Bollywood tackles a rising rupee

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: Indian films in Singapore, Malaysia, West Asia and London, has also been affected. “We had distributed 200 prints of the Rajnikanth-starrer Sivaji-The Boss overseas. Now that we are trying to get the overseas rights of another forthcoming Rajnikanth-Deepika Padukone starrer Robot, we are a bit cautious about the dollar’s devaluation,” says GV Films’ CEO, Kunal Singh.

But there’s a silver lining too. Distributors acquiring Hollywood films, responsible for 7% of total box-office collections in the country, are looking at India for bigger business. Paying in weakening dollar and getting paid in the rising rupee has become a win-win situation for them.

Amit Dhanuka, vice-president, E-City Films (a Zee Group unit) which has acquired films like George Clooney starrer Michael Clayton for release on February 15 apart from other films like Bangkok Dangers starring Nicholas Cage and a 3-D movie Journey to the centre of the Earth to be released by mid-2008, says that his company, which is basically involved in the import of Hollywood films, is able to reap the benefits of the rupee rise. Dhanuka adds that the company has been able to save costs ranging somewhere between 5-8% thanks to the rising currency.