August 17, 1998

It's Govinda in Patna and Aamir Khan in Pune--the day of the pan-India box-office bonanza seems to be over.

By Anupama Chopra

When a stubbled Aamir Khan eyeballs a giggling Rani Mukherjee and pops the question of the year, "Aati kya Khandala?" India rocks. But Maharashtra, it seems, rocks a little harder. So director Vikram Bhatt's Ghulam is a superhit in the state but is expected to do only half this business elsewhere in India.

Ghulam isn't the only film with varying success. After a five-month drought -- with the exception of Pyar kiya to darna kya, nothing worked from January to June -- it's raining hits in Bollywood. But these aren't the box-office busting, universally appealing hits like Hum aapke hain koun! (HAHK), Dilwale dulhaniya le jayenge (DDLJ), Raja Hindustani or even last year's Dil to pagal hai (DTPH). Instead, these are sectional hits, widely applauded by the audience in some areas but greeted with less enthusiasm in others. The Hindi film audience, once a monolith unanimously voting thumbs up or thumbs down, is becoming increasingly segmented. Earlier too there were stray cases of films doing better in certain pockets, but over the past few years, it's become more common and more pronounced. Now, there is increasing polarisation between the city and the small-town audience. As tastes become more fragmented, filmmakers are struggling to create stories that appeal from Detroit to Dhuliya. And if the recent crop of movies is any indication, it's getting harder to pull off the all-India box-office bonanza.

"Today, the audience has become like a sliced pizza," says Dinesh Raheja, Movie magazine editor and author of a weekly box-office column. "Every state likes a different topping." Indeed. The Mumbai circuit has lapped up Ghulam's Bambaiya flavour -- the film will cross the coveted Rs 4 crore mark here and notch up a healthy Rs 2-2.5 crore in other territories. But surprisingly, the famed Khan magic couldn't draw even an initial audience overseas. On the other hand, a local flavour, a taut narrative and world-class performances have made an unexpected hit of director Ram Gopal Varma's low-budget underworld saga Satya. In its third week, Satya was recording an astounding 94.11 per cent collection in Mumbai but running a deficit in Ludhiana.

Amitabh Bachchan's great white hope, Major Saab, couldn't find many takers in Mumbai but is packing them in, in the North, reportedly on the strength of one rollicking song, Sona, sona ... And Govinda's latest loony caper, Dulhe Raja, is average in cities but looks set to become a superhit in Bihar, surpassing the collections of DDLJ, DTPH and Raja Hindustani. Even the heavy rains in the state have failed to dampen the audience's enthusiasm. Trade magazines report that at some theatres, police had to resort to a lathi charge to control eager crowds. "Earlier, if a film worked, it worked everywhere," says Trade Guide's Taran Adarsh. "But now, certain films work better in certain pockets. The business has become even more unpredictable. The rules are changing every week."

So what are the new rules? Pundits believe that the Mumbai circuit and the south -- home to more A-class centres -- are the most sophisticated markets, receptive to new and unconventional cinema. Love stories, family oriented movies and even comedies are A-class centre fare. While Delhi behaves much like Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh does not. Says leading distributor Tolu Bajaj: "In Mumbai and the south, the city-rural centres divide is 50-50 but in Delhi-Uttar Pradesh, it's 25-75. So a B-grade film like the Mithun Chakraborty starrer Shapath will do better business at some centres than Subhash Ghai's Pardes." Not surprisingly, Bajaj, who has long been associated with blue-chip names like Ghai and Inder Kumar, is now seriously looking at B-grade films for the north market. "After all," he says, "there is no point in serving French cuisine in Allahabad." Less refined fare is preferred there. As also in Bihar and Rajasthan, which are considered the least sophisticated markets -- welcoming lowbrow, loud entertainers. And overseas, conventional wisdom has it, you need a Khan. Any Khan -- Shah Rukh, Aamir, Salman -- will do. But NRIs reject action. Says Ghulam writer Anjum Rajabali: "NRIs mostly want a sugar-coated pill about India. Their need to feel more Indian than Indians themselves and their notions of a mythical Indian family have to be kept alive."

Film buffs believe that television has skewed the level playing field. Says Film Information's Komal Nahta: "Thanks to satellite, the audience is evolving at different levels. Some sections are more exposed and aware. Tastes are totally differing." The trend became pronounced around four years ago, when films like Varma's Rangeela and Maniratnam's Bombay became record-breaking "city-hits". Thanks to increased ticket prices, much of the business also moved to A-class centres. And filmmakers, some say, started to churn out laser disc-influenced, slick city-based and city-oriented movies. "Today's filmmakers are ignoring the heartland in a big way," says director Dharmesh Darshan, whose Raja Hindustani successfully bridged the gap between Mumbai and Bareilly. "But this attitude is so limited. You have to think about everyone, even the exhibitor in Ludhiana. You don't compromise, you adapt and keep a balance between the head and the heart. After all, how can you ask for so much money and then make a film for one state."

It's tough. Spiralling budgets -- an A-grade Hindi film costs an average of Rs 8-10 crore -- make it difficult to work towards a select audience. But making films that mean all things to all people is equally difficult. And dumping in a comedy scene for the Mumbai audience and a raunchy song for Bihar can only result in a plastic pot-pourri. So what's a filmmaker to do? Bajaj recommends controlled budgets and aiming at a specific target audience. "Like in racing, certain horses do better on certain courses, so makers need to be very clear of who their target audience is."

But the creative heads aren't biting. "The Titanic has worked from New York to Akola," says writer Robin Bhatt. "So it's not an impossible task to achieve. There can be no analysis of what works because nobody knows anything. You just have to work on your convictions and make a film to be enjoyed by the maximum number of people." Even Varma, who has proved that the opposite can be done, agrees. "A filmmaker cannot target any audience. There is only one target -- HAHK. In our heart of hearts, all of us, me, Mani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, are competing with Sooraj Barjatya. And that is the only satya (truth)." Exactly.

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