entertainment tax annualy, according to Ravi Mittal, commissioner and secretary of the state commercial taxes department. Producers double their investment at the least.Besides, film-makers sell video CD rights at an average of Rs 40 lakh per film, and music rights for Rs 30 lakh.

"Although the audience in Bihar's main film-watching towns do not like films shot in Western locales, I shot my first Bhojpuri venture in London and Mauritius," says London-based Patel, who has earlier produced films in Hindi and Gujarati.

He spent Rs 80 lakh on Londonwali Se Neha Lagwali. Maurya could not be contacted, but Bhojpuri film experts say the budget of his film is "close to Rs 1 crore". The average budget of a Bhojpuri film is Rs 40-50 lakh. Increasingly, costs are going up: actors Manoj Tiwari and Ravi Kishan are demanding as much as Rs 80 lakh and Rs 50 lakh respectively, while fees for "outside" actresses like Naghma and Rambha are Rs 15-20 lakh.

Both Raao and Patel say they will now seek release of their Bhojpuri films in Mumbai and in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Maharashtra.

Raghuvansh Singh, president of Bihar-Jharkhand Movies Distributors Association, says Bhojpuri films are catering to over 200 million Bhojpuri-speaking people in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

"Besides, the Bhojpuri diaspora in Mauritius, Ghana, West Indies, Fiji, Nepal, Dubai, Indonesia, and the Netherlands constitutes a good enough market for our films," he says.

"Stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan and Naghma have done films in Bhojpuri," says Singh. "As many as eight films are released in a month." Any wonder Ravi Kishan has such a huge fan following!