e martë, 17 korrik 2007

Eros and Sky agree Bollywood deal

Eros and Sky agree Bollywood deal


By Josephine Moulds
Last Updated: 1:26am BST 06/07/2007

BSkyB is set to launch a Bollywood video-on-demand channel with Aim-listed Indian film studio Eros International.

Indian film studio Eros International and BSkyB agree to launch a Bollywood video-on-demand channel
Eros International announced a 76pc increase in profits

Eros announced the venture as it unveiled a 50pc increase in revenues, driven by the growing appeal of Bollywood films worldwide.

It would not disclose the value of the deal, but said it would initially provide the Sky channel with 100 films from its library of 1,300.

The shares jumped 29 to 421p - more than double last June's flotation price - as Eros announced a 76pc increase in profits before tax and exceptional items to $32.5m (£16m), on revenues of $66.4m.

Eros chairman and chief executive Kishore Lulla said: "We've seen a massive increase in profits from the growth in India and internationally of Indian movies."

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PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that revenues from India's film industry, valued at about $1.75bn in 2006, will nearly double to $3.4bn by 2010. Mr Lulla said: "If you look at the Hollywood industry, why is it so big? Only because grosses in the domestic market are huge, it captures world attention.

"India has one billion people. There are 300m people in the middle class and 40m joining every year. You have the multiplexes coming in, there were 3.9bn tickets sold last year."

Mr Lulla said Bollywood films appealed to global audiences because they are "like a breath of fresh air, full of family values and music".

Eros's recent foray into Shakespeare, a highly acclaimed Bollywood version of Othello called Omkara, was one of its most profitable films last year, grossing around $15m worldwide.

Other big hits include Namastey London, a Bollywood love story set in the English capital.

Mr Lulla sees it as his mission to consolidate the fragmented Indian film industry. Last year, he spent $90m on buying libraries of films and small production companies.

Eros International share price

He intends to spend between $150m and $200m continuing this process over the next two to three years. He said the company could take on some debt if there were more opportunities.

"Eros consolidated the content and distribution factor," he said. "We became a global player. Now we are a one-stop shop for global distribution.

"You name any format, we exploit the content through that format, we are not reliant on anyone else to distribute that content. We want to become the studio model."

Eros has embraced the internet as a distribution channel initially for music, and it recently launched a channel on video sharing site YouTube.

Mr Lulla said: "The new media is giving us high margins, which is hitting our bottom line." He said the company is in discussions over a possible distribution joint venture with two of the major Hollywood studios.

