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Monday June 15, 2009

Happy ending for Bollywood strike

INDIA DIARY By COOMI KAPOOR


Not only industry players and stars are relieved that film makers and multiplex owners have made up, but also a country starved of good fare.

NOT unlike a typical Bollywood film, the 63-day stand-off between film producers and multiplex owners ended on a happy note.

Having reached an amicable settlement on revenue sharing, both sides promised to live happily as one big family, assuring a film-starved country of excellent fare in the coming weeks.

After suffering a cumulative loss of over US$60mil (RM211.1mil), everyone connected with the film industry is now keen to begin on a fresh note, with a slew of top-grade banners ready to hit the screens with their latest celluloid offerings.

Now that the strike is off, at least four big-budget movies are ready to be released to fill the multiplexes across the country.

Given that Bollywood movies are now released simultaneously in select cinemas in a number of foreign countries, those who have grown fond of Hindi cinema can once again expect to see their favourite stars in new releases.

Though the 40-day Indian Premier League Twenty:20 cricket staged in South Africa offered a diversion during the film strike, habitual film-goers had to settle for indifferent fare released during the strike period.

Hindi films lying canned for want of exhibitors were released on the multiplex circuit only to be met by a very cold audience. Attendance was a dismal 10%-15%.

However, a couple of big-ticket Hollywood films did try valiantly to fill the breach. Yet, it wasn’t the same thing. Because the audience for even A-Grade Hollywood films is limited to a select few theatres in big metros, even the multiplex owners were bleeding from the strike.

Indeed, in order to meet minimum costs, a number of multiplexes took to beaming IPL matches, offering bulk bookings for friends and families, with the added attraction of gourmet meals and drinks.

Some opened bowling galleries to attract custom, with attractive packages for children and groups. Staff salaries, power bills, car parking bays, interest on loans, et al, needed to be paid, after all.

The strike was called by the film producers after a stalemate over revenue sharing. Producers complained that the old formula was skewed against them since multiplex owners pocketed a disproportionately large share of the gate receipts.

Multiplex owners cited rising costs of electricity, real estate, staff salaries, besides flop films to insist on more than 55% of the take in the first week of a film release.

Finally, earlier this month, after the strike began to hurt both sides – big-ticket producers complained of rising interest costs of borrowed funds for expensively-made films – well-meaning persons on both sides took the initiative to break the logjam.

At the end of a 14-hour marathon meeting in Mumbai, a deal was brokered.

It is a sign of the distance the film industry has travelled from the time when multiplexes were peripheral to Bollywood with all new films being released in thousand-plus capacity cinema halls.

Post-economic liberalisation of the early 90s, there has been a mushroom growth of multiplexes. Old cinema halls were pulled down to make way for multiplexes. Shopping galleries and food courts now share space with them.

Ticket prices being much higher in multiplexes than those in old-fashioned cinema halls, producers released new films there for raking in higher revenue.

The agreement apportions equally the box office takings in the first week between the producers and the multiplex owners. The first week of release is crucial for any film since it establishes whether or not a film is a hit.

But hit or not, the first week still attracts the largest number of viewers for any film. The multiplex owners would give producers 42.5% of the gate collections in the second week, 37.5% in the third and 30% in the fourth.

Top guns of the industry from Yash Chopra and Mahesh Bhatt to Sajid Nadiadwala, and above all, Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, were closely involved in the negotiating process.

Indeed, this was the first time that the two Khans were seen together on the same stage.

The final agreement meets the demands of film producers and distributors and leaves the multiplex owners somewhat dissatisfied.

Now that the strike was over, everyone was looking forward to a host of new releases. Though a large number of films were ready for release, interest was focused on a few big-budget films.

The first week after the strike saw the release last Friday of Vashu Bhagnani’s Kal Kisne Dekha, starring newcomer Jackky Bhagnani (son of producer Vashu), with Juhi Chawla and Rishi Kapoor in major roles.

Next is celebrated film-maker Sudhir Mishra’s Sikandar.

Another movie whose promos are already making waves on the small screen is Sajid Nadiadwala’s US$20mil (RM70.4mil) Akshay Kumar-Kareena Kapoor starrer Kambhakaht Ishq.

A unique selling point of this movie is the first-time-ever role in a Bollywood film by well-known Hollywood stars Sylvester Stallone and Denise Richards. The two play themselves in the film.

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