Anil Ambani?s Group has signed an $825 million deal with Steven Spielberg?s Dreamworks Studios. Walt Disney Studios, which will handle the marketing and distribution of films made by Dreamworks outside India, is also extending a loan for the project. Anil Ambani has announced that this is the cornerstone of his strategy to grow the group?s film interests across the globe. Those who understand the film business feel that this move makes eminent sense as Bollywood still has a long way to go to catch up with Hollywood. It is easier to get returns from Hollywood than from India

India produces more films than Hollywood. But the volumes do not match the value. Ticket prices in the country have gone up many times in the past few years. But this remains restricted to urban theatres and multiplexes. In small towns and villages, tickets are still sold at Rs 5. In spite of their newfound popularity, the market for Indian films remains largely domestic. Hollywood films get released in 150 countries. Mumbai films find 75% of their market in India and in a limited way in the US and the UK. They are slowly making inroads in Russia. Very few films actually do well in the US. Tamil film industry is the second largest in the country after Hindi. Apart from Tamil Nadu, they find markets in the Far East, Middle East, and Singapore.

The Hollywood industry is huge. Apart from global releases, the films get dubbed in other languages. Then there are DVD sales. Although piracy is a big problem in the US as in India, the industry there has learnt to live with it. In April this year, in what is believed to be one of the biggest internet film piracy cases to date, a rough, incomplete edit of the latest installment of Twentieth Century Fox?s X-Men franchise starring Hugh Jackman was leaked online a month before its scheduled world premiere. The film however went on to become the first big hit of the summer.

Unlike Hollywood, big budget films are a very risky proposition in India. In Hollywood, with very few exceptions, the films ultimately end up recovering costs as they have avenues like cable, satellite, DVD, home video rights and so on. With the kind of global marketing Hollywood is capable of, recovery becomes easier. Market size has to determine how big your product should be. Mumbai film industry has understood this. But Tamil producers still have not figured out the way to get the best returns for their product. They still think television is their enemy instead of using it to promote their films.

Until the late 1990s, film production was not even recognised as an industry. It was only in October 2000 that the government gave it industry status. Even though it has since been recognised as an industry, banks and other financial institutions are not tripping over themselves to fund the industry due to the enormous risks involved in the business.

In May 2001, RBI declared that banks and other financial institutions can finance films whose total production cost is less than Rs 10 crore. They can extend loans up to a maximum of 50% of the cost. RBI had allowed both corporate and non-corporate entities in the business to go for institutional funding. Later, all restrictions were removed.

This led to many corporate houses entering the industry including the venerable Tatas and Birlas. They have since pulled out. The industry continues to remain disorganised with a few exceptions. Only the big banners like Yashraj and Karan Johar or AVM and Oscar productions in the South can raise bank funding. AVM?s blockbuster Sivaji with South?s superstar Rajnikanth was part financed by IOB and all payments were made by cheques. Most producers lack the asset backing that is necessary for finance.

Sivaji unfortunately has not set a precedent in the South. There is glimmering of professionalism in Mumbai, after it got out of the clutches of the underworld. The South lags far behind. According to Southern industry sources, when you consider production, the industry is in top form as far as technicians are concerned. They are word class. But most producers forget that they have to plan their projects properly. They do not have professionals who can do that for them. As a result, there are invariably cost and time overruns. The producer goes to a financier who charges him 48% interest. The more the film gets delayed, the more the producer gets into debt. The producer has no money left for marketing. He is borrowing more to complete his film. In Hollywood, 25% of a film?s budget is set aside for marketing.

There is young, foreign educated, second generation getting into exhibition. This has led to visible improvement in standalone theatres and to the launching of multiplexes. But the people who have not changed at all are the distributors, say industry sources. In many cases, there is a distributor-exhibitor nexus that leads to fudging of figures and accounts. Sometimes producers also form a part of this nexus. These relationships are well-known and understood but are never mentioned in public. In most cases, deals take place with the distributors in the lab the night before a film is due for release and prints are made available. Bags of cash are exchanged. When figures are so hazy, it is not possible to get formal financing.

Yet nearly 50 Tamil films have been released between July and now. Most have sunk without a trace. So who is financing these films? The industry sources know that most of it comes from politicians whose favourite investment is films. Again, this is something nobody likes to talk about.

But then there is no biz like showbiz !

A film that everyone?s happy about

Harneet Singh

In nepotistic Bollywood where it?s all about loving your family and friends, seldom do you see a wave of goodwill for a filmmaker who is not one of them. He is what ?they? call an ?outsider?. But Vishal Bhardwaj with his fuperlicious Kaminey has changed that. Not just content with giving a new language to cine lovers where ?f? is the new ?s?, the Meerut born director has also taught Bollywood big guns the fine art of appreciating.

Thus writes Karan Johar on his personal Facebook and Twitter accounts:?Kaminey…edgy…intense…co-mpelling and a shot of great cinema in your face!! Take the ride along with bravura ensemble performances!! Shahid, Priyanka and Amul Gupte stand tall and firm in every inch of this brilliance…more power to you Vishal and thank you for the inspiration!!!?

In the past, the Johar and Bhardwaj camps had got into a media wrangle when the latter felt that Johar and his supporters had ?sabotaged? Omkara to divert media attention to Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. That was also the first time the word ?sabotaged? was used in the film industry in the context of a release. So it is indeed noteworthy when Johar puts aside past wars and praises Kaminey.

Bhardwaj of course is currently the toast of Bollywood. Our Hollywood man, Shekhar Kapur, has also praised his efforts and termed Kaminey a film that ?catapults Indian Cinema in modernity beyond Tarantino.? Kapur goes on to add that, ?Yes, the cinematography is great, as are some of the performances, the script and the editing. But it is ultimately a director?s brilliant vision of the world that is playing through. Vishal better think hard about how to surpass this one.?

For the music composer turned auteur, it must indeed be heartening. Though critically praised for all his oeuvres right from Makdee, Maqbool, The Blue Umbrella and Omkara, it is with Kaminey that he has got all-round appreciation. And that?s because finally a Vishal Bhardwaj film has done well commercially. Opines trade guru, Taran Adarsh, ?Kaminey has benefitted Vishal Bhardwaj tremendously. Vishal?s movies have had a dull run at the box office so far, and the terrific start of Kaminey has indeed come as a respite for this supremely talented filmmaker.?

Despite the swine flu scare that shut down multiplexes in Mumbai and Pune over the three-day-long weekend that included Janmashthami, Independence Day and Sunday, Kaminey has managed a good run at the box office. The Shahid Kapoor starrer has held its own abroad also, where it debuted at No 15 position in the UK, No 14 in Australia and No 20 in the US.

Although the real fate of the film will emerge after the second week?s collections come in, the trade is excited. Opines Adarsh, ?Kaminey collected an impressive Rs 16.5 crore in its opening weekend [as per UTV]. The loss from Mumbai and Pune sectors, due to non-release on Friday, is approximately Rs 5 crore. The film opened very well in Mumbai on Monday. Elsewhere, where it had opened earlier, the film held steady collections in several circuits on Monday. But the real picture will emerge after the second weekend. Let?s see if it maintains the pace.?

Hit starved Bollywood is hoping for the best. Moreover the welcome meted out to Kaminey is being regarded as everybody?s success. It?s a moral victory for all the filmmakers who aren?t governed by the commercial diktats. Coming on the heels of little gems like DevD, Gulaal and Sankat City, it?s finally advantage hatke filmein in B town.

Bring it On.

?The author covers films for Express Group