e hënë, 16 korrik 2007

rish welcome mat for Bollywood


Bloomberg News

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2006
Ireland, deserted by Hollywood moviemakers in favor of cheaper East European locations, is courting the next best thing: Bollywood.
Foreign spending on movies in Ireland fell to a nine-year low in 2005 after countries like Romania and Hungary lured filmmakers away with lower costs and bigger tax incentives. But by courting India, the Irish hope to turn the exodus around while promoting an even bigger Irish industry: tourism.
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who is on a weeklong trade mission to India, has joined his arts minister, John O'Donoghue, this week in pitching Ireland as the next great location for Indian movies.
"Bollywood is the second-largest film industry in the world, and we are anxious to attract inward investment," O'Donoghue said during an interview in Dublin before the trip. "We have very experienced film crews and the locations are quite unique."
Ireland, which served as the backdrop for "Braveheart" and "Saving Private Ryan" in 1997, is now seeking to attract Indian stars like Abhishek Bachchan, ShahRukh Khan and Bipasha Basu.
While Bollywood budgets pale in comparison with Hollywood's, India's filmmakers are prolific. The Bollywood film industry, which is based in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, produces about 800 films a year. It has shot scenes for 11 movies in Ireland since 2002.
"If Ireland blends into the script and the budget is affordable, why not?" said Sujoy Ghosh, whose recent Hindi films include "Jhankaar Beats" and "Home Delivery," in a telephone interview from Mumbai.
Overseas spending on film production in Ireland fell to E51 million, or $62 million, in 2004, the lowest level since 1996, from E211 million the previous year, according to the Irish Audiovisual Federation. Provisional figures indicate investment declined again in 2005, it said.
"The international market has become incredibly competitive," Louise Ryan, information officer at the Irish Film Board, said in a telephone interview. "We look at India as diversifying. You can't put all your eggs in one basket."
O'Donoghue's delegation from the Irish Film Board is specifically looking to attract investment from Mumbai. Most of the Indian filmmakers who have already used Ireland are based in Madras, in the southeast, and produce lower-budget titles.
"To date, most of the shoots have been small scale," said Brendan Goss, a line producer on seven Indian films made in Ireland, in a telephone interview. "We would hope to spread the word to the bigger film industry centers in India and see if a couple of the big boys might come over."
In the past, tax breaks for film production helped make Ireland a major stop for Hollywood productions. The main tax break, known as Section 481, allows filmmakers to save as much as 12 percent of their budgets in tax rebates. The amount of a film's budget on which the relief can be claimed is limited to E15 million.
The Irish government also helped draw investment by providing extras. It allowed the armed forces to act for the D-Day scene of "Saving Private Ryan." Many soldiers also took part in battle sequences for "Braveheart."
Then, in 2004, Hungary began providing a 20 percent rebate on production costs, the most generous in Europe.
In 1997 Steven Spielberg shot the D-Day landing sequence of "Saving Private Ryan" on beaches in Wexford, 90 miles, or 150 kilometers, south of Dublin. His latest movie, "Munich," about an Israeli squad assigned to track down Palestinian terrorists who killed 11 athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games, was filmed in Budapest.
Another factor in Ireland's success was skilled and relatively cheap film crews.
"The real nuts and bolts - the construction crews, the camera crews - these people came from Ireland and they were great," said Jonathan Glikman, president of Spyglass Entertainment Group, which made "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "Reign of Fire" in Ireland in 2001. "I had no complaints about anything."
But Hungary and other competitors for Hollywood budgets like the Czech Republic are offering even cheaper labor these days. East European wages are about a fifth of those in Ireland, the euro region's fastest growing economy.
"We're up against it in terms of what is on offer in Budapest or Prague," said Goss, the Irish producer. "They've got nonunionized labor forces in the film industry and tax incentives coming on stream. It's cheaper labor, yet highly skilled."
Scenes from Tom Cruise's "Mission Impossible," "XXX" with Vin Diesel, and "From Hell," starring Johnny Depp, were shot in the Czech Republic.
And while the Irish have talked about sweetened tax incentives, the country may have to struggle again in competition for Bollywood money.
"Eastern Europe wouldn't be alien territory to these guys," Goss said. "They are always looking for new locations."
With 10 million people in India going to the movies every day, Bollywood could help Ireland improve tourism.
Helped by Bollywood films shot in the Swiss Alps, Switzerland attracts about 75,000 visitors from India a year, said Jim Paul, head of Tourism Ireland's developing markets division.
Ireland, deserted by Hollywood moviemakers in favor of cheaper East European locations, is courting the next best thing: Bollywood.
Foreign spending on movies in Ireland fell to a nine-year low in 2005 after countries like Romania and Hungary lured filmmakers away with lower costs and bigger tax incentives. But by courting India, the Irish hope to turn the exodus around while promoting an even bigger Irish industry: tourism.
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who is on a weeklong trade mission to India, has joined his arts minister, John O'Donoghue, this week in pitching Ireland as the next great location for Indian movies.
"Bollywood is the second-largest film industry in the world, and we are anxious to attract inward investment," O'Donoghue said during an interview in Dublin before the trip. "We have very experienced film crews and the locations are quite unique."
Ireland, which served as the backdrop for "Braveheart" and "Saving Private Ryan" in 1997, is now seeking to attract Indian stars like Abhishek Bachchan, ShahRukh Khan and Bipasha Basu.
While Bollywood budgets pale in comparison with Hollywood's, India's filmmakers are prolific. The Bollywood film industry, which is based in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, produces about 800 films a year. It has shot scenes for 11 movies in Ireland since 2002.
"If Ireland blends into the script and the budget is affordable, why not?" said Sujoy Ghosh, whose recent Hindi films include "Jhankaar Beats" and "Home Delivery," in a telephone interview from Mumbai.
Overseas spending on film production in Ireland fell to E51 million, or $62 million, in 2004, the lowest level since 1996, from E211 million the previous year, according to the Irish Audiovisual Federation. Provisional figures indicate investment declined again in 2005, it said.
"The international market has become incredibly competitive," Louise Ryan, information officer at the Irish Film Board, said in a telephone interview. "We look at India as diversifying. You can't put all your eggs in one basket."
O'Donoghue's delegation from the Irish Film Board is specifically looking to attract investment from Mumbai. Most of the Indian filmmakers who have already used Ireland are based in Madras, in the southeast, and produce lower-budget titles.
"To date, most of the shoots have been small scale," said Brendan Goss, a line producer on seven Indian films made in Ireland, in a telephone interview. "We would hope to spread the word to the bigger film industry centers in India and see if a couple of the big boys might come over."
In the past, tax breaks for film production helped make Ireland a major stop for Hollywood productions. The main tax break, known as Section 481, allows filmmakers to save as much as 12 percent of their budgets in tax rebates. The amount of a film's budget on which the relief can be claimed is limited to E15 million.
The Irish government also helped draw investment by providing extras. It allowed the armed forces to act for the D-Day scene of "Saving Private Ryan." Many soldiers also took part in battle sequences for "Braveheart."
Then, in 2004, Hungary began providing a 20 percent rebate on production costs, the most generous in Europe.
