'Main bhi' producer: Small towns see rise in makers of feature films on DVDs

Main bhi chahata hoon mera industry ki bade producer-on mein naam ho, (I want to be recognised as a successful producer).

This sentiment of M.A, LLB, B.Ed businessman Lalji Rai is what lies in the heart of this story.

Walk into any audio-video or even a general store in cities such as Meerut, Gorakhpur, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Allahabad, Ara, Benaras or Lucknow and it’s likely that you’ll be able to find DVDs of locally made films that sell for anywhere between Rs20-25. What is also likely is that you’ll find the producer, actor, director and writer of the film, sitting at a tea stall or chewing a beetle leaf at the local paanwala.

Arvind Chaurasia, who has directed several Doordarshan projects, is often visited by one of these businessmen in his Lucknow office. They all come offering to produce a DVD film, which they want Chaurasia to direct. He advises them against financing a DVD film. “It’s a loss making venture.

But they are insistent, so at times I give in,” says Chaurasia.

Doing the math
These films are not shot on professional film cameras; it’s usually the television news channel cameras that can be hired for as little as Rs700 a day. Anil Yadav, who has acted in small roles in two mainstream Hindi films and two Bhojpuri films, made his debut in the DVD film world with Rai’s Babua Se Pyaar Hogail as a writer.

He is now directing his own DVD film Kripa Shani Dev Ki. “I will shoot the film in 12 days in Pratapgarh district. I spent a little over Rs40,000 to hire a cameraman, crane and trolley.

The shooting usually  takes place in villages or remote areas, so no one has to be paid for the locations,” Yadav says.

Most of these low-budget DVD films are love stories and almost all of them have five to six item numbers packed in.

The music directors, lyricists and performers are all part of local orchestras, which can be hired for as little as Rs15,000. The writers are also sourced locally, with several of them coming from Meerut, the Hindi pulp fiction capital of the nation.

The actors in these films are picked up from the village  natak mandalis. “The male lead is usually played by a producer’s relative or by the director or producer himself.

The other actors are paid a pittance or at times even nothing. They work in these films hoping to be noticed and get a big break. Most actors, other than the female lead, has no financial gain by working in these films,” claims Chaurasia, who himself has played the lead in Yeh Kaisa Parwana and Sajana Tohare Khatir.

The producer spends about Rs2,00,000-2,50,000 to produce a film, which includes about Rs6.70 to purchase the blank DVD and its cover and write the film on the DVD. The film sells around 10,000 copies in about five to six months at Rs15-25 each at local music shops, usually only in the city where the producer lives and a few villages around. At times, a few producers manage to get some local advertisements worth Rs50,000, or more, and place them bang in the middle of the film. “Now, you do the math,” says Chaurasia.

“The equipment is cheap and the shooting schedule is short.

The artists are home-grown, underpaid or not paid at all.

Since there is no distributor involved, no one is buying the film, no one is consulting the censor board  for certification.

Despite the low cost,  it still doesn’t make financial sense. If you get Rs15 for each of the 10,000 DVDs you sell and then add Rs50,000 in case you manage to get local advertisements, you still end up making a loss of Rs50,000,” he explains.

Look who’s watching    
According to Delhi-based 26-year-old High Court and Supreme Court corporate lawyer Shilpa Thakur Pathak, these films are one of the few forms of entertainment for people living in villages. “In towns such as Darbhanga, in Bihar, several shops, even the paanwalas store these DVDs.

When people visit the town closest to their villages, they pick up a few of these DVDs for Rs20-25,” says Thakur, who comes from Raghopur village, the closest town to which is Darbhanga.

Dr Rajesh Jha, an MBBS and MD, who practices in Darbhanga, also says that these films are popular with the rural audiences, who do not have too many forms of entertainment. “

The consumers of locally made films are those who haven’t had exposure to good mainstream films and who can relate more to the characters, locations and the language in these films, which are nothing but poor copies of Hindi films,” says Dr Jha. However, once people see more technically sound Bhojpuri or Hindi films made in Mumbai, it’s difficult for them to go back to the locally made films, he adds.

For Santosh Singh, who runs a general store in the small census town of Dugda in Jharkhand’s Bokaro district, the DVD industry is dying. He stocks DVDs in his general store and claims to sell only 100-150 copies for Rs25-30 in a month, of which he earns Rs4-5 per DVD. “DVD ka bazaar thanda pad gaya hai.

People are now downloading what they need for entertainment and the local labour class, who used to purchase locally made DVD films buy pirated CDs that have three or four Hindi or Bhojpuri films packed in one, that they can buy for Rs40-50,” he rues. Karan Singh, who used to sell locally produced CDs in Dugda and has had to change his business, agrees with Santosh Singh. “Earlier, everybody would buy these DVDs but now they are downloading. The DVD films are only for the labour class now,” he says.

A shot at glory
So why would thousands of people invest lakhs of rupees in a loss making venture? The driving force for producer Rai, who since 2006 has produced more than four films, is pride and fame. “I want to be a known producer,” he says.

For Yadav, who completed his MA and failed to crack the IAS entrance exam multiple times, Kripa Shani Dev Ki is an opportunity to prove his worth. “I want to be successful. I want to be taken seriously. I want the next few generations to remember me,” he says.   

“Jab baccha hawai jahaj maangta hai, tab hum usko aasli wala thodi dete hain. Usko plastic ka model laake dete hain na?  (When a child asks for an airplane do we buy him the real thing? We end up buying him a toy plane, right?). The case is similar with our cinema,” says Chaurasia, drawing out the analogy.

Producing low-cost DVD films have become a catharsis for thousands of people in small towns who have secretly harboured the dream of making it big or getting noticed in the entertainment industry all their lives. It is their chance to be in the spotlight. It’s driven by the conviction that the director they have taken on board will deliver a masterpiece.

“These are the people who are easy prey to failed, out of work, frustrated or wannabe directors,” claims Chaurasia.

“Some director catches hold of a financer and shows him glamorous dreams. He starts shooting a film, without  a crane or a trolley. He just perches a handycam or any other small camera on a stand and shoots six songs in one day.

He makes the film for as little as Rs1lakh and pockets the rest of the money. Who is going to see that film?” says Yadav, who shot his upcoming DVD film Kripa Shani Dev Ki in 12 days.

Everyone from the writer to the director to the producer and his friends and relatives, who act in lead roles, get into these films with a hope that the commercial masterpiece, which is usually a love story, will become a sensation among neighbours, relatives, villagers and the masses and make them an overnight success. “The goal is not to make a technically sound film. Glamour is what they’re aiming for and 90% of the producers never end up making a second film,” concludes Chaurasia.

And then there are people like Rai, who can’t stop pushing their luck, don’t give up hope and are addicted enough to place bigger bets with each loss. “Abhi main badi budget ki picture banaunga. It’ll be a big mainstream Bhojpuri film,” he says.

Fame comes at a price and the going rate in India’s heartland is Rs2.5 lakh.

In the words of the item girl
At what age did you deliver your first public performance?
I started performing on stage at the age of seven.

How many stage performances, films, item songs have you performed in?
I have performed in every part of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. I have also performed in cities in South India. I have also done item numbers for local music videos.

I have acted and performed item numbers for about seven DVD films and I am scheduled to shoot an item number for a Bhopuri film next month.

How was the experience of working for DVD films? Did it do your career any good?
No, they didn’t. Yeh sab producer choti aur sasti filmein banate hain aur khud hi ghar mein chala ke dekhte hain (These guys make films and watch them at home). I owe my career to my stage performances and my recognition to the item songs I did for Bhojpuri music albums.

Do you know of anyone who has benefited by working in a DVD film, a success story?
No. The DVD filmmakers don’t pay well; no one watches their films and their films are not good enough to get us work in the future. Most local artists have understood that.

What do you mean by they don’t pay well? How much do they pay?
The payment is 25% that of what we get when we do shows and 10 or 20 per cent of what we get for doing an item number in a Bhojpuri video or a film.

How much is that?
It really depends. We get Rs10,000 for doing a Bhojpuri film item song, sometimes less. It all depends on the artist. In DVD films a popular item girl will get Rs 1000-1500 for a song. Sometimes, they bargain and even pay people as little as Rs500 or Rs200.

Are you serious?
Yes. I don’t know what’s wrong with people these days.

Earlier men would work for a pittance, to get a break; women would still get paid. Now even women, just to get a break, are willing to work for free. They go to any extent just to get an opportunity to work in a film. They are often exploited and misused.