Marathi Movies - overview 2

Thank you for reading my April '13 post on Marathi Movies. 
This week, Marathi movies are again the spotlight - with a political proposal. There has been a clutter of reactions, over-reactions, hyper-reaction, Assembly reactions - but i think lot of them came from 'emotional' side more than economic side. And movies now are basically, economics. 


First things first. 
Competition is good. Be it Marathi v/s Hindi or Domestic v/s international releases. In theory, free market means survival of the fittest (in this case, ideally should be 'product'). But since the rules don't apply in real life with soft power like music popularity, or hard power like star pull or marketing budgets, the end result might not necessarily be survival of the best, but that of the strongest. 

Much accolades are sung for 'different' topics of Marathi movie and how it is different from 'mindless' Bollywood fare. But at the end of the day, the shallowness of our movies is a reflection of the superficiality of our lives. Good doesn't always do well commercially. What is commercially successful is not necessarily a good product. 

So, fact 1: Marathi movies are on a back foot where commercial success is concerned. 


With minimum government intervention and with pure capitalism, in the last two decades, Indian cinema is represented globally via Bollywood. Like it or not. That is a fact. The wave of alternate music in 90s finally died a petty death. Bollywood music is popular music. Bully-wood means business. It attracts the best talent, on and off screen. It has shown how to market movies. It has made BO collections a topic to be discussed on dinner tables. Bollywood has the muscle to put weekend collections on television news!!

Yet, a Rs 100cr superhit amounts to nothing in a country of 1.3 billion. 


Now coming to the debate of Marathi movies getting 6 to 9 pm "prime time" slot in multiplexes. 

Personally, i think 6 to 9pm is TV viewing time in most Marathi speaking households. Maybe till 10pm... From whatever little i know people, we would rather wait a few months for the movie to come on TV and watch it for free, instead of paying money to catch it at a multiplex. Any outing to a multiplex in the evening show will set the family of 4 back by Rs 1000 for tickets, and another Rs 1000 for travel and snacks. Think about 'masses' and not like those who have access to read a blog. 

Fact 2: For producers to earn money, audiences have to spend money.


As a dip stick for 'movie going nature' of the people let us look at English movies dubbed in regional languages as an indicator. I am talking of a regular, parallel industry. English movies are regularly dubbed into Tamil and Telugu. There also are niche televisions channels in regional languages. Was "Amazing Spiderman" dubbed in Marathi for commercial release? No... 
Someone told me that in India, "Dark Knight Rises" had highest BO collections... wait for it... in Pune! Was it a Marathi dubbed version? No!

Again, this is no way is a challenge to the Maharashtra Govt to dub all English movies to Marathi. (The Censor board does enough damage on their own!!) 
Or to those whose logic is "Regional movies are stronger than Bollywoood in South". 

The fact is people in south LOVE their movies. We dont. Not like the way they do. Annually, Tamil and Telugu each release more movies than Hindi. So Marathi is not even a comparison. Similarly, I dont remember any self-immolation case in Maharashtra when Dada Kondke died. We are not crazy movie lovers. We dont have idol worship star culture. 

Fact 3: Don't compare Marathi movie market to Southern movie market, because Marathi audiences are not like Southern audiences.  


So, what kind of audiences do we have up here? There are two kinds of people who watch movies - masses and classes. Or simply put those who come in cars, and those who come on motorcycles. 

There was a discussion about 'quality' cinema when this whole multiplex debate was raging on. If we make quality movies, people will come to watch. For Marathi industry, why does quality equal to arty stuff? Why do we carry the cross of 'meaningful' cinema and then cry hoarse when it is not profitable? Isn't it too much to expect support for arty cinema from our audiences when they are conditioned (and bombarded) with run-of-the-mill Bollywood fare? 

Lets do a small mental exercise. Just list down top 5 grossing Marathi movies, in random order. 
My list is: Lai Bhari, Time Pass, Duniyadari, Natarang, Zapatlela-2 (in no particular order). 

Dont you agree that all movies in your list and mine are "massy" films? They are in NO WAY what one can call 'art' cinema. They are all GOOD movies, hence they are COMMERCIAL successes. I agree that all good movies dont become commercial successes. But i think we are looking at it in the wrong direction. 

Improve the quality of script, story telling, production values, music, acting, background score... 