In 1997 Steven Spielberg shot the D-Day landing sequence of "Saving Private Ryan" on beaches in Wexford, 90 miles, or 150 kilometers, south of Dublin. His latest movie, "Munich," about an Israeli squad assigned to track down Palestinian terrorists who killed 11 athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games, was filmed in Budapest.
Another factor in Ireland's success was skilled and relatively cheap film crews.
"The real nuts and bolts - the construction crews, the camera crews - these people came from Ireland and they were great," said Jonathan Glikman, president of Spyglass Entertainment Group, which made "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "Reign of Fire" in Ireland in 2001. "I had no complaints about anything."
But Hungary and other competitors for Hollywood budgets like the Czech Republic are offering even cheaper labor these days. East European wages are about a fifth of those in Ireland, the euro region's fastest growing economy.
"We're up against it in terms of what is on offer in Budapest or Prague," said Goss, the Irish producer. "They've got nonunionized labor forces in the film industry and tax incentives coming on stream. It's cheaper labor, yet highly skilled."
Scenes from Tom Cruise's "Mission Impossible," "XXX" with Vin Diesel, and "From Hell," starring Johnny Depp, were shot in the Czech Republic.
And while the Irish have talked about sweetened tax incentives, the country may have to struggle again in competition for Bollywood money.
"Eastern Europe wouldn't be alien territory to these guys," Goss said. "They are always looking for new locations."
With 10 million people in India going to the movies every day, Bollywood could help Ireland improve tourism.
Helped by Bollywood films shot in the Swiss Alps, Switzerland attracts about 75,000 visitors from India a year, said Jim Paul, head of Tourism Ireland's developing markets division.
DUBLIN Ireland, deserted by Hollywood moviemakers in favor of cheaper East European locations, is courting the next best thing: Bollywood.
Foreign spending on movies in Ireland fell to a nine-year low in 2005 after countries like Romania and Hungary lured filmmakers away with lower costs and bigger tax incentives. But by courting India, the Irish hope to turn the exodus around while promoting an even bigger Irish industry: tourism.
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who is on a weeklong trade mission to India, has joined his arts minister, John O'Donoghue, this week in pitching Ireland as the next great location for Indian movies.
"Bollywood is the second-largest film industry in the world, and we are anxious to attract inward investment," O'Donoghue said during an interview in Dublin before the trip. "We have very experienced film crews and the locations are quite unique."
Ireland, which served as the backdrop for "Braveheart" and "Saving Private Ryan" in 1997, is now seeking to attract Indian stars like Abhishek Bachchan, ShahRukh Khan and Bipasha Basu.
While Bollywood budgets pale in comparison with Hollywood's, India's filmmakers are prolific. The Bollywood film industry, which is based in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, produces about 800 films a year. It has shot scenes for 11 movies in Ireland since 2002.
"If Ireland blends into the script and the budget is affordable, why not?" said Sujoy Ghosh, whose recent Hindi films include "Jhankaar Beats" and "Home Delivery," in a telephone interview from Mumbai.
Overseas spending on film production in Ireland fell to E51 million, or $62 million, in 2004, the lowest level since 1996, from E211 million the previous year, according to the Irish Audiovisual Federation. Provisional figures indicate investment declined again in 2005, it said.
"The international market has become incredibly competitive," Louise Ryan, information officer at the Irish Film Board, said in a telephone interview. "We look at India as diversifying. You can't put all your eggs in one basket."
O'Donoghue's delegation from the Irish Film Board is specifically looking to attract investment from Mumbai. Most of the Indian filmmakers who have already used Ireland are based in Madras, in the southeast, and produce lower-budget titles.
"To date, most of the shoots have been small scale," said Brendan Goss, a line producer on seven Indian films made in Ireland, in a telephone interview. "We would hope to spread the word to the bigger film industry centers in India and see if a couple of the big boys might come over."
In the past, tax breaks for film production helped make Ireland a major stop for Hollywood productions. The main tax break, known as Section 481, allows filmmakers to save as much as 12 percent of their budgets in tax rebates. The amount of a film's budget on which the relief can be claimed is limited to E15 million.
The Irish government also helped draw investment by providing extras. It allowed the armed forces to act for the D-Day scene of "Saving Private Ryan." Many soldiers also took part in battle sequences for "Braveheart."
Then, in 2004, Hungary began providing a 20 percent rebate on production costs, the most generous in Europe.
In 1997 Steven Spielberg shot the D-Day landing sequence of "Saving Private Ryan" on beaches in Wexford, 90 miles, or 150 kilometers, south of Dublin. His latest movie, "Munich," about an Israeli squad assigned to track down Palestinian terrorists who killed 11 athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games, was filmed in Budapest.
Another factor in Ireland's success was skilled and relatively cheap film crews.
"The real nuts and bolts - the construction crews, the camera crews - these people came from Ireland and they were great," said Jonathan Glikman, president of Spyglass Entertainment Group, which made "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "Reign of Fire" in Ireland in 2001. "I had no complaints about anything."
But Hungary and other competitors for Hollywood budgets like the Czech Republic are offering even cheaper labor these days. East European wages are about a fifth of those in Ireland, the euro region's fastest growing economy.
"We're up against it in terms of what is on offer in Budapest or Prague," said Goss, the Irish producer. "They've got nonunionized labor forces in the film industry and tax incentives coming on stream. It's cheaper labor, yet highly skilled."
Scenes from Tom Cruise's "Mission Impossible," "XXX" with Vin Diesel, and "From Hell," starring Johnny Depp, were shot in the Czech Republic.
And while the Irish have talked about sweetened tax incentives, the country may have to struggle again in competition for Bollywood money.
"Eastern Europe wouldn't be alien territory to these guys," Goss said. "They are always looking for new locations."
With 10 million people in India going to the movies every day, Bollywood could help Ireland improve tourism.
Helped by Bollywood films shot in the Swiss Alps, Switzerland attracts about 75,000 visitors from India a year, said Jim Paul, head of Tourism Ireland's developing markets division.
DUBLIN Ireland, deserted by Hollywood moviemakers in favor of cheaper East European locations, is courting the next best thing: Bollywood.
Foreign spending on movies in Ireland fell to a nine-year low in 2005 after countries like Romania and Hungary lured filmmakers away with lower costs and bigger tax incentives. But by courting India, the Irish hope to turn the exodus around while promoting an even bigger Irish industry: tourism.
Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who is on a weeklong trade mission to India, has joined his arts minister, John O'Donoghue, this week in pitching Ireland as the next great location for Indian movies.
"Bollywood is the second-largest film industry in the world, and we are anxious to attract inward investment," O'Donoghue said during an interview in Dublin before the trip. "We have very experienced film crews and the locations are quite unique."
Ireland, which served as the backdrop for "Braveheart" and "Saving Private Ryan" in 1997, is now seeking to attract Indian stars like Abhishek Bachchan, ShahRukh Khan and Bipasha Basu.
While Bollywood budgets pale in comparison with Hollywood's, India's filmmakers are prolific. The Bollywood film industry, which is based in Mumbai, formerly Bombay, produces about 800 films a year. It has shot scenes for 11 movies in Ireland since 2002.
"If Ireland blends into the script and the budget is affordable, why not?" said Sujoy Ghosh, whose recent Hindi films include "Jhankaar Beats" and "Home Delivery," in a telephone interview from Mumbai.

