MUMBAI: Money and movies. That was Frame’s agenda post lunch. Seminar held- Funds and Projects – had a killer combination, but the matter churned out has been a well-documented fare.
While the traditional method of funding the cinema is unable to cope up with the demands, the corporate and the financial institutes have thus far met with a little luck. Looking at its ever-growing pie the industry is now looking at the greener pastures abroad. While it isn’t a taboo, but the financial sources are a little wary. Their demands: transparency and great raw material.
While the first speaker Rabo International, media and entertainment head Alexander Gelderman opined that the while the avenues abroad are opening up, it isn’t so for the traditional fare. The song-dance-romance movies churned out by the industry showcase India’s culture and tradition and they should be a main stay. Trying to draw out the parallel between his language Dutch and India’s Hindi, he said that both the industry need to preserve the culture and therefore stick to the crossovers as strictly experimental fare and not otherwise.
While the second speaker, UK film Council International, International department director Clare Wise had quite a few wise anecdotes to share. She spoke how hard it is as a producer to make and hunt finance for films. Like Gelderman, she was also wary of the typical Hindi movie fare’s performance outside India unless it is for the NRI market. But she tried to emphasize that legal constraints need to be taken into consideration and even India’s market needs to look carefully at its legal procedures and the effort should be made to encourage the film industry within the country.
Last speaker for the session, Peacefulfish CEO Thierry Baujard offered that need of the time is to look at multiple co-production deals. It isn’t such a bad idea to look at the markets abroad, in Europe, UK, but Indian film industry need to look at the their own product very carefully.
Despite the seminar discussing the possibilities of financing from sources abroad, what turned out to be the final word was the need to get self-reliant.
Like the host Ambit Corporate Finance Pvt Ltd, managing director Ashok Wadhwa put it the need of the hour is that the producers and the artiste take responsibility of their product. Looking at the dismal performance of the industry, what the corporate and the financial institutes need to have is passion for films apart from the business sense.
