Bollywood’s facelift

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: cinema but other languages like Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil ,Telugu, Kannada,Malayalam etc. “With one window to service theatrical (India and overseas), music, home video, digital, radio, social networking, video on demand etc, the offer becomes quiet lucrative for filmmakers,” points out Varma.

Says PVR’s Saksena: “Everyone is working towards a studio model though nobody is there yet. But I would rephrase that by saying that though corporatisation was a much maligned word till about two years ago, thanks to set-ups like UTV, Reliance, Studio 18 and PVR Pictures, corporatisation is here to stay and has contributed favourably towards the success of Indian films worldwide.” Likewise, the studio model too will reap rich dividends, say analysts, if you pitch it right. Saminathan disagrees: “I do not think the studio model is working, the primary reason being that the corporates are acting more as traders rather than as proper platform creators. Only Pyramid Saimira and to a little extent, Reliance are trying to follow the studio model of creating an integrated content development and exploitation platform.”

Growth pangs

Amidst a global financial crisis and fears of a recession, ask whether the industry’s growth is on track and whether corporate interest will continue and Reliance’s Varma responds: “Any player who has a proper plan in place can survive in the industry. If the Indian economy is going through a rough patch, that is for businesses all over.”

Pyramid’s Saminathan says the industry is going through a consolidation phase and in the next 2–3 years, “there may by a complete annihilation of smaller players in this segment.” If the economy keeps declining as it currently is, points out Nandy, the entertainment industry will go through a rough patch, because “everything is always linked”. He adds, “the good news is that the entertainment business is usually recession proof in terms of consumption. People will go to the movies, buy DVDs, down-load music even though most other things look grim. But it could be tough to raise money to make movies or grow in scale. That is inevitable.”

The biggest challenge going forward is not overpriced talent, though that’s a huge cause for concern. “We must remember that unless producers, distributors and exhibitors are all happy, a film cannot be called a hit,” points out Saksena. “Currently, we are faced with a scenario that films are overpriced but their viability is suspect,” he points out.