Revival of Marathi movies since 2004 is a media creation. There is no new wave or anything. Majority of the movies in the last 5-6 years are more of the same old fare... We have moved from making slapstick comedy movies in 80s-90s to "national award winning" movies. Well unfortunately, National Award does not guarantee box office success. 

Dont trust me? 
Wait for 17 April and see what happens to "Court". 

The multiplex crowd isnt going to give you commercial success. We need a different delivery mechanism. 

Fact 4: Make movies for those who go to watch movies.

There was some talk about additional FSI granted to multiplexes against a promise that they will screen 124 Marathi shows in a year. The State promoting regional movies by ensuring screens is noble. And dropping ET is partial, but hey, its largely loss making industry... 

Making screens available is solving only a little part of the larger problem. Where is the money for exhibition!?? 

Here is the economics. Lets say an average Marathi movie gets produced in 1.3cr. Add another 70L for promotion and marketing. So thats 2cr down. 
Now comes distribution / exhibition, with the 2 revenue sharing models - Single screen and Multiplex. 

In single screen tie ups, the producer has to rent the screen for one show for one week. Usually, the rent is anything between 50k to 95k per week, depending on the location, quality of the cinema hall, quality of projection, and most important, seating capacity. Meaning, the producer can rent say, a 3-6pm show every day for all 7 days and the entire box office collections of all 7 shows in that time slot for the week go to producer. Some single screens charge local taxes and nominal maintenance cost (3 to 5 bucks per seat occupied). 

For ex: The rent at decent single screen is say, 75,000 for one show one week (7 shows) + house full maintenance of say 600 people for 7 shows @ 5/-, then the producer gives the single screen owner 75k + 21k for one show, one week (96k). If the producer is feeling confident about the movie, and he rents 3 shows for one week, at 100 cinemas he pays rent of 96k x 3 x 100 = Rs 2,88,00,000 for single screen cinema. 

With initial investment of 2cr towards production and marketing cost and rental cost of 3 screens for one week across 100 cinemas, the final investment is: 4,88,00,000 (Four crore Eighty eight lakh).   

Whereas, the earnings at average ticket cost @ 75 for 21 house full shows for 600 people at 100 cinemas is: 75 bucks x 600 people x 21 shows x 100 cinemas = 9,45,00,000/-, which translates to revenue of Rs 4,57,00,000 (Four crore fifty seven lakh) odd.

So you can see, theoretically single screen cinemas are far more profitable for solid movies. 


Now with most multiplexes box office revenue sharing tie ups are structured as follows: 

• Week 1: 45% to producer + 55% to multiplex 
• Week 2: 40% to producer + 60 to multiplex
• Week 3: 35% to producer + 65% to multiplex
• Week 4: 30% to producer + 70% to multiplex
• Week 5 onwards: 25% to producer + 75% to multiplex

Hence focus on collections in the release week. That's when the producer stands to gain maximum. We should learn a thing or two from Bollywood. 

Since not many Marathi movies stay longer than 4 weeks, i will do the math for first week for one show per day for one week at a multiplex. With full occupancy at 250 seats @ 100 per ticket for 7 shows, the total revenue is 175,000 of which the producers share is Rs 78,750. If the movie is released at same number of multiplex screens as single screen (ie 2100 shows in one week), the producer can earn 78,750 x 2100 = 16,53,75,000/-


Fact 5: Marathi producers dont have money to buy 2100 shows in one week across multiplexes. 

The distribution / exhibition part of the movie business which seems to be getting more and more expensive...  

First the movie needs to be converted to the DCP (digital cinema print) format. Conversion for each centre is Rs 2000 + taxes. So if you want to screen you film at 100 screens across Maharashtra, you have to first shell out Rs 200,000 for conversion. This is one time cost... 

Then the cost for 2K projection is Rs 1000 per show. So if you have say, 100 screens playing 2 shows per day, the producer needs to pay Scrabble / INOX2K / K Sera Sera etc close to 1000 x 100 screens x 2 shows = Rs 200,000 + taxes. For one week, this runs to Rs 14,00,000 plus taxes. 
Let me give you a ball park on scale. In 2014, Happy New Year released at 5000 screens in India. The biggest grossing Marathi movie Lai Bhari released at 400 screens. 

It will be wrong to ask the government to reduce the price of tickets. But clearly, the digital projection has not helped the costs at all... 

Fact 6: Making money at the BO needs solid investment. We should look at other sources to screen the films. 



