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Tag: Hiren Gada

  • Overseas markets fuel growth for Shemaroo

    Overseas markets fuel growth for Shemaroo

    MUMBAI: Home video major Shemaroo is reasonably optimistic about the future. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly is the fact that they have been able to penetrate overseas markets. The second is the emergence of new media platforms.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com Shemaroo VP Hiren Gada says that 2006 has been a year of consolidation in existing businesses and expansion into the overseas territory and film production. “We expect revenue growth of 25-30 per cent. A key reason for this is that the overseas market has grown. The US, UK and the Gulf region are our top three markets. Mostly the Hindi blockbusters fare well there. In some territories we distribute films ourselves using our network. For others we have deals with local firms.”

    Talking about the titles that have fared well he mentions Phir Hera Pheri, Omkara, Sardar, 15 Park Avenue in the Hindi genre. Among regional titles those that did well included the Gujarati titles Kanti Tofane Chadyo, Bas Kar Bakula as well as the Punjabi title Jijaji. Gada adds that song compilations are also important in terms of adding variety to Shemaroos offerings.

    Shemaroo about a year and a half back got into the business of distributing English films. The titles Gada says are from independent firms like Pathe, Lakeshore Entertainment and Imageworks Entertainment. That is a business where he sees some potential for growth. In total each month the company releases 15-20 titles which include 10-12 Hindi titles (including New Releases, catalogue and song compilations), 4-5 regional titles (Gujarati/Marathi) and 2-4 English titles.

    Venturing into Television: Shemaroo Gada says us looking at the television arena. “We are soon releasing the most popular comedy serial to ever run on Indian Television Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi next year. We are also looking at releasing other similar products in this genre.”

    Shemaroo he adds has in the past ventured into sports genre with the release of India-Pak Samsung Cup 2004 Series, Really Bend It Like Beckham (Soccer coaching) and Brian Lara 400 Not Out.

    Battling Piracy: One bugbear not just for Shemaroo but for the Indian film industry is piracy. Shemaroo has brough down the gap betwen theatrical release of films and their home video release. ” We release Super Hit Films after 8-10 weeks of them being in cinema halls. Hits are reelased after six weeks, semi hits after four weeks and for filsm that perform averagelly at the box office there is a two week gao.

    ” The shorter release window has helped to fight piracy only marginally as early availability of pirated copies before the original home video release has not stopped. Indian consumers still prefer to watch the film on pirated copy as soon as it is available. Stronger cooperation from the government and the police force will help. There is only so much that we as a company can do to fight the menace.”

    To fight piracy Shemaroo has taken the following measures:

    1) It has formed an in house Vigilance Team which conducts raids across India to seize pirated copies and liaisons with Police and other Government bodies to punish the pirates.

    2) It also looks to offer the consumers more value for their money in terms of superior packaging, additional features in DVD, giving free merchandise like T-shirts and watches, making Value For Money combo packs.
    3) It offers special discounts during festive seasons and special promotional offers.

    4) It has also reduced the prices of select VCD titles from its catalogue and deep catalogue to Rs 66/ 88/99 MRP levels to make home videos affordable for the masses.

    The New Media Opportunity: Gada is well aware of the fact that new platforms like DTH, IPTV offer an opportunity for the firm. He says that Shemaroo is already talking to some players in the market to offer titles. He notes that in a couple of years time these new platforms will be an important revenue source.

    As he points out, “We recognise that new platforms and media are opening up new ways of reaching the consumer. We are one of the largest bollywood content houses and we provide a ready pool of content available for various new and emerging media platforms. We are in talks with all the major players entering this field and should be signing up with a few in due course.”

    At a time when competition for the film viewers attention is growing innovative marketing is key. Gada points to several innovations done in the past. “For Phir Hera Pheri we created a special trade box containing 25 VCDs which also had a free T- Shirt plus Free Gift plus lucky surprise gift. For the home video release of Sardar we organised a launch function in Delhi where Honorable Civil Aviation Minister Mr. Praful Patel launched the film on VCD and DVD. For Omkara we made special standees, counter tops and bookmarks as the film was based on William Shakespeare’s play Othello.”

    Shemaroo has also tried to be innovative in terms of how it packages its products. “Shemaroo has always been the first mover in terms of innovative packaging and special features. Shemaroo has released many titles which are Collector’ Editions with innovative packaging based on the theme of the title with UV, embossing, special booklet on trivia related to the title, etc.

    “Also most of the Shemaroo new release DVDs have special features/bonus DVDs containing have making of the film, interviews with cast and crew, theatrical and TV trailers, etc. For example the Sardar DVD had original speeches of Sardar Patel, footage of Sardar Patel Memorial, interviews of key people involved in the making of the film, a booklet containing Sardar’s Chronology, exclusive photo gallery with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, etc. The Omkara DVD had a 10 page booklet containing trivia and other facts related to the film.”

    As far as producing films for theatrical release is concerned Gada says that the next film tentatively titled Manorama will be out next Summer. Each year it is looking at releasing two to three films. Omkara had been reelased under the Shemaroo banner this year. Gada says that the films will be a mix small, medium and large budget films. The idea is to appeal to different audience segments.

  • Addressable platforms offer huge revenue upscale for filmmakers

    Addressable platforms offer huge revenue upscale for filmmakers

    MUMBAI: The Bollywood industry has something to look forward to from emerging addressable platforms like Direct-to-home (DTH) and IPTV.