What is "Bollywood"?

What is "Bollywood"?
Bollywood is the name given to the Mumbai-based Hindi-language film industry in India. When combined with other Indian film industries (Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada), it is considered to be the largest in the world in terms of number of films produced, and maybe also the number of tickets sold.

The term Bollywood was created by conflating Bombay (the city now called Mumbai) and Hollywood (the famous center of the United States film industry).

Bollywood films are usually musicals. Few movies are made without at least one song-and-dance number. Indian audiences expect full value for their money; they want songs and dances, love interest, comedy and dare-devil thrills, all mixed up in a three hour long extravaganza with intermission. Such movies are called masala movies, after the spice mixture masala. Like masala, these movies have everything.

The plots are often melodramatic. They frequently employ formulaic ingredients such as star-crossed lovers, corrupt politicians, twins separated at birth, conniving villains, angry parents, courtesans with hearts of gold, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences.
Bollywood song and dance
While most actors, especially today, are excellent dancers, few are also singers. Songs are generally pre-recorded by professional playback singers with actors lip-synching the words, often while dancing. One notable exception was Kishore Kumar who starred in several major films in the 1950s while also having a stellar career as a playback singer. K. L. Saigal, Suraiyya and Noor Jehan were also known as both singers and actors. Of late, a few actors have again tried singing for themselves.
Amitabh Bachchan, who started the trend of non-singing stars at the mike with the runaway hit "Mere Angane Mein" in "Lawaaris" in the mid-80's, continued his toe-dipping in singing with turns in "Silsila", "Mahaan" "Toofan" and more recently in the movies Baghban and Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, as well as doing a duet with Adnan Sami in the song Kabhi Nahi (Never). Aamir Khan took a turn singing "Kya Bolti Tu" in Ghulam but only because "the character had attitude that only Aamir could do justice to", according to director Vikram Bhatt. These forays, while well-received at the time, have not led to real singing careers for either actor.

Playback singers are prominently featured in the opening credits and have their own fans who will go to an otherwise lackluster movie just to hear their favorites. The composers of film music, known as music directors, are also well-known. Their songs can make or break a film and usually do.

The dancing in Bollywood films, especially older ones, is primarily modeled on Indian dance: classical dance styles, dances of historic northern Indian courtesans (tawaif), or folk dances. In modern films, Indian dance elements often blend with Western dance styles (as seen on MTV or in Broadway musicals), though it is not unusual to see Western pop and pure classical dance numbers side by side in the same film. The hero or heroine will often perform with a troupe of supporting dancers, usually of the same sex. If the hero and heroine dance and sing a pas-de-deux (a dance and ballet term, meaning "dance of two"), it is often staged in beautiful natural surroundings or architecturally grand settings.


What is Bollywood dancing?

Bollywood dancing is a commercial name for modern Indian dancing. It's a combination of classical Indian dance (which is the base), folk dancing such as Bhangra and sometimes has a Latino and Arabic influence. It's fun and very expressive and there's a lot of deep meaning behind music in the films. You can actually express what the music means, through the graceful movements of the body.

Why is dancing so crucial to Bollywood films?
People in India have been brought up on musicals and if the music in a film isn't very good, sometimes the movie doesn't sell. Specific producers, such as Yash Chopra, Karan Johar generally produce movies with phenomenal and very emotional songs; hence the dancing comes into play.

Choreographers are now starting to take the industry by storm because Farah Khan – a famous choreographer recently directed her first movie called Main Hoon Na. This goes to show that people want to see elaborate and funky dance sequences, they don't want pure acting, hence dancing is a crucial.

Dialogues and lyrics

The film script (frequently credited as "Dialogues") and the song lyrics are often written by different people. The dialogues are mostly written in Hindi, with use of Urdu in situations which require poetic dialogues. Contemporary mainstream movies also make great use of English. Dialogues are often melodramatic and invoke God, family, mother, and self-sacrifice liberally.

- In the 1975 film Deewar, a dialogue between the gangster brother Vijay and his policeman brother Ravi:

Vijay: Hum dono ek hi jagah se apni zindagi ki shuruwat ki thi -- aaj main kaha hoon aur tum kahan ho. Mere paas gaadi hai, bungalow hai, daulat hai -- kya hai tumhaarey paas?
We both started our lives from the same place -- look where I am today and where you are. I have cars, bungalows, wealth -- what do you have?

Ravi: Mere paas ma hai.
I have Mother.


Music directors often prefer working with certain lyricists, to the point that the lyricist and composer are seen as a team. Song lyrics are usually about love. Bollywood song lyrics, especially in the old movies, frequently use Urdu or Hindustani vocabulary which has many elegant and poetic Arabic and Persian loan-words. Here's a sample from the 1983 film Hero, written by the great lyricist Anand Bakshi:

Bichhdey abhi to hum, bas kal parso,
jiyoongi main kaisey, is haal mein barson?
Maut na aayi, teri yaad kyon aayi,
Haaye, lambi judaayi!

We have been separated just a day or two,
How am I going to go on this way for years?
Death doesn't come; why, instead, do these memories of you?
Oh, this long separation!

Cast and crew
Bollywood employs people from all parts of India. It attracts thousands of aspiring actors and actresses, all hoping for a break in the industry. Models and beauty contestants, television actors, theatre actors and even common people come to Mumbai with the hope and dream of becoming a star. Just as in Hollywood very few succeed.

Stardom in the entertainment industry is very fickle, and Bollywood is no exception. Popularity of the stars can rise and fall rapidly, based on single movies. Very few people become national icons, who are unaffected by success or failure of their movies, like Amitabh Bachchan. Directors compete to hire the most popular stars of the day, who are believed to guarantee the success of a movie (though this belief is not always supported by box-office results). Hence stars make the most of their fame, once they become popular, by making several movies simultaneously. Aamir Khan is one of the few actors who is notable for his insistence on doing only one movie at a time.

Bollywood can be clannish, and the relatives of film-industry insiders have an edge in getting coveted roles. One notable film clan is the Kapoors: the patriarch Prithviraj Kapoor, his sons Raj Kapoor, Shammi, and Shashi, Raj's sons Randhir, Rishi, and Rajiv, and Randhir's daughters Karisma and Kareena Kapoor, have all been popular actors or even stars. Yet industry connections are no guarantee of a long career: competition is brutal and if film industry scions don't succeed at the box office, their careers will falter.