There are so many things that are just wrong with the industry itself. Why blame the government policies or the domination of Hindi? 
We rely too much on word of mouth. We have seen in the past few years what solid marketing can do to the fortunes of the movie. 
Songs are lifeblood of promotion. Adequate promotion of music is necessary. Proper music promotion can really help in creating awareness. 
I think Marathi industry has maximum one-time-producers. Why cant we make money for our producers, so they keep making movies?



I just hope the powers-that-be look at all aspects of production and distribution before bringing out any regulation about exhibition. I think that fighting for screens in multiplexes is a wrong approach. Yes, the maximum revenues come from Mumbai-Pune... But that doesnt mean that people from interior Maharashtra don't want to watch Marathi movies. We need to spruce up a different delivery mechanism for our movies. Forget the existing models. Make telefilms, premiere them on television, use youtube paid channel, make 4-5 movie compilation official DVDs...  

Fact 7: There has to be a way to reach 120 million people... 


And everyone, go watch Court.



PS: Thank you Mayur Ranade for the BO and digital cost info. 

PPS: By the time i published this post, the Maharashtra govt has relaxed the prime time to 12 noon to 9pm. 

You saw that song!!?

The networked digital space offers multiple access points and sharing opportunities. The proliferation of media, affordable mobile technology, and interlinking of internet and mobile, has changed the way we consume news, entertainment, views, literature, music... Almost all media are replaceable, or at least interchangeable and the good thing is most content creators have risen to the opportunity and have made their products available. 

No doubt this has changed and shaped the way we think, the way we live. One might find this experience extremely overwhelming. Imagine the utter confusion of a person who went in a coma in the early 90s and woke up in this day and age!!

We read news on mobile over newspaper, sample opinions on Twitter over editorials, watch the latest soap online. This consumer shift has happened in the first decade of this century... Any guesses whats to come!? 

The most noticeable change that i see on a daily basis (by the virtue of being in the music playing industry), is the way we consume music. Radio is a audio visual medium. We play popular music. Listeners sing along. We play familiar music. People Hum... whistle. Whatever music we play - listeners visualise.

Yes, you got that right. We WATCH music. 

Be it the serene vales of Europe or dames in sarees - music in the last decade has moved from an aural medium to a more audio-VISUAL media. The purists might argue otherwise, but i am convinced that when music is packaged visually, it has a wider recall. The powers-be of Hindi movies have understood this really well - and now the visuals are packaged so properly and bombarded so much, that one cannot escape the perfect world created to put that song in your mind...

You listen to any song for the first time - and you make an image of it in your head. You visualise what the singer so soulfully is trying to put across. You see the video of that song, and then listen to the song on radio - and all you will remember is the visuals 'they' want you to see.

Next time, when you are tuned to the radio, block the images and focus only on the song - the singers voice, the words, the composition, the instrumentation. Let me know if you feel the difference.

Marathi Movies - an overview

April 19, 2013 is not just another Friday. For most of us the weekend will begin, party plans will be made, throw in a movie, dinner, and finally, brace for the new week. However, for those associated with the Marathi movie business - directly or indirectly, tomorrow is a monumental day!! In a first of sorts, SIX Marathi movies are releasing tomorrow! Yes, you read it right - SIX Marathi movies are releasing together.

I do not say it with pride. Not at all. In fact, i want to draw your attention to the sorry state of our movies.

Before i do that, I just want to list down names of some of the people associated with these six movies, so you know these movies are not just some random efforts: Mohan Agashe, Smita Talwalkar, Suhas Joshi, Mahesh Manjrekar, Pallavi Joshi, Satish Alekar, Yashwant Dev, Sachin Khedekar, Mrunal Kulkarni, Reema Lagoo, Pratiksha Lonkar, Mohan Joshi, Milind Gunaji, Vijay Kuvalekar, Sharad Ponkshe, Shirirang Godbole, Guru Thakur, Gajendra Ahire, Subodh Bhave, Trupti Bhoir, Kishore Kadam, Subodh Bhave, Suhas Palshikar, Satish Pulekar, Kishori Shahane, Sunil Barve, Milind Lele, Vibhawari Deshpande, Shubhankar Atre, Harshad Rajpathak, Neha Joshi, Siddharth Chandekar, Kishore Belekar, Umesh Kamat, Priyanka Yadav, Swapnil Rajshekhar, Supriya Karnik, Ashalata Vabagavkar, Suhasini Deshpande and also marks the Marathi debut of Ashutosh Rana.