    Tata Sky will offer several dedicated movie and audio channels as part of its product package to lure subscribers away from the cable networks. “Movie-on-demand will allow consumers to view the latest films without ad clutters. They also can do away with pirated VCDs where quality is poor. We are showing a movie on multiple timings and this is quite popular with our subscribers,” said Tata Sky head consumer marketing Vikram Mehra. He was speaking at a session on the home entertainment segment.

    Tata Sky has already touched a subscriber base of 250,000 and is on target to achieve one million within a year of operations, Mehra added.

    Film producers and broadcasters suffered from a loss of revenues due to piracy and under-reporting of subscribers by cable operators. Having had to suffer from bad video quality, film producers can now tap an additional revenue stream with its addressable system of reporting subscriber figures, said Mehra. “Digital addressable system will keep all the stakeholders happy. The ground is ready for DTH to take off,” he added.

    Home entertainment in India offers only 7-8 per cent of total revenue collections for a film, while in the US it was as high as 65 per cent, said Silicon Image president and CEO Steve Tirado, while speaking at the same session.

    As digital content travels across devices, home would form an important part of the media distribution strategy. The challenge was to work out a digital interface across various devices.

    About 73 per cent of American households would rather watch movies at home as 80 per cent of them own DVD players. “Content will roam among devices. Storage will also form a critical part of home entertainment. Scheduled viewing is in permanent decline except for spectacles and live sports,” Tirado said.

    Fighting piracy was what all the speakers agreed would be at the core of generating more revenues. “We have to evolve a strong distribution network to combat this. Besides, penetration shouldn’t be the only focus and companies have to come out with strategies to get prices up,” said Saregama India MD Subroto Chattopadhyay.

    Speaking on the international business of home entertainment, Shemaroo CEO Hiren Gada said theatrical collections accounted for 60 per cent of overseas earnings. There was potential to rake in more money from territories outside the US (which contributed 30 per cent), UK (28 per cent) and UAE (20 per cent). Piracy and high acquisition prices were among the red flags that threatened the sector, he added.

  • Shemaroo celebrates Fifa WC with release of Beckham video

    Shemaroo celebrates Fifa WC with release of Beckham video

    MUMBAI: Home video maker Shemaroo has released a video Really Bend it like Beckham this football season.

    The video has the inside details and is the definitive video of his soccer skills. Fans can now have a never-before-seen view of his various skill sets, on technology that manages to capture and dissect his every move like never before. The video also features Beckham’s football highlights of matches like an England versus Argentina match.

    Shemaroo VP Hiren Gada said, “It is baffling that in a nation of a billion people, young talents aren’t making it to the international arena. Really Bend it like Beckham is an excellent video for two reasons. First, it will be a great learning opportunity for emerging players, almost like learning from the legend himself, and prove to be a great encouragement. Second, it is an excellent video that will be enjoyed by all Soccer fans.”

    The DVD has been sot on High Definition. It features multi camera angles, super slow motion and time slice footage. 

    It has been broken into easy to use sections – control, space making skills, passing and working for space, turning skills, forward play, crossing, closing down and defending, finishing and free kicks and much more.

    The DVD also has behind the scenes with David Beckham, Kids Q&A with Beckham and a Kids Football game with Beckham.

  • Shemaroo anti-piracy raids yields Rs 3 million booty

    Shemaroo anti-piracy raids yields Rs 3 million booty

    MUMBAI: Home video major Shemaroo continues its fight against the biggest threat to its business – piracy. In two separate anti-piracy raids conducted at Mira Road and Bandra a few days ago, the vigilance team of Shemaroo Video seized pirated VCDs and DVDs worth over Rs 3.1 million.

    The first raid at Vajreshwari Music Center in Mira Road yielded a haul of 2000 pirated VCDs / DVDs, DVD players, DVD Writers and a television. This also included 23 master copies of various films – these being the copies from which “replication” is possible. Replication is the act of making copies without loss of data and quality. Generally, pirated master copies already have a bad quality, resulting in poor copies that could damage players.

    The second raid was conducted at the three stalls outside Bandra Railway station. Stalls outside railway stations in Mumbai are notorious for pirated Audio and Video CDs and this comes as an effort from Shemaroo to curb piracy at the point of sale.

    Rs 2.2 million worth pirated goods were seized from these stalls, which included over 4000 DVDs. Senior PI Kadri, PSI Pednekar conducted the raid and were instrumental in making the raid possible because of their timely action. One Aftab Alam Ansari was arrested.

    Shemaroo VP Hiren Gada said, “Piracy is taking up almost 90 per cent of the market in home video sales. It is very important that the Industry joins hands to curb this menace so that everyone in the movie business can reap true benefits of their efforts.”

    The Shemaroo anti-piracy team carries out various vigilance activities gathering information, surveillance and warning the pirates. The team also gives information about dealing in legitimate products and educates on the consequences of dealing in pirated video products. Only when they cease to heed to all the warnings that Shemaroo raids the outlet and takes action against the pirates.

    Having an end-to-end objective in mind, Shemaroo says that it believes that fighting anti-piracy will gradually increase the legitimate home video market. Increased revenues can be shared with other people involved in the entertainment industry, which will also help the government get more taxes bringing a decrease in the black economy.