Bollywood speaks a new language

Of the four big films released during the Pongal festival weekend last month, one of them, Vettai (Tamil), was produced by UTV Motion Pictures, while another, Nanban (Tamil), was part-distributed by Eros Entertainment. Film studios, mostly associated with the production of Hindi films, are now branching out to produce and distribute regional films more regularly. While a majority of these films are in Tamil and Telugu, production houses are also targeting Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Marathi and Bengali films.

A look at the 2012 line-up of UTV Motion Pictures shows that out of the 20-odd films they’ll be making in the year, around 8-9 cater to the regional market. Six of them are in Tamil, and two are in Malayalam, while some other language films are under consideration. Apart from Vettai, the other Tamil films include this month’s Vazhakku Enn 18/9, and Kumki, Masala Cafe, Mugamoodi and Thaandavan. The two Malayalam films are superstar Mohanlal’s Grandmasters, and Husbands In Goa.

“Investing in Tamil films makes the best business sense among regional markets. The Tamil-speaking population is large, and these films are known to do well commercially,” says Siddharth Roy Kapur, CEO at UTV Motion Pictures. After Tamil language films, the other south Indian language films (Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada) do best business, adds Kapur.

An eye on national presence
Kamal Jain, CFO at Eros Entertainment, while admitting that the Tamil and Telugu markets are currently the safest bets, says he has his hopes pinned on the Punjabi film market in a big way.

“There’s a huge demand for Punjabi films among NRIs. The budgets of Punjabi films have gone up steadily, and so have the returns.” Jain says Eros has tied up with Jimmy Shergill, currently the Punjabi film industry’s most successful star, to co-produce three films over the next few years.

Among Tamil films, Eros is set to co-produce Kochadaiyaan, Rajinikanth’s next film after Enthiran. The film, says Jain, will be a prequel to another Rajni film, Rana, and will be India’s first film to make use of performance-capture technology used in films like Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures Of Tintin and Robert Zemeckis’ The Polar Express.

Sanjeev Lamba, CEO of Reliance Entertainment, says that with Bollywood constituting 50% of the total Indian film market, a film studio looking to make an impact nationally would have to look at the remaining part of the pie. “Tamil and Telugu constitute another 30%, which makes them impossible to ignore. But national appeal comes from making films for diverse regions.” Lamba says that their national distribution network makes sure that each office is keeping tab on the kind of films being made in the region they belong to.

The impending multiplex boom
Shajesh V heads a film marketing firm in Chennai that also deals in film production, distribution and strategising release. He’s not surprised by the entry of Hindi film producers in the regional market. “It makes complete business sense. A big-budget Hindi film, on an average, costs roughly Rs50 crore. Even if it does well, and earns Rs70-80 crore, the margin of profit is not that high. A big-budget Tamil film, on the other hands costs Rs25 crore or, at most, Rs30 crore. Even if it makes Rs50 crore at the box office, the returns are doubled.” Shajesh goes a step further to say that an expensive Tamil film starring Rajinikanth has higher chances of returns as compared to an equally expensive Shah Rukh Khan film. “Robot and RA.One are perfect examples.”

Trade analyst Amod Mehra concurs. “In the south, the demi-god status of heroes ensures that fans don’t watch pirated films. They will watch a Rajini film only in the theatre, ensuring it does great business, come what may. Hindi film fans have no such criteria.” 

Mehra says that the fact that there are more single screen cinemas in the south than there are multiplexes has ensured that cost of watching films remains low, resulting in more audiences thronging cinemas every week. That makes recovery easier.
Shajesh says that Chennai and Hyderabad are the only two major cities in India where the multiplex boom is waiting to happen. “All other cities have reached their saturation point. Over the next five years, many multiplex properties are expected to spring up in these two cities and other small towns in the south, resulting in better business for Tamil and Telugu films.”

Jain says that the current number of the multiplexes in the country, pegged at around 1,200, is expected to go up to 2,000 in coming years. “And most of them will come up in B- and C-class centres. Where else will they go? Given that, the demand for regional films will only grow,” he says.

Mehra, however, is cautious of the theory. “It may work in the south, but I don’t know how much of an increase in footfalls it will result in for other language films, like Marathi.” Still, the overall state of regional films looks set for a facelift. Mehra sums it up, “Corporates won’t want to miss an opportunity like that. Spreading their network is the only way to grow. How much can they bank on Hindi films after all?”