Hawk films, Bollywood

Freeze Frame

Film makers are happy selling stars. It's time they started selling films

There's a nip in the air and Bollywood's enjoying a bit of a cheer. In any case showbiz gets into an extend-ed festive season from August.

Invariably Diwali is celebration time in tinsel town. This year's Diwali time, however, was tepid, with just "Baghban" doing well.

But Eid and the Christmas/New Year/Pongal seasons "� entertainment is the most secular of all businesses! "� should see a lot more jubilation. A series of blockbusters led by "Kal Ho Na Ho" are expected to alter the mood.

Still, seasonality is one of the many things which I find anachronistic about the way business is done in Bollywood "� and, by default, in other film making centres like Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad.

Entertainment is perhaps the only business which is weather proof, recession proof, even war proof.

It is just that our myopic producers and exhibitors don't look beyond their noses and tomorrow for profits. Decades of insularity have kept management and marketing far away from the movies.

Yet there is a perceptible change in Indian showbiz. Nothing reflects this better than the number of seminars and round tables on entertainment being organised all over the country.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Confederation of Indian Industry and smaller trade and business organisations are finally realising that entertainment is not only a serious business but also one which has immense growth potential.

While the focus has been on TV for a while, most analysts now believe that the great leap forward for Indian entertainment will come from the movies.

After all, not only do films feed the theatres they are also a primary source for TV, radio, live events and the digital value chain. We have been hearing from people like Shekhar Kapur for a while about how India and China are going to be the new drivers for global entertainment.

But this is virtually true about any business when you realise that you are talking about two-fifth of the world population.

Indian movies have some additional advantages.We make the maximum number of movies in the world.

More people, in fact, watch our films every year than Hollywood films. We have a distinctive look and feel to them, which differentiates them from the Hollywood staple. We have a 100-year-old tradition of movie making and an immense reservoir of talent.

Add to that the huge domestic market. Yet in spite of all the positive factors, the Indian film industry clocks a turnover of just US$1.5 billion annually out of a global movie turnover of US $ 50 billion.

Constant inbreeding and an unprofessional attitude have over the years made the industry into a self-perpetuating doom machine.

Amidst the countless awards' nights and media hoopla, Indian films have been unsung ambassadors of unknown India in over 100 countries, especially amongst the south Asian diaspora. But that's about it. The industry is happy at getting a measly US $200 million annually from global sales.

With the recent trend of corporatisation, slow but sure, film makers are for the first time trying to scale up the business.

Production companies are trying to catch up with their savvy counterparts in the West by resorting to using swanky multiplexes run on internationally accepted norms of retailing and slick promotional campaigns.

Unfortunately, the legacy mindset of the majority is coming in the way of a complete makeover, which is what is needed. Some of the more established producers like Yash Chopra and Subhash Ghai who have set up corporations are still not hiring top class marketers.

Others like UTV and Ad Labs are focusing on co-productions with successful film makers rather than developing a Hollywood studio-like expertise.

Even the more adventurous producers like Bobby Bedi, Ram Gopal Verma and Mukesh Bhat are content with optimising returns from existing revenue channels instead of looking for newer revenue streams.

The advent of some large corporate houses like the Birlas, Tatas, Mittals, the RPG group and the Sahara group should lead to a more rapid transformation of the movie business.

These people are aware of the importance of marketing other products and services. In a world where the consumer has choices, you have to get your product noticed.

As I have said in these columns earlier, grabbing attention and then being able to monetise the business opportunity is the way forward. Our films, even the mainstream ones, must be seen at international festivals.

We must have professionals engaged in marketing, especially in below-the-line activity. Producers and distributors have to realise that good marketing is not just about finding a sponsor to pick up your advertising bills but about drawing in more audiences, especially in overseas markets.

This means budgeting a decent amount (in Hollywood this often ex-ceeds the production budget) for sales promotion when planning a film. Stars, unlike brands, have attributes which change with their last hit. But film makers are happy merely selling stars. It's time they started selling films.

In the next few years digital distribution and exhibition will become the norm and will open up a whole new vista. While video-on-demand and multiple access devices will create new revenues for home viewing, multiplexes and digital cinemas will pull in larger audiences for a large screen experience.

I do not believe that you need a 'crossover' (whatever that is) film to increase your market share in global audience. You need effective marketing.

This is something our traditional distributors are completely ignorant about. It is up to the more enterprising of the producers to take the leap forward. Then we won't have to wait for a season to celebrate hits.

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