Mixed signals are emanating
from Hollywood studios about their future plans in India.
While 20th Century Fox
has decided to wind up its operations in India, some other
studios have declared the country a "priority market".
Buoyant after ticket collections of Rs.2.5 billion ($57.3
million) in 2004, Columbia Tristar Films and Warner Bros
are bullish about the Indian market and are rolling out
expansion plans in the subcontinent.
In dramatic contrast is
the news about Fox's India office closing down because
of a decline in the market for dubbed English films.
Is Fox's decision to pack
up its India operations a hasty decision or are Columbia
and Warner Bros' plans for expansion based on unfounded
optimism? The answers seems somewhere in between.
The box-office report for
Hollywood films seems relatively better than that of Bollywood's
ware.
"Spiderman 2"
grossed over Rs.350 million last year, the second highest
English grosser in India after "Titanic", which
made over Rs.500 million, reports indicate.
In fact some Bollywood
observers claim the English movie market is growing at
35 percent in India, which now ranks 15th in theatrical
collections made by Hollywood studios.
And studios like Columbia
and Warner Bros have lined up a slew of big movies in
2005, like "Batman Begins", "Star Wars
Episode III", "King Kong", "Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire", "Hitch",
"Miss Congeniality 2", "Mr and Mrs Smith",
"The Chronicles of Narnia", "Memoirs of
a Geisha", "War of the Worlds" (a Steven
Spielberg film) and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".
Simultaneous global releases
are becoming the norm.
The total number of films
made by Hollywood is peanuts compared to films made in
India.
The domestic movie industry
makes around 900 films a year, compared to America's 100,
making it the world's most prolific film-producing country.
But given the low rate
of box-office hits - less than one-fourth of them break
even - the industry's market share in the $300 billion
industry is a mere $3.5 billion.
Though Fox's marketing
manager Paresh Manjrekar was quoted as saying that poor
box-office returns for Hollywood films had prompted the
decision for a pullout, the facts tell a different story.
Foreign studios have had
a reasonably good run at the Indian box-office. Fox's
"Garfield" netted a neat profit and Columbia
Tristar made the highest profit in 2004 after setting
up business in India.
Insiders said the reason
behind Fox's decision to close its India operations could
well be the way the country conducts business and no way
a certificate of Bollywood's triumph over Hollywood.
Former Fox India's managing
director Aditya Shastri had at many forums brought up
the need for urgent change in policies and laws but to
no avail.
He had gone on record as
saying: "We have multiple problems in India, including
unsettled tax issues for the last eight years. So we are
not seriously looking at production here." The biggest
adverse impact will be on Indian producers like Ram Gopal
Varma who were counting on funds from Fox.
Industry chambers like
FICCI have been advocating the need for transparency in
Bollywood for eons. FICCI's S. Dasgupta said Bollywood
needs a lot of catching up with regard to contracts, bonds
and insurance procedures. Hopefully, his voice will be
heard with Fox's withdrawal from Indian market.
Restrictions imposed on
foreign investors in the entertainment industry are probably
more responsible for the low Hollywood stakes in the Indian
film market.
The world's biggest entertainment
industry accounts for a mere five percent of the Indian
market, whereas in most other markets its share is up
to 60-90 percent.
Domestically produced films
capture up to 95 percent of the Indian market and there
is no doubt that most Indians prefer Indian movies.
Nonetheless, there is no
dearth of connoisseurs of Hollywood products. Evidence
for the demand is the fact that the Motion Picture Association
of America (MPAA) said Hollywood's leading studios lost
more than $896 million in 2004 because of rampant movie
piracy in the Asia-Pacific region.
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Fuelling the demand for
Hollywood films in India is the increasing demand for
them by Indian TV channels. Channels like STAR and SET
Max have made the airing of Hollywood movies dubbed in
Hindi a rule rather than the exception.
Hollywood films, particularly
those big on action and special effects, are typically
dubbed by voiceover professionals in Hindi to reach a
wider section of the billion-plus population in a country
crazy about movies.
To further increase their
reach, Hollywood films are now being dubbed in Tamil and
Telugu.
In fact, Sean Connery who
uttered a few Hindi words in "The League Of Extraordinary
Gentlemen" will be seen speaking eloquent Hindi,
Tamil and Telugu as the dubbed versions of his James Bond
classics roll out across India.
Ashok Amritraj has acquired
the rights to dub the vintage Bond hits into the three
Indian languages. He is also considering dubbing many
action-packed films including the early Clint Eastwood
movies for exhibition in India.
-*-
The entry of major Hollywood
studios into production has to a great extent quelled
the resentment of domestic players. Instead of fighting
off the trend, the high and mighty of Bollywood have joined
the gang and recently superstar Shah Rukh Khan lent his
voice to the Hollywood movie "The Incredibles".
Some studios are mulling
the possibility of Hollywood directors and producers making
out-and-out Bollywood potboilers starring our very own
homespun stars.
No longer content with
Hollywood blockbusters -- both dubbed and non-dubbed --
corneringa fair share of Indian moviegoers, the Western
movie powerhouses are joining the Bollywood bandwagon.
At a conference, MPAA's Asia-Pacific senior vice-president
admitted Hollywood was keen to join hands with Bollywood
to "bring the mystical magic of film to people everywhere
through the new digital technologies".
Hyperion Pictures India,
a subsidiary of the independent Hyperion Studio Inc, is
looking at three projects in India, including a musical
directed by US director Willard Carroll, with an American
heroine but an Indian hero, cast, crew and locations.
Universal Music has announced
its intention of producing three Hindi films. With this,
Universal has stolen the march over Sony Pictures Entertainment,
which was the first to get a Foreign Investment Promotion
Board clearance to produce and distribute films in India
way back in 1998.
Though Sony is going slow
on the production front, it has significantly opened up
its distribution line-up through its Columbia Tristar
Films arm.
Some Indian production
houses have tied up with their Western counterparts for
financing and distribution.
Clearly, the future of
Hollywood films in India is not too bleak. Some Hollywood
studios are cooking up right for the Indian palate but
changes in Bollywood's way of doing business are the need
of the hour.