As you can imagine, for the last couple of weeks there is a fierce competition among these films for viewer attention, availability of screens to project their work, and of course, to get actual patrons who will come and pay to watch the movie. I like competition; i have nothing against it. I have a problem with unfair competition.

Maharashtra has the unique problem where regional movies have been marginalised due to Hindi movies. They share the same production studios, editing set up, mixing studios, censor certification queues, marketing space, screen availability and then fight to get people to watch the movies. It is safe to assume the economies of the Hindi movies are far larger than those of regional one. A Marathi movie cannot compete with the Hindi movie for outdoor costs, or marketing plans, or media plugs. In my estimate, a Marathi movie with good cast and top notch crew can be made, with just the marketing budget of a Hindi movie!

All this talk of "return of golden era" and "revival" of Marathi movies is nonsense. Just because few films win National awards and are screened in international film festivals, doesn't mean all our films are wonderful. We have gone on too long saying that "content" is hero in our films. Seriously, we have some really really bad movies. Bad enough to question why it was made and what did the producer achieve by putting in all that money. Barring couple of movies with a good content, and few with bearable content, we have to accept that largely, our content is poor. If the content is good, there is a lot of mouth-to-mouth publicity. Do you remember the last Marathi movie that created that kind of buzz??

From what i know, about 120 movies got censor certification in 2012, and approx 90 got commercial release. I am very sure that 90% movies lost money. Less than 5% would have been profitable. And i could be wrong, so lets do a simple experiment. Out of the approximately 90 movies that released from Jan-Dec 2012, i want you to name 15 of them. I doubt you can do that, even if your mother tongue is Marathi. And there is a reason for that - "lack of visibility". 

Our film business is unorganised. We have not been able to plan our schedules effectively. We have not learned from the Hindi movies which happen and release alongside ours. The simple model is to keep a tight production budget, follow marketing time line and have specially allocated funds for that, let the music play out happen for at least a couple of months, fix the release date and then do the final run. But how often does this happen?

Why don't we see posters of Marathi movies in cinema halls a week after the mahurat shot is taken? Let it release after one year, but every time i go to the cinema hall, i will see that poster. It will generate some curiosity in my mind. Or i will at least be aware that there is such a movie thats coming!!

I want offer my point of view to 3 concern areas: State, Stars, and Screens. 


State:
There is something intrinsically wrong with the Maharashtra State government Subsidy program to promote Marathi movies. I suggest you read http://www.filmfed.org/e-tax2.html and tell me how will it benefit the industry. The subsidy ranges from 5L to 30L, depending on various factors. Allegations keep flying on what producers have to do, to get their subsidy. I am not okay with this subsidy model as it is only making sure the producer doesn't lose money. It is a superficial bandage. The problem runs deep down. Marathi industry needs to deliver good movies, consistently, for at least 10-15 years, and create a brand of themselves. That way, not only Marathi speaking, but everyone who wants to watch quality movies will come to the cinema hall. This subsidy model is not addressing that, and hence is not meaningful.

First, our industry survives on first-time producers, who are ignorant about content and costs. And once they burn their fingers, they say good-bye for good. How does this subsidy help? Well, it only helps the people who are in the business of making money off the subsidy. These guys don't care about quality content. They just want to keep making movies in 15-20L budget and continue getting 30L subsidy. 

Secondly, The government has a million other things to do. Why will a cultural dept be bothered about Marathi movies? I am sure that is not the only cultural activity on their desk! Ok, may be i am being a little harsh, so let me get to my original question: How does this subsidy help to get viewers? 

Hence, in my opinion, the pressure is on the government to offer this subsidy in a more sensible manner. We all agree that if the content is good, audiences will come in. Every year, some of our movies are truly original, choose progressive topics and have an unique approach. All the government has to do, is give the push in the right direction. 

For example, let the subsidy come in form of advt space. Allow Marathi movie advertisements in the Marathi newspapers at DAVP rates. That way, people will at least know there is such a movie, and there is a chance that some more people will do watch it. Offer discounted rates for shooting; give subsidy on the cans; waive off costs at the editing and mixing studio. Do everything that will help the team to focus on making good content, instead of worrying about costs. Someone had even suggested that the govt should give movie passes to govt employees and their families, so there is assured viewership! 

