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CINEMA: SMALL-BUDGET FILMS
Size Doesn't
Matter
It's no longer a cinch that a
movie with a big budget will hit paydirt. The small movie, increasingly,
is the one that's raking in the bucks.
By
Anupama Chopra
Stars
make me sick," producer Mukesh Bhatt says with a laugh, "I'm
so glad their zamindari is over." Bhