Tag Archives: box office

Why Bollywood’s Profits Are Going South?

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Bollywood has long been considered as the Big Brother of the Indian film industry.  Today, the Mumbai based film world is synonymous with glitz and glamour; big money and scandals; pan-India reach and an expanding global footprint; some hits and many more misses; a well-oiled PR machinery to spin the make-believe; and of course the mellifluous appeal of Hindi film music and songs.

Indian cinema, in other languages, were dubbed as Regional cinema. Yes, there was recognition and awareness about the Titans- MGR and Sivaji Ganesan from the Tamil film world, NTR and ANR from Andhra Pradesh, Kannada film star Dr Rajkumar and the prolific Prem Nazir from the State of  Kerala. The last named holds the Guinness Book record for playing the lead in 520 films. But all these legends did not have an All India audience for their movies.

The other X factor or dimension was that Raj Kapoor with his ‘Laal Topi Russi’ (from the song Mera Joota Hai Japani– Shree 420) had won a lot of hearts in the erstwhile Soviet Union and China. Amitabh Bachchan wowed audiences across the Middle East and South East Asia and clicked with the Indian diaspora everywhere. But the Bollywood media did not acknowledge the fact that the Rajnikanth phenomenon was not confined to Southern India but had spread to Japan- with the release of his film Muthu in 1998- or as the Japanese called it – Odura Maharaja or Dancing Maharaja.

But now the landscape has dramatically changed. By 2020, the combined revenues of the South Indian film industry had surpassed the collections of the Hindi film industry, with Tollywood (Telugu) and Kollywood (Tamil) leading the pack. The game changer has been the release of Baahubali –the Beginning in 2015 and Baahubali 2 in 2017. Part 1 grossed Rs 650 crs at the global BO and the Part 2 collected a staggering 1810 crs. Pipped at the post by only Dangal with Rs 2024 crs, with 60% coming from the China market. But in the Indian market Baahubali 2 The Conclusion reigns supreme at the cash counters with a net lifetime collection of Rs 510 crs. It also registered the highest estimated footfall for any film in India since Sholay in 1975. The ambition, scale and sheer imagination of these S S Rajamouli movies are in sync with the title. They delved into both the Indian tradition and the Epics and hence resonated across the country. Even those generally not interested in the movies flocked to the theatres to soak in the experience.  Baahubali 1 & 2 did not feature any major Bollywood star but won a pan India audience.  Instead Prabhas, Anushka Shetty and the character called Kattappa became household names. Even more significantly, the Baahubali mania earned respect for South Indian film makers and the technicians.

Other movie makers from the Regions stepped in to break the mould. Shankar’s Tamil sci-fi opus 2.0 was made at a budget of Rs 400 crs, probably the most expensive Indian film ever. KGF cost Rs 80 crs to make and market, unheard of for a Kannada film. The recent super-hit Telugu film Pushpa The Rise worked on a budget of Rs 180 crs. All these producers and financiers have shattered the local barriers and dreamt on an All India and even global scale. All the films have been released, dubbed in 3-4 South languages plus Hindi. All have broken records and ejected the status-quoist and even patronising mind-sets.  The Rajnikanth starrer 2.0 with its special VFX effects comes in at no 2 on the Indian BO ratings and pulled in around Rs 190 crs on the Hindi circuit. KGF has broken ground on both counts- breaching the Rs 100 crs barrier on home turf and crossing Rs 250 crs in total collections. The slow burn gangster drama, led by the charismatic Yash, had mixed reviews but resonated with single screen audiences well beyond Karnataka.  Allu-Arjun’s Pushpa has scored a century in BO terms in the Hindi belt and again mostly through single screens. A story about red-sandalwood smuggling it has the smell of the soil and has appealed to cine-goers especially in the tier 2 towns.  Whilst many Bollywood producers are stuck in their multiplex ivory towers. Another key factor in the success story are the peppy songs and the dance numbers which have gone viral on You Tube. The Hindi film industry has lost its feel for even catchy songs and groovy dance numbers which had contributed so much to its growth and appeal.

The theatrical release of Rajamouli Garu’s next magnum-opus RRR has been deferred because of Covid restrictions. This saga of freedom fighters in the India of the 1920’s has created huge hype and expectations. How times have changed. This time around the Bollywood bigwigs will carefully plan the release of their films after knowing when RRR is going to hit the cinema halls.

The OTT platforms and the prolonged Covid lockdowns have played a seminal part in changing both audience expectations and awareness. Now, with just 2 or 3 clicks they are watching a regional film or a foreign movie with sub-titles or dubbed in their preferred language. Good films from the South have piqued the interest of millions of film buffs and have ticked a lot of boxes. The natural acting of the Malayalam film icon Mohanlal in Drishyam 2 has simply blown away the watchers and social media has kicked in to spread the good word. Fahadh Faasil has created a fan following outside Kerala on the strength of his performances and especially his chilling portrayal in Kumbalangi Nights. Audiences woke up to the talent of Vijay Sethupathi after watching his depiction of a trans-woman in Super Deluxe. Then there are the inevitable comparisons with some much –hyped Bollywood stars who are trapped in their comfort zone and keep repeating themselves.

 Film audiences are also raising the bar on content. Even a masala film has to be entertaining, not mindless fare. Like Jathi Ratnalu the rollicking Telugu film of the Andaz Apna Apna genre. Take Jai Bhim the social-legal drama based on a true story in Tamil Nadu- It has the highest IMDb ratings of any Indian film on an OTT platform-9.3.  And one of  the lowest IMDb rating goes to- Salman bhai’s Radhe at 2.1. Tamil star Suriya who produced and acted in this intense and controversial film had earlier backed Soorarai Pottru, a fictionalised version of the book Simply Fly by Capt Gopinath the founder of Air Deccan. It was the only Indian film eligible for the Best Picture Oscar nomination in 2021. The political satire made for television, Mandela, is worth watching on Netflix because of the sheer quality of filmmaking.

The Bombay/Mumbai film industry owes a lot to the Southern fraternity. Studios like Vijaya Productions and Devar Films bankrolled major films like Ram aur Shyam and Haathi Mere Saathi. Of course, Padmalaya Productions kept a fit Jeetendra going through his PT exercise dance sequences with Sridevi and Jayaprada in loud, family melodramas. Let’s take a dekko at the never ending list of remakes. Hrithik Roshan”s next is Vikram Vedha based on the Tamil hit of the same name. Shahid Kapoor’s career was resurrected by Kabir Singh, a remake of the Telugu film Arjun Reddy. Ajay Devgan has featured in 10 such projects, the latest being Kaithi. And lest we forget the roll call of honour for famous Hindi film heroines- Vyjayanthimala and Waheeda Rehman, Hema Malini and Rekha, Sridevi and Jaya Prada….

Other than the big producers and financiers, the people who really call the shots in Bollywood are the distributors and theatre chain owners. They have burnt their hands badly over the last few years with debacles like 1983, Radhe, Thugs of Hindustan, Zero and Bombay Velvet all featuring the elite stars of the Mumbai filmi duniya. The South has taught them umpteen lessons on how mega films can deliver mega results. It is not a coincidence that Karan Johar who invested in Baahubali 2 The Conclusion is backing the much awaited Brahmastra with Randhir Kapoor. They are also keenly aware that the Return on Investment ( ROI) is much higher and the Risk factor considerably lower on movies shouldered by the second-line star actors like Ayushman Khurana (Andhadhun) , Vicky Kaushal (Uri) and the late Sushant Singh Rajput (Chichore).  Made at modest budgets ranging from Rs 50 crs to Rs 35 crs they have grossed Rs 435 crs  Rs 285 crs and Rs 225 crs respectively.  Despite having limited screen release in the range of 800-1200 screens. These movie mandarins are also clued in to the big Hindi movie release formula- Eid-Diwali-Christmas. 4000 screens and hiked up multiplex ticket rates. The footfalls dropping dramatically in the second week. And those with their ears to the ground know that the days of the Super Star may well be over. Actors like Manoj Bajpayee in Family Man and Pratik Gandhi in Scam 1992 have created a large viewership, who eagerly awaits their next venture, albeit on a streaming channel.  

For Bollywood, the writing is on the big screen. The language barrier is no longer holding. Their hold on the pan-India market is diminishing. On the world stage, the Indian film industry has a long way to go to feature on the same page as Hollywood or the Chinese film industry. China with 70000+ screens grossed over $9.3 billion in movie revenue in 2019 (pre-Covid). The Hollywood North America box office gross was $11.4 billion in 2019 plus the rich overseas collections for their Superhero and Fantasy offerings. Movies like Spiderman and Avengers with their multiple language release have a huge market in India.  With 44,000 screens in the US of A there is a robust infrastructure for the cine-goers. One of the biggest challenges for our film industry is the paucity of screens-only 6327 single screens and 3200 multiplex screens for the approx. 1700 films made every year. Many of them do not even find a release date.  The overall revenue of Indian cinema reached $2,7 billion in 2019. That same year the global box office was worth $42.2 billion.      

It’s also just a matter of time before a Bengali or a Marathi film becomes an All India rage. Some of the best Hindi film classics have been made by masters like Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. And Marathi movies have come of age with offerings like Tumbaad, a horror fantasy, Court, an intimate social-legal drama and Natsamrat which is influenced by Shakespeare’s King Lear and showcases Nana Patekar in the role of a lifetime. Also don’t be surprised if a Punjabi, Odiya, Bhojpuri or Gujarati film makes the breakthrough and punches far above its regional weight.

It’s a happening, exciting time for the Southern India film industry. Also a wake-up call for Bollywood to get its act together.

(Soures: Box Office Data/Stats/Figures  sourced from- Box Office Diary, Box Office Hungama, Indian Cinema-Wikipedia, SACNIK, Statista, Hollywood Reporter)

The Bollywood Bazaar

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Image by dan123ny from Pixabay

Behind the glamour and glitz of Bollywood is the Hindi film industry. It churns out 350-400 films a year. Most go unnoticed and do not recover their costs. Some quality movies get very limited releases but then hopefully a fresh lease of life on the streaming OTT platforms. A few do well in the C & D centres. A significant data point is that there are only 6,700 single screens + around 2,400 multiplex screens in India for 1,600+ films a year, compared to the 40,000 in the US and 55,000 in China.

With the Mumbai film world also in a lockdown, let’s look at how the real business works. Brush aside the myths and make-believe narrative about the mega-stars and the celebrity film makers. After all, these are tales spun by PR agents, TV anchors, critics and trade people on their pay-roll. Social media facilitators take the hype and hero-worship to another level.

Glorify, hype, manipulate, seduce, deflect, misinform are all tricks of the trade. Add snuff- out competition.

The big production houses, superstars, media outlets and the social media apparatus have together created powerful cabals which dominate B-Town.

Let’s look at some real numbers. Sushant Singh Rajput’s Chhichhore grossed ₹ 200+ crore last year on a budget of ₹ 45 crore. It managed to get a 1200 screen release in September last year and the audience lapped up the content. Uri-the Surgical Strike, with Vicky (who??) Kaushal in the lead, garnered ₹ 245 crore in domestic collections alone, on a budget of ₹ 25 crore only.  Again a 1200 screen opening. A smash hit, wouldn’t you say. The chatter media has largely kept quiet, even played it down.