Bollywood awards
The Indian screen magazine Filmfare started the first Filmfare Awards in 1953. These awards were to be Bollywood's version of the Academy Awards. Magazine readers submit their votes and the awards are presented at a glamorous, star-studded ceremony. Like the Oscars, they are frequently accused of bias towards commercial success rather than merit.

Other companies (Stardust magazine, Zee TV etc) later entered the award business. Some of the other popular awards are:

  • Zee Cine Awards
  • Star Screen Awards
  • Stardust awards
  • IIFA Awards

They all sponsor elaborately staged award ceremonies, featuring singing, dancing, and lots of stars and starlets.

Since 1973, the Indian government has sponsored the National Film Awards, awarded by the government-sponsored Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF). The DFF screens not only Bollywood films, but films from all the other regional cinemas and independent/art films. These awards are handed out at a ceremony presided over by the President of India and hence are coveted by all.

Finances
Bollywood budgets are usually modest by Hollywood standards. Sets, costumes, special effects, and cinematography were less than world-class up until the mid-to-late 1990s. But as Western films and television gain wider distribution in India itself, there is increasing pressure for Bollywood films to attain the same production levels. Sequences shot overseas have proved a real box office draw, so Mumbai film crews are increasingly peripatetic, filming in Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, continental Europe and elsewhere. Nowadays, Indian producers are drawing in more and more funding for big-budget films shot within India as well, such as Lagaan, Devdas, and the current production The Rising.

Funding for Bollywood films often comes from private distributors and a few large studios. Indian banks were forbidden to lend money to film productions, but this ban has been lifted recently. As the finances are not regulated properly some of the money also comes from illegitimate sources. Mumbai gangsters have produced films, patronized stars, and used muscle to get their way in cinematic deals. In January of 2000, Mumbai mafia hitmen shot at Rakesh Roshan, film director and father of star Hrithik Roshan; he had rebuffed mob attempts to meddle with his film distribution. In 2001 the Central Bureau of Investigation, India's national police agency, seized all prints of the film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke after the movie was found to be funded by members of the Mumbai underworld.

Another problem facing Bollywood is piracy of its films. Often pirated DVDs arrive before the print for the picture. Factories in Pakistan and India stamp out thousands of illegal DVDs, VCDs, and VHS tapes, which are then shipped all over the world. (Copying is particularly rife in Pakistan, since the government has banned the import of Indian films, leaving piracy as the only way to distribute them.) Films are frequently broadcast without compensation by countless small cable-TV companies in India and Asia. Small Indian grocery-spice-video stores in the U.S. and the U.K. stock tapes and DVDs of dubious provenance while consumer copying adds to the problem.

Satellite TV, television and imported foreign films are making huge inroads into the domestic Indian entertainment market. In the past, most Bollywood films could make money; now fewer do so. Balanced against this are the increasing returns from theatres in Western countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States of America, where Bollywood is slowly getting noticed. As more Indians migrate to these countries, they form a growing market for upscale Indian films. 'Foreign' audiences—in Asian and Western countries—are also growing, if more slowly.

What problems does Bollywood face?
Bollywood's biggest problem is piracy - where people copy the films and either sell them or show them to other people for free. At the moment not all films made make more money than they cost to make, even though they can be seen by around one billion people.

If everyone paid to see the film legally the industry would make lots more money. At the moment Bollywood film producers are trying to work out a way to stop this happening. Another problem is that younger generations sometimes find the stories a bit predictable and are get bored of the similar tales. Film-makers are trying to solve this by changing storylines to reflect real life - like the fact that children of Indian families now study abroad.

What's the future for Bollywood?
The future looks even brighter for Bollywood. Big US film companies such as Warner Bros and Twentieth Century Fox are setting up offices in India. Where Indian film makers have found it difficult to compete with Hollywood's special effects, this is seen as the next big area for Bollywood to develop.



Way bollywood makes money

As Fanaa's will-it-won't-it release sends jitters through the film frat, producer Yash Raj Chopra is presumably less worried than he might have been had this been the Big Bad World of Cinema Before It Was Corporatised.

Today, Yash Raj Films can afford to detach itself from the fortunes of its film because chances are, whatever the controversy, it'll end up making money anyway.

And that's because somewhere, sometime circa 2006, the film industry grew up, the corporate world looked around and spotted an opportunity, and the rules of the game changed irreversibly. Stars began to report on locations in time not because some Bhai was arm-twisting them, but because it was written into their contracts.

Films went on to the floor and proceeded to wrap up schedules on time because the contracts had completion bonds written into them, and because such things as bound scripts had become mandatory to the process.

And the phrase "bombed at the BO" (referring to the box office and not, as is widely understood, body odour) became redundant because, whether they ran or not, chances are that everything from 36 China Town to the ill-fated Tom, Dick and Harry made at least enough money to tide them over.

In a matter of only a few years, filmmaking in India has changed rapidly, crossing over (a favourite Bollywood phrase) to the Hollywood mould.

It's the reason Sandeep Bhargava, CEO of Sahara One Motion Pictures, no longer gets the blues on a Friday morning even when the company's blockbusters are slated to hit the screens. And all because - as he says cockily - "the success of my movie is no longer dependent only on box-office collections".

It's the reason managing director Bobby Bedi of Kaleidoscope Entertainment, who pulled in Rs 33 crore (Rs 330 million) from Mangal Pandey, a film everyone's crowing is a dud, can afford to smile. And all because Bedi saw his movie as a business venture and looked around for appropriate financing in the one place film producers have never turned to - banks.

When Bedi walked into Exim Bank's office in Mumbai to convince officials that the movie had export potential, even he hadn't reckoned with success.

The bank offered him Rs 8 crore (Rs 80 million) as loan at an amazingly low annual interest rate of 5 per cent (much less than what you get for a home loan). That's not all, for he also roped in high net worth NRIs - as equity partners on the project.

"The combination of debt and equity helped us in reducing the cost of money to finance a film dramatically. It changed the whole economics of film making," he says, days before leaving for Cannes to network with buyers and sellers on an international platform.

Remember, some years back, it wasn't like this. Films were (mostly) financed by the underworld or diamond merchants charging exorbitant rates of interest - 30 per cent and more. The dons dictated the stars, interfered with the storyline, and sometime asked "special friends" to be cast alongside the hero, virtually guaranteeing that the film would bomb.

Today, it isn't just the financing that has changed. Recoveries from the box office constitute no more than 35-40 per cent of a film's revenue (compared to 80 per cent just two year ago).

Producers are now milking other avenues for whatever it's worth, selling an array of emerging rights - satellite (which is in the same league as the box office), home video, music, wireless song downloads, the Internet, DTH and, now international rights too.

Bhargava, for instance, sold the satellite rights of animation film Hanuman for a staggering Rs 2.5 crore (Rs 25 million) before the movie released, no one was ready to offer even Rs 25 lakh (Rs 2.5 million)}, and that too for only two telecast rights. No wonder he's confident that his dependence on the box office will lower further to no more than 20 per cent in the next six months.

Welcome to the new world of movie business where institutional funding is the norm, IPOs are possible and the advent of large corporate houses like the Aditya Birla group or Anil Ambani in the movie fray are making filmmaking more affordable than before.

Pritish Nandy doesn't mince his words. "That production is a risky business is all bullshit," he says. "Over the next five years, 50 per cent of film revenues will come from the 'new media', from the Internet, DTH, mobile phones and pay-per-view."

There are others who agree with the chairman of Pritish Nandy Communications, such as Anshuman Swami, CEO of the Aditya Birla-promoted Applause Entertainment that produced Black: "Today there is more funding available than there are good films in the market. And with the cost of money becoming cheaper, and with new innovations like joint marketing and revenue share deals, the risk factor in making movies is coming down."

The changing paradigm is reflected in numbers too. According to a Yes Bank report, over 38 per cent Hindi films in 2004 were financed through non-traditional sources (debt, IPO, private and individual equity, companies, TV broadcasters) compared to only 10 per cent two years before that. As much as Rs 256 crore (Rs 2.56 billion) was disbursed through these sources to the film industry in that year.

From the Industrial Development Bank of India and Exim Bank to Yes Bank, they're all queueing up to lend money to the entertainment sector.

Says Sanjay Bhandari, a chartered accountant who has structured various cheap money deals for producers: "The rate offered by banks is anywhere from a third to a sixth of what traditional financiers used to charge. That changes the whole economics of filmmaking."

Exim Bank, for instance, offers loans at 8-10 per cent interest provided the film has export potential. IDBI's credit line for films is available for 10-15 per cent, to be paid before the film is released.

Yes Bank has just sanctioned a Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) loan to Pritish Nandy Communications on the strength of its balance sheet, at 12.5 per cent. By comparison, traditional financiers charged a staggering 30-50 per cent by way of annual interest.

But the banks are still cautious about disbursing loans to producers, banking on the bettable. Exim Bank may have sanctioned loans worth Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) over the last 18 months, but Mathew John, general manager, says: "We have chosen only top producers with a good track record." Among the beneficiaries are Yash Raj Films, Farhan Akthar, Bobby Bedi and Sunil Manchanda, "who is producing a film starring Amitabh Bachchan".

But the bank is now poised to take bigger risks in funding distribution. Exim Bank has sanctioned a credit line of Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) to Yash Raj Films, which has moved into movie distribution in a big way. John says the interest rate is slightly higher as the risk factor too is greater, since distributors have to take a call on expected box-office earnings.

Others have used the buoyant IPO route to fund films - PNC, for instance, raised Rs 38 crore (Rs 380 million) from its IPO of which Rs 23 crore (Rs 230 million) was used to finance films. The company is now raising $12 million through convertible debenture, and the cash will be used to de-risk its movie-making portfolio.

Says Pritish Nandy, "The money will help us increase the number of films we make each year from three to at least eight. Also, we will make bigger films and reduce the number of small films to reduce the risks."

Also showing their money are corporate houses jumping into the entertainment fray. Aditya Birla's Applause Entertainment is able to borrow money from group companies at rates lower than even banks. Big boy Sony Pictures is debuting with director Sanjay Leela Bhansali's lavish offering Eklavya, slated to cost Rs 35 crore (Rs 350 million).

Adlabs (in which Reliance has bought a majority equity stake) has earmarked a revolving fund of Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) to finance films. The company is tying up directors in long-term contracts to make films for the company - it has signed on director Vipul Shah to make 10 films in two years.

Points out Manmohan Shetty, chairman of Adlabs, "We can rotate these funds to finance films and double our output of 5-6 films a year." And in keeping with Hollywood studios, it's clear that "you need to have your own distribution too".

If the movie business suddenly looks attractive, industry experts say it's because the banks haven't lost money on any projects yet. In fact, they get their money back even before a film is released because distributors pay upfront, pick big banners to minimise risk, and have a stable collateral in the negatives. Producers say the upside is mind-boggling.

Points out Bedi: "Failure no longer means huge losses as you recover part of the money while pre selling territories to distributors. And if a film is a hit, you get 4-5 times the money you put in."

What has made financing easier is innovative instruments to mitigate risk. US-based Film Finance Inc which has set shop in India is offering "completion bonds" to producers and has eight films in the post-production stage that have signed these bonds.

Says Pooja Bedi, who heads the company in India, "What we take care of is mitigation of two key risks - completion of the movie, and cost overruns. We underwrite these risks so financiers have no fear they will not get their money back."

Producers have to pay a steep fee of 3-5 per cent of the cost of the film by way of guarantee and they have to face strict scrutiny on their budgets, daily schedules and even control on production budgets, but the regimentation is worth it.

Bedi is taking completion bonds to the next logical step - for distributors who pay a minimum guarantee to book a territory from a producer but have no risk mitigation opportunity if the film gets delayed or faces cost overruns. Pooja Bedi says they are already talking to both sides for creating a completion bond to underwrite the distributor's risk.

Production companies too are devising strategies to hedge their risks. Applause shaved off 5-10 per cent from the cost of the film when it tied up with Star TV for promotion space in return for an exclusive Making of Black on the channel.

It also worked out a deal with in-house cement company Ultratech and used its hoardings to promote the film. Says Anshuman Swami, CEO of Applause, "You have to spend around 10 per cent as promotion on a film, so by saving this money we were able to reduce the overall budget risk."

Adlabs has formulated a de-risking strategy by pre-selling distribution to just one company for a series of film projects. It has sold all rights for three films - Bluff Master, Rooh and Taxi 9211 - to UTV (except DVD and satellite). Says Shetty, "By pre-selling, we not only recouped our costs but even made money upfront."

But changing financial models does not mean everything is hunky-dory. UTV's Ronnie Screwvala says while completion bonds are good, the problem is they preclude the need for discipline in production houses. Bhandari says the completion bonds are too expensive and large production houses don't require them anyway since investors are not asking for such security.

Besides, smaller producers can't afford them to begin with. Warns veteran producer and director Subhash Ghai: "There is too much easy money, whether from banks or from IPOs and investors, floating around but the creative talent base is limited. There is a danger that this honeymoon might not last."

The N K Singh report on the role of venture capital funding in cinema had mooted a Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) fund bankrolled by the government and managed by fund managers like ICICI Ventures. But the move has not taken off the ground and an ICICI Ventures executive says, "We have kept away from funding movies as the risks are still very high and you can never predict your earnings."

The good news is that new revenue channels for movies are opening up, which could reduce box office risks substantially. Home videos, an unknown segment a few years ago, already constitute over 10 per cent of a film's revenue. And industry pundits say movie downloads can fetch a producer as much as Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million as revenue share from mobile operators.

And if you retain control over the intellectual property rights for your library, you could make good money - Yash Raj Films is believed to have earned Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) through selling the movie rights of films in its library to Sony for a limited period.

Bedi says satellite and overseas film rights could be as big as domestic film rights for most films. "Five years ago, the overseas market was limited to movies depicting Indian weddings and culture. But with the high economic interest in India, today every movie has an international audience. And ticket prices are much higher there."

He adds that the high demand for software on satellite channels has also driven up prices. One example: Theatre audiences for PNC's Jhankar Beats constituted only 8 per cent of its viewers; the rest came from TV.

Once, filmstars went to Dubai to hobnob with the underworld, and danced to the tunes of diamond traders. Today, moviemaking has overcome its attendant risks with a business model that banks and corporate houses understand. And if movies are getting made on time, it's because your friendly neighbourhood bank - and not Dawood Ibrahim - are turning the screws on the stars. Films really have gone the way of the masses.

How the industry rakes in moolah

Producer: Distributors give him a minimum guarantee fee before the movie in return for film rights in a territory within the country. Producers can recover up to 30 per cent of the cost of the film, pre-selling it to distributors. If the movie does well and the distributor recovers his money, any additional inflows get divided between the two.

Another 25 per cent of the revenue comes from overseas rights, 20 per cent from satellite rights, 10 per cent from the emerging home video market, 10 per cent from music (which includes wireless and Internet downloads). If the producer owns the intellectual property rights and has not sold it off in perpetuity (generally, rights are given for five years), he could make money selling his library to a TV channel in the long term.

And where does he get his money? From banks, like Yash Raj does. He can borrow on the strength of his balance sheet, as UTV does. He can fund his films from IPOs, like PNC. Or go to individual high net worth individuals or companies to put in money as equity. Or, of course raise money upfront from distributors, or through selling some of the rights early to finance the cost of the film.

Distributor: They offer an MG fee to the producer to book a territory. And spend on print and publicity on which they take a 20 per cent commission. Any overflow of revenue after recovery of the MG fee and commission is divided between them and the producer. In cases like Yash Raj Films, which distributes most of its films, while the risks are bigger, so are the gains.

Exhibitor: The old system in which distributors paid a rental to the theatre irrespective of whether the movie ran or not is rapidly becoming history. Under a new system revenue gets shared between theatre owners and distributors. Generally, in the first week of a release, the split is evenly 50:50, in the second week the producer gets 40 per cent and the exhibitors the rest, in the third week the producer makes 30 per cent and if the movie continues into the fourth week, he gets 25 per cent of the collections.

Voices

"We are planning to hit the IPO route and raise Rs 50-70 crore (Rs 500-700 million). We have an ambitious Rs 120 crore (Rs 1.2 billion) project to make the film Mahabharata, which we will finance through a combination of debt and equity. We are clear we won't put in more than 20 per cent of the money, so in case the project fails we can get up and continue to run"
Bobby Bedi

"Film companies are getting structured, banks are realising we are a service industry and cannot give hard assets as collateral. I think very soon the system of minimum guarantee given by distributors to producers will get replaced by straight commission"
Ronnie Screwvala

"We have preferred to remain a debt-free company. We do four films a year, and our plan is to scale up to six"
Subhash Ghai

"There is nothing like a big or a small film. What you have is a good film or a bad film. We have created an overriding brand in PNC. We might get into distribution as an independent business and do promotions in movies. We want to be like DreamWorks"
Pritish Nandy

"We went into a revenue share with Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Black. Otherwise, we'd have to pay him Rs 6-7 crore (Rs 60-70 million) and the movie's cost would have gone up"
Anshuman Swami

"We don't have our own creative unit like Yash Raj Films, that is why we are tying up with directors to produce their films. We are into the multiplex business and are going for distribution so we will be in the entire chain"
Manmohan Shetty

















e premte, 29 qershor 2007

Michael Lynch won London over with his renovation of an icon, writes James Button.


