Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Is media socially responsible? What are the constituents of social responsibility? Does free speech entails any social responsibility on the part of the speaker? These are some of the questions that were asked in the session entitled “Is media socially responsible: Where does freedom of speech and expression ends, and responsibility begin?”

Media personality Pritish Nandy, who moderated the session, clearly maintained that “media has nothing to do with social responsibility,” adding that “freedom is an absolute concept – there‘s either complete freedom with no restrictions or total bondage.”

Social responsibility is thrust upon the filmmakers by the government. The govt collects taxes from cigarette manufacturers, yet it wants us to stop showing smoking on the screen. The govt makes choices, but most of these choices are hypocritical.

In our age, free media is the most reliable vehicle for discovering truths. Bereft of this freedom, media is powerless. The state is not our father or guardian, as filmmakers we are free to do what we want to.

He ended, however, on a more tolerant note by saying, “But freedom is an ongoing dialogue, and that‘s why we‘ve to listen to others.”

In her speech, veteran actress and chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) Sharmila Tagore discussed the role of the CBFC vis-?-vis films.

“India is a multicultural, multilingual and multireligious country. The Constitution guarantees freedom of speech but since society is media dominated the govt is required to purge films of anything that might affect the larger social and cultural unity. This doesn‘t mean, however, that the CBFC intends to stifle creativity.”

To bolster her point of view, she said that a great number of movies are full of disturbing images that have a detrimental effect both on the conscious and on the subconscious psyche, and invited the audience to a screening of those movies that the censor board does not certify.

“Our responsibility also lies with the marginalised remnants of the society. CBFC acts as an enabling body between producers and audience. Moreover, I don‘t think India is ready for self-regulation; I disagree with Pritish on this point.”

Taking issue with Nandy‘s advocacy of absolute freedom, noted filmmaker and Rajya Sabha member Shyam Benegal said, “The censor board is a ‘negative institution‘ – it dictates what you are required to remove. A number of factors act as deterrents when it comes to making a good film. A CBFC certified film can be shown to anywhere in the country.

He then gave the example of Aaja Nachle, which, despite having a certificate from the censor board, was subjected to much social ado. This incident, according to Benegal, proves that a certificate from the board has lost its meaning.

Director Mahesh Bhatt said, “The bedrock of the media and entertainment industry is going away. My first film was banned. When I was 50, the NDA govt banned my film Zakhm. But ironically, when the censored version was released later, the film got a national integration award.”

He called the present state of affairs “freedom within the prison” and called for 100 per cent artistic liberty.

Reliance Entertainment chairman Amit Khanna said, “Instead of absolute freedom, what we have is absolute anarchy. There‘s anarchy everywhere in govt regulations.”

“Social responsibilities come from within. To initiate a healthy dialogue with the people, we need to educate them and dispense with the I&B ministry that imposes restrictions on the media.”

Admitting that the media itself has got into “the business of manufacturing news,” he maintained, “Frame a law that‘s conducive for a country like India.”

MUMBAI: Tapping revenues beyond the box office is a challenge that the Indian film industry has to wake up to. This is particularly important when film production and marketing costs are going up.

Kick-starting the session on “Rethinking Fim Marketing and Distribution: Beyond Box Office” at Ficci-Frames here today, Moser Baer entertainment business CEO Harish Dayani said that only two per cent of India‘s population go to the cinema theatres to watch a film. Even as this percentage is declining, the game is to tap the remaining 98 per cent.

The need of the hour is to deliver the product to the consumers at their convenience without leaving any room for piracy which takes away a major chunk of the box office revenues.

Speaking on the scope that online distribution of films throws up, Rajshri Productions director Rajjat A Barjatya said: “We released the film Vivah simultaneously in 200 screens in India and 100 screens overseas as well as online. We got a whooping 6500 downloads worldwide. Online contributed to 50 per cent of our total revenues. The entire model turned out very well and that shows the future of online distribution.”

Box office collections, however, stay as the major revenue earner for films. “Film is a brand which needs to be established well. This happens only at the box office and then the brand is ready to be exploited on other platforms. No one would buy an unknown brand,” said Sony Pictures India CEO Uday Singh. The Sony distribution company recently diversified into film production and released Saawariya which fared average at the box office.

Indian filmmakers have started exploiting various revenue streams including merchandising. Mates CEO Darshana Bhalla cited the example of blockbuster film Om Shanti Om which earned 63 per cent through box office collections, but also raked in revenues from merchandising. OSO tied up with retail chain Shoppers Stop and organized fashion shows to promote the film. Home video accounted for 15 per cent of the film‘s gross earnings.

Another trend gaining currency is in-film placement of products.

Speaking at the session, Reliance Entertainment chief marketing officer Saurabh Varma said: “One will mainly see film merchandising on stationary, apparels and special items created around the subject of the movie.”

Not a very unusual area of discussion, but gaming was another aspect touched upon by Varma. “In the past we have seen a few films coming up with post release games, some of which have been successful. Dhoom 2 is the prime example of the same. It was only after the film‘s success that the makers
decided a game on the same,” he said.

MUMBAI: While funding remained one of the key concerns at the Ficci Frames session on “Scope of International Co-productions” saw eminent panelists insisting that this is the best route for all-round growth of the industry globally.

The panelist discussed the compelling need to ink international co production deals citing the demand for global films. A formal treaty, however, looks difficult at the moment.

India is a new entrant among the existing players like Italy, Germany and Switzerland, who have already signed co production deals with many countries.

The first co production deal that India did was in 1985 with France, which included import and export of films produced in both countries.

Currently India is locked in international co-production deals with UK, Italy, Germany and Brazil.

Countries like Hungary, Spain, China, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand are in the process of making it to the India list.

Ministry of Information and broadcasting director Sangeeta Singh says, “At the moment we do not offer any direct financial incentives to the filmmakers, but we have a very vibrant industry which is full of opportunities and will help the filmmakers grow.”

“India does not offer any subsidies to the international producer, unlike UK which offers 20 per cent subsidy. However individual states can do that,” added Singh.

In such cases international producers informally tie up with local producers to make a film.

American Icing Sherley is an example, as pointed out by the US-based American Pride Films Group president and director of the film Namrata Sing: “Sometimes due to the lack of funding and of political support, we go for such deals. My film will be distributed by iDreams in India.”

“But creativity and good content rules, no matter whether the deals happen or not. A good comedy or a drama or an action film will be appreciated beyond boundaries,” maintained Namrata Singh.

The panelists agreed that sometimes to work out a deal, the film has local actors from the countries involved in the treaty. That helps to market the film in both the countries as well internationally.

Tandoori Love, one such film is an example of that. The film has Indian actors in it but has been co-produced by Switzerland, Germany and Austria based producers.

Switzerland based filmmaker Oliver Paulus says: “Although we have shot some scenes in India, but we never found a producer to co-produce our film from here.”

“Co-production deals always turn out to be beneficial if done between countries with similar political and economic conditions,” said Department of Canadian heritage director Gordon Platt.

Platt adds that such deals are improvement tools for the existing film industry in a country.

“It gives a chance to share your resources and creativity to create a bigger product which can be made known worldwide with right mix of marketing,” Platt adds

Carlo Donzella, Italy‘s consultant for EU and International Affairs says: “We need to build up a regulation for incentives which can be offered to the co producers. All of us need to work out a scheme for financing flexibility.”

MUMBAI: With the explosion of multiplexes, Indian filmmakers are increasingly putting importance on the performance of a film in the first weekend. The days of the Silver and Golden jubilee are long gone.

While a strong star cast and a well-armed publicity machinery play a big role, filmmakers must also be honest with audiences and to themselves when they market and distribute their films.

This was one of the points made during a session on “Opening Weekend: How To Get The Audience In?” The speakers were Eros Multimedia COO Jyoti Deshpande, Specialtreats CEO Colin Burrows, film critic Komal Nahata, P9 CEO Naveen Shah and filmmaker Kunal Kohli.

Nahata made several points about what film distributors should keep in mind. One of these is that they should be honest while marketing and distributing their films. Having cameos of huge stars in big flicks and keeping that under wraps works the best for a project. Examples of this would be Aishwarya Rai in Mohabbtein and Salman Khan in Kuch Kuch Hota Hain.

He highlighted the lack of new talent in the industry. Along with that, Nahata added that a hit pair may not necessarily guarantee a sure-shot success story. For instance, Hrithik Roshan-Aishwarya Rai starrer Jodhaa Akhbar did not garner a good opening weekend.

As far as the smaller, independent films are concerned, it is very important that they offer novelty in terms of content and presentation. In addition, hit music makes a great package.

Deshpande stressed the scientific way of achieving the desired opening weekend. She notes that unlike the US, in India the DVD market is not big enough to help a film that has done poorly in theatres. So relying on the opening weekend helps mitigate risks. She also addressed the new trend of individual producers hopping to big distributors, and the entry of corporates changing the scenario for existing production houses.

But is the opening weekend the be-all and end-all? Kohli answered in the negative saying that a good film can survive a slow start. He offered the examples of Munnabhai MBBS, which had absolutely no marketing gimmicks lined up, but did very well.

He also offered examples of Chak De which did well beyond just the opening weekend. Intelligent marketing can help a film that does not have big stars. He gave the example of Hum Tum where the distributor did tie ups with MTV, Sony for the show Jassi as well as cartons in The Times of India.

Another way of marketing a movie today, rightly pointed out by Navin Shah, CEO, P9, is merchandising. The best example of the same would be 2007‘s Om Shanti Om which tied up with Shoppers Stop. And if that doesn‘t work for the production house, myriad television channels are waiting to cash in on big stars to augment their TRPs. And in return, the forthcoming film gets huge mileage.

However, lastly what does a small-budget project do in situation like this? The solution offered by Kohli is market it the big way and pitch it against a big-budget film. Loins of Punjab and Mithya are the perfect instances of the same.