Salman bhai’s magnum opus Bharat, has a 2,000 plus screen grand release. Just touches ₹ 200 crore with inflated ticket prices at the multiplexes. Production costs are touted at ₹ 80 crore. But it is the time to go ga-ga. This is the tried and tested formula for Mr BO. His films come out on a major festival which along with week-end gives it a 7 day free run with no competition to speak off. His die-hard fans plus the holiday mood kicks in. All the moolah is raked in over the first week. Then it is all down-hill.  The average cine-goer forgets the movie as soon as he/she steps out of the theatre. Tubelight and Dabangg 3 have flickered briefly and flopped. No industry insider dares to say so. The Sultan continues to walk with a swag.

Take the case of King Khan. A disappointing run for the last 6-7 years but his stardom has not dimmed. A few average movies and some big duds. Remember Zero. Fades in comparison to Kamal Hassan’s Appu Raja and AB’s Paa. A critic for a leading paper panned it with a 1 star rating. But couldn’t resist saying that it was not worthy of the SRK talent. I naively thought that he had the clout to command scripts, choose directors and co-stars… In fact the works. Mainstream actors like Matt Damon and Tom Hanks use their stardom to get better projects and quality content. Jab Harry met Sejal was a disaster. The critic in another leading English paper drooled, “SRK is like old wine. The more he matures, the better he romances.” Are these guys made of Teflon? Nothing sticks to them. Is it too much to hope for a Swades again!!!

You can now see why we wallow in such mediocrity. The eco-system pampers the stars and the so-called show-men. There is no reality check. The camp culture keeps them in a comfort zone. They have become lazy and repetitive and are taking all of us for granted.

Only politicians and movie stars get away with such trash in India. A 2 time world cup winning captain like Dhoni is asked if he is past his shelf life. Take another analogy. Will investors be gung-ho about a corporate which has given average or negative results over the last 12 quarters.

Let’s move on to the accomplices- like celebrity critics Rajeev Masand & Anupama Chopra, whose bias and fandom is there for all to see. Fortunately, independent You Tube reviewers and Netizens are pushing back and calling a spade a spade. Both these big names refused to review a significant film, The Tashkent Files presumably as the filmmaker is a BJP supporter.  Based on a validated expose of how from the late 50’s the KGB had infiltrated and possibly compromised people at the highest levels of the Indian government, academia, media and even the film fraternity. It was this stuff which was difficult for their ideological gut to digest. And the mystery of Shastriji’s death was too much to handle.

The A-list filmmaker, husband of one of these reviewers released Shikara on the streaming platform, billed as ‘the Untold Story of Kashmiri Pandits’. Sadly the story remains untold. The film makes little mention of the genocide, violence and rape which led to the exodus of half a million of this community from their centuries old homes. If anything, more screen time is given to justifying the cause of the militants- funded and armed by our ever friendly neighbour State.

A few more examples- Tanhaji (₹ 200 crore club) was treated by these intellectuals with some disdain. A Maratha warrior taking on the Emperor Aurangzeb. Really? Research and history be damned. Ajay Devgns third film on unsung Indian heroes may calm their nerves. It celebrates the great football coach- Syed Abdul Rahim- and the golden period of Indian football from 1952-62. I look forward to this homage to a sporting icon.

Akshay Kumar’s terrific run at the box-office is shrugged away as hyper-nationalism.  Mission Mangal, Kesari and Airlift are inspiring, true stories and make for good cinema. I recall that their take on Uri was punctuated with the word ‘Jingoism’.

Bollywood is loath to admit the superior quality of films from other regions, esp. the South and Maharashtra in recent times. More movie buffs are discovering the same on Netflix or Prime. Consider Kumbalangi Nights and Virus (Malyalam), Super-Deluxe (Tamil) or  Tumbbad (Marathi). They ooze with creativity and story-telling.

The Hindi films award shows are a farce.  Gully Boy getting ten! LOL!  An engaging film. Not an all-time classic. Think of the opportunity missed in hailing some real actors and technicians. It must be great to belong to this close-knit clique.

Their inflated egoes will never acknowledge the biggest box-office bonanzas which have been helmed at other centres. Bahubali 2 tops the India box office with a staggering ₹ 1400 crore collection. Surprise, Surprise-its Hindi version topped ₹ 570 crore. Rajnikanth’s 2.0 follows with ₹ 564 crore (multiple language release). Then Dangal with ₹ 538 crore and Bahubali – the Beginning at ₹ 516 crore. KGF (Kannada) scored a BO century on home turf itself. Sairat (Marathi) made at a modest ₹ 6-7 crore breached the historic ₹ 100 crore mark. It was immediately remade in Hindi with star kids.

Global BO numbers of Hindi films are largely driven by the Indian diaspora. Very few have made the cross-over and resonated with foreign audiences. Dangal has smashed records in China pulling in over ₹ 1,000 crore. Earlier 3 Idiots had really connected with audiences in South Korea, China, Japan & South East Asia.  Secret Superstar (made for ₹ 15 crore) had an India score of ₹ 75 crore and a China tally of ₹ 750 crore.  Andhadhun also hit the ₹ 300 crore jackpot in China. But this also is not trumpeted in the media domain.

The Bollywood kitty of the world box-office revenue of $40 billion is just under 5%.

Some earlier films to make the breakthrough were Awara & Shree 420 ( Soviet Union & China), Mughal-e-Azam,  Naya Daur,  Anand, Sholay, Deewar, Trishul, DDLJ, Lagaan, My Name is Khan…..Disco-Dancer had Russians and East Europeans dancing to its tunes. Rajni’s Muthu touched the hearts of the Japanese. Satyajit Ray’s films created a loyal, niche audience especially in Europe.

Let’s turn the clock back for another interesting take. How much would the blockbusters of yesteryears taken at the ticket counters today. An eye-opener for today’s movie nut clued into the ₹100/200/300 crore clubs instituted by the trade people. Adjusted for inflation, Sholay and Mughal-e-Azam would probably rub shoulders with Bahubali and Dangal in the ₹ 2,000 crore stratosphere. Mother India would have set the cash registers ringing for say ₹1,300 crore. Awara would be in the ₹ 1,000 crore club. Mass entertainers like Johnny Mera Naam, Amar Akbar Anthony & Disco Dancer would have crossed the ₹ 700 crore mark. To be fair, DDLJ and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun would also have pole vaulted into the ₹ 1,000 crore collection zone in today’s times. But the perspective to take here is that Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan would have featured in the top grosser list many times over. (These are estimate numbers sourced from articles on the internet by cinephiles, journalists and pundits.)

Those were also times when this abject sycophancy did not exist. Raj Kapoor’s Mera Naam Joker was called out as a flop. In contrast SRK’s ambitious Ra-One was quietly laid to rest. In the mid-70’s itself Rajesh Khanna was being discussed as a super-star in decline. I recall reading in a popular magazine that his mannerisms had become stale. Indeed, trade papers and critics had dismissed the multi-starrer Sholay as a dud in its first week itself. They had to eat their words for the next 5 years and more.

Till the end of the seventees it was not all about the stars. Technicians were given their due. DOP’s like Dwarka Divecha and Fali Mistry were feted and lauded. Musicians and lyricists had their names on hoardings and posters. The legendary singers-Mohd Rafi & Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar & Asha Bhonsle…. could pack concert halls on their own. Today they piggyback on a star tour. Everybody had their place in the sun- the directors, character actors, editors, choreographers, production designers.

The raw business truth is that today it is the distributor and exhibitor who are taking the real risk. The star packaged product is sold out to all the 11 territories by the big production house. Plus they rake in the big bucks from the overseas markets, the music rights and deals made with other media and streaming outlets.

Finally, it is upto the audience to demand better value for money. The success of Andhadhun, Chhichhore, Uri, and Article 15 shows that there is a large and growing market for good content films. The distributors and exhibitors should wake up to the fact that this involves lesser risks and higher margins and ROI. More screens and shows is the only way for good talent to show what they are capable of.  The creative juices will then really flow in the Mumbai film world. A good story, well told, will carry the day.

The show must go on. But it is high time that we as consumers call for a more fulfilling experience.