Frankly, they should incentivise the subsidy. Give the subsidy money only to those movies that are running to packed houses!! Reward movies that are recognised at State and National levels.




Stars:
Do we really have them? Yes, we do. Refer to the list of people associated with the six movies releasing tomorrow. (Stars is an open term for those on-screen and those behind the camera.) We have stars in two extremes - those who are extremely inaccessible, and those who are seen shopping for vegetables in the bazaar! Most of our Marathi stars have scaled their way to where they are - from college plays, to amateur theatre, and their work can be sampled in theatre, TV and films, and they effortlessly rule all these mediums! Because they do a variety of work, it is difficult to "brand" them.

Let me give an example. Think of Akshay Kumar. Or Vidya Balan. Or Ranbir Kapoor. Even Marathi manoos, Ritiesh Deshmukh. They evoke certain imagery. They have a brand. I associate certain qualities with them. What do any 3 Marathi stars of your choice, make you think of? Again, we have two ends of the spectrum - either we have sultans of slapstick or we have actors who do serious stuff. 

Yes, as i write i am feeling that this is a difficult subject to tread, but it must be done.

Perhaps comparing to Hindi stars is a mistake. Let us take examples of regional cinema of north, south or east. Do we have a Marathi equivalent of Ravi Kishen and Manoj Tiwari? Can any of our stars outshine Mohan Lal, Mammoty, and Prithviraj or Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna, or Dev and Jeet? Do people throng to watch anyones movies, like they do for Rajnikant, Kamal Hasann, Vikram and Suriya?

Trust me, i would love to be proven wrong. I am not even asking for the OTT love for matinee idols and temples. I simply seek fans who wait for weeks to watch the first-day-first-show of their favourite Marathi star - be it actor, director, music composer, singer.

I think its a two pronged issue with "projection" of an image and aversion to limelight. Some of our stars are so selective, and so media shy, that at times you doubt if they really are in the media business! Interacting with the media (even to make "just" an appearance), is part of their job description. Public figures cannot be reclusive hermits, who talk to media only when their movies are coming out. A continuous dialog with the audience is necessary for the viewer to "want" to go and watch the movie of their favourite star. Along with the entertainment value, an audience goes for an experience to see their matinee idol do silly stuff, romance, suffer, fight, come out victorious. They identify with the character, they aspire to be like the person on screen.  If as a viewer, i don't know the star, and i don't identify with that person, why will i spend money to go watch the movie?

Bottom line is, a person go to watch much more than a movie. Do our stars offer them that?

Screens:
It is unfortunate that six movies have to release together (in the middle of IPL) and every weekend from then, we will have Marathi movies jostling for space till end of monsoon. It is even more unfortunate that from Eid till New Year weekend the big banner Hindi movies release, and they block all the screens. Well, the State govt earns much more entertainment tax from the Hindi movie business. Why should it care if Marathi films don't get screens?

The Hindi movie business has shown us that "quality" is easily replaced with a "marketing blitzkrieg" and multiple screens. I don't think we should go down that way. There might be no room for us to make a come back from!

What we need to figure out is, how can we get more screens for our films. Our cities are early morning rising cities. Why don't we start 8 am show on Saturday and Sunday for Marathi films? There are so many drama theatres that go empty on weekdays. Perhaps, they can set up some satellite transmission system and project movies. Well, that may be an expensive enterprise...

The problem i think is not that much of screens, as it is of viewers. We miserly people will wait one or two months for the movie to come on TV, instead of going to watch it in a cinema hall. Especially Marathi films.

So, best case scenario, don't wait to get screens. Release the movie on television!! A television premiere will get far more audiences than the number of people in cinema halls. Imagine how many cinema halls you have to fill, when you can reach 30L viewers on TV in one go!! That requires certain amount of guts and huge risks from content acquisition teams, which seems little difficult as of now.

The whole thing just boils down to one thing. The Marathi movies are sandwiched between a cash rich Hindi industry and a disloyal audience. How the Marathi film industry evolves from here, will define the fate of regional cinema across the country. The fight is not with extraordinary content. It is with a carefully marketed product... And that's what we all need to remember.

Epilogue: In the past few months, i have had the privilege of interacting with some interesting people from the Marathi movie business, who have greatly helped in shaping my thoughts for this post. To all of them, i am very grateful.

PS: By the time i posted this blog, the 6th movie dropped out due to "technical problem" and is now postponed to 26 April, where another Marathi movie made by a well respected banner is releasing.