Spotlight: Bollywood expands big time overseas

The trailer is promising: film production house UTV has already pre-sold the distribution rights for Farhan Akhtar’s Don in Germany, film maker Karan Johar sold the distribution rights for Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK) in Germany and Poland, and Rang De Basanti became the first Hindi film to be screened in a mainstream movie theatre in Israel. And that’s not all: the Rajnikant-starrer Chandramukhi was screened in Japan recently.

There are new markets opening up for Bollywood. Restricted to NRIs in the US, UK, Middle East and Australia for years, mainstream Hindi movies are fining audiences in Germany, France, Poland, Israel, Turkey, Japan, South America and China. Earnings from overseas markets from January-September amount to Rs 550 crore, according to industry estimates, and have changed the fortune of many films which wouldn’t have been able to cover their costs of production otherwise.

Clearly, the made-in-India formula seems to have caught on in a big way. And this is a vital source of revenue: films earn between 25-50% of their revenue from the overseas box-office depending on the budget of the film). Some multiplexes in the US and the UK even serve Indian snacks to cater to the growing number of Indian film buffs abroad. Besides the multiplex experience, most smart film makers targeting NRIs offer add-ons like videos-on-demand, pay-per-view and DVD releases. A huge number of grocery shops in Southall go to the extent of offering free beer cans and popcorn with three movies.

A quick look at the winning figures. Rang De Basanti earned a whopping 1,080,012 dirhams in five days in the Gulf region. In Australia, the film earned A$81,367 in three days; in the UK, the opening weekend took £220,452 (it was the highest-ever opening for a Bollywood title). In the US, the film opened to $701,666. Fanaa earned $2 million in four weeks in the UK, $2 million in four weeks (US), $1.2 million in three weeks in the Middle East.

Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara opened with an excellent box office response during the release weekend the world over, including major international markets like the UK, US, UAE and Australia. As per EDI Neilson reports, box office collections for the opening weekend grossed to £91,294; in the US, Omkara’s gross collections exceeded $427,000 in three days; KANK collected Rs 13.75 crore in the opening weekends in the US, UK and Australia; Lage Raho Munnabhai earned £ 501,989 in the UK and $1,396,472 in the US.

From a handful of players who ruled the overseas box office, to newer and more entrants, the market seems to have expanded enough to include not just big-ticket films but also small ones and newer markets. Says Ronnie Screwvala, CEO, UTV: “Brazil and Japan are new markets for Bollywood. We’ve already tapped markets like Venezuela, Surinam, South Africa, Singapore, Australia, Kyrgyzstan, Korea and China. Earlier, there were very few players who had tapped the overseas market and the impression one got was that it was a complex system to crack. Earlier, Indian films would release only in theatres owned or frequented by Indians. Now, even mainline theatres screen Indian films. We started off overseas distribution with Swades, but Rang De Basanti was our big hit overseas. We’ve even released a small film like Khosla Ka Ghosla overseas, something we couldn’t have imagined before.”

Manmohan Shetty, CEO Adlabs, who has just started his overseas distribution wing, agrees that a large component of the revenues of 2006’s hit films have come from the overseas market. Rang De Basanti, Fanaa, Krrish, KANK, all got sizeable revenues from overseas. The size of the overseas market is directly related to the Asian population residing abroad. There has been an increase in the population. The purchasing power of Asians living abroad has risen, especially in the UK. One would also like to believe that the popularity of Hindi films is on the rise overseas. Increasingly, as corporates have access as well as understanding of the overseas market, newer players will come in. We have also spotted overseas distribution as one of the major growth areas and in our first year of operation, we have a line-up of Krrish, Jaan-e-mann, Umrao Jaan, Baabul, Guru and Vivaah.”

The multiple-delivery system has also been instrumental in creating the boom in the overseas market. Movies-on-demand are beamed through satellite channels abroad. Which has, in turn, broadened the reach of Indian films. Star-studded concerts, glitzy globe-trotting Indian film awards like IIFA and an increasing presence of Indian film makers and actors in global film festivals have helped generate more curiosity about the Indian film industry.

While stars with top billing guarantee good initials even overseas, small and medium budget films have also become the flavour of the season. Agrees Percept Picture CEO Mahesh Ramanathan: “We started our international distribution with Hanuman (2005) and we are releasing films like Jai Santoshi Ma, Deadline and Signal—which are small films in the overseas market. There are some six-seven big-ticket releases in a year and considering the overseas market has expanded, there is a demand for even smaller films. About 50% of the production cost of our films are recovered in the overseas market. Five years down the line, the overseas market will burgeon further.”

Ratan Jain of Venus Films agrees with Ramanathan: “We should promote small budget films with strong themes. They need to be marketed smartly. Sanjay Dutt was never a major overseas star, but Lage Raho Munnabhai has been a tremendous hit abroad.”

Bollywood films like Dosti, Chup Chup Ke, Barsaat and 36 China Town which didn’t click in India were moneyspinners in the US and the UK. Chup Chup Ke raked in nearly $90,000, while Dosti was one of the top 10 grossers in the UK for some weeks. Regional films seem to have wowed the overseas market, too. Tamil films always rake in money in Malaysia and Singapore, Bhojpuri films work wonders in Mauritius and Fiji, and Malayalam films are sell-outs in Dubai and Bahrain. Actor Nagarjuna feels: “The overseas market for Telugu films is still at a nascent stage, but it is time to concentrate on the overseas market. Pokiri, a Telugu blockbuster overseas, has ensured high prices for other Telugu films. Chiranjeevi’s Stalin was sold off at an astronomical price of Rs 1.40 crore. Punjabi films enjoy great opening in the US, UK and Canada. Tamil superstar Rajnikant has a huge fan following in Singapore, Dubai, Malaysia and even Japan.

US-based film critic and editor of webjournal www.boxofficeguru.com, Gitesh Pandya, says: “2006 has been a banner year for Indian cinema in the North American market and it is already looking to be the biggest on record. Six Indian films, including five Bollywood films, have approached or surpassed the $2 million mark in ticket sales this year. For Bollywood films, the increase in business has mostly been with South Asian American moviegoers. But Deepa Mehta’s Water was released by an American company, Fox Searchlight, and the bulk of its business came from American movie fans. Often, Bollywood films enter the US Top 20, like Fanaa, Krrish, and KANK.”

“Certainly, the desi population is only getting bigger in the US and slowly non-desis are learning of Bollywood films and trying these out. Plus, this year, Bollywood has given us some films with great commercial potential, with big stars that bring out paying audiences. KANK is a great example. But it is important to remember that this year’s box office boom is not necessarily a trend; business could nosedive next year if the films aren’t good. This has always been a content-driven business, and so we need a steady supply of appealing films in order to see strong sales. Distributors should put more effort into marketing to second-generation Indian-Americans and non-desis, to double the market share of Indian cinema in North America,” he says.

While 2006 has been, arguably, the best year for Hindi films in the overseas market, thanks to better content and aggressive marketing, domestic box-office still contributes significantly higher revenues. But, the overseas boom rescued much of the Hindi film industry in 2006 and helped script some pretty impressive box-office figures.