THE orchestra's hypnotic performance of Ravel's Bolero had brought the crowd to its feet. As people filed out, some slapped the back of a beaming, middle-aged man. A fruity English voice said: "Ah'd call that lift orf, wouldn't you?" Michael Lynch drawled: "Yair …"

His broad Australian accent stood out among the rounded vowels of London's Royal Festival Hall audience on Monday night, and so it should have. In 2002 Lynch was headhunted from his job running the Sydney Opera House to complete a huge renovation of the much-loved London music venue on the south bank of the Thames.

It was a tough assignment; the project had been troubled for decades. But this week the chief executive of London's Southbank Centre, which runs the Royal Festival Hall, finished the £115 million ($270 million) refurbishment on time and virtually on budget.

More than 18,000 performers and an estimated 250,000 people thronged the building as itreopened last weekend. Bollywood dancers performed alongside a same-sex Latin cabaret. Jarvis Cocker took a turn as a DJ, and Billy Bragg gave guitar lessons.

Meanwhile, critics sing the building's praises. To The Guardian's Jonathan Glancey, the new hall is "great, not as in the biggest, shiniest and most extreme, but great as in big spirited, a building of substance rather than spin".

Despite his apparent triumph, though, Lynch's thoughts are turning to home. He plans to spend 18 months bedding down the changes then return to his beloved Sydney and make a pitch for the last big job of his career.

"I might come back as lord mayor of Sydney," he says with a grin. "Yes, I'm serious, though Sydney might not be serious about it for me. But I would love to grab hold of Sydney and give it a shake while I am still standing."

If Lynch - who has also run the Australia Council and the Sydney Theatre Company - is not short on chutzpah or self-belief, that's why he got the London job.

The Royal Festival Hall opened in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain, the Labour Government's "tonic for a nation" emerging from the gloom of war and postwar austerity. The prime minister, Clement Attlee, said it would "show that we are not just a nation of shopkeepers but a people who appreciate and practise the arts".

Hailed as Britain's first major modernist building, the Royal Festival Hall was avowedly democratic, despite its name. The 3000-place auditorium had no bad seats. Entrances were at the sides, not front and back, and foyers were spacious and open, with no private bars.

Roping in Bollywood for Hillary Clinton Campaign?

The media reports that some US resident Indians are planning to rope in Bollywood stars for the Clinton campaign. I thought our biradari in the US had better sense. I can understand their enthusiasm for the US presidential race. But getting Bollywood stars to campaign for Hillary appears a corny idea. Does anyone really believe Amitabh Bachchan or Rani Mukherjee can sway the electorate? Indian-Americans account for less than one percent of the US population.

I can understand Bollywood stars doing a door-to-door in Mumbai to collect old clothes and cash for flood or quake relief. Involving them in a poll campaign, even in India, has been little more than a media hype. In the recent UP elections the Samajwadi Party featured Amitabh Bachchan in TV promos. The super-star probably was more effective flogging Dabur Chyawanprash on TV.

I can’t see Shahrukh Khan or that Zinta girl campaigning for Hillary at community centres in the US suburbs and the gurudwara Sunday congregations. Whoever has thought of drafting Bollywood stars may be having in mind a song-and-dance programme as a fund-raiser . Which is old hat. Besides, live shows of filmy item numbers may no longer be the money-spinners they once were. Someone mentioned a recent Asha Bhonsle concert bombed, insofar as there were hardly a thousand people in a venue that could hold ten times that number. One reason is that there are too many of them in the US, held much too frequently, featuring the same old faces.

For her Senatorial bid the New York Indian community had chipped in $50,000. Accepting the gift, at a fund-raiser held by a Maryland dentist, Rajwant Singh, Hillary had reportedly joked, “I can certainly run for a senate seat in Punjab and win easily”. At a more recent fund-raiser in San Jose, a participant identified as director of a Mumbai-based tech firm is reported as saying, “If Bill Clinton ran for president or prime minister in India, he’d win”.

Hillary Clinton spoke at the Maryland fund-raiser what her Indian audience wanted to hear. But her folksy talk hasn’t evidently gone down well with the Americans, for whom India has come to be identified with one word – ‘outsourcing’. The point is, in her bid for Indian-Americans' support, Hillary may stand to lose more votes than she might gain. Her opponents are making an issue of the Clintons’ apparent closeness to India and Indians.

A recent newspaper headline said, "Clintons’ support to Indian companies deserves attention". The media article, by Newsday columnist James P Pinkerton, reasons that America under Hillary wouldn’t be such a good idea. As he put it, if Hillary could cruise to the Democratic nomination, and perhaps, the presidency, ‘American jobs will continue to cruise to India’.

In Pinkerton’s reckoning the Clintons seem to have, what he terms, ‘unnaturally close connections’ with foreign companies interested in draining American jobs. “Shouldn’t this be of interest to Americans”, asks the columnist, and answers his own question, “but the mainstream media seem to say no”.

To strengthen his case Pinkerton says Bill Clinton has invested $50,000 in an India-based electronic-transactions company. He has accepted $300,000 in speaking fees from Cisco Systems, which, among other enterprises, helps American companies outsource jobs to India.

The flaw in Pinkerton’s piece is its statistics. The columnist cites an economist’s projection that “40 million American jobs could be lost to outsourcing in coming decades”. How many decades? That is not made clear in Pinkerton’s commentary.

Retired Times of India correspondent, based in Mysore.; hosts MysoreBlogPark, a parking lot for a bunch of Mysore-connected bloggers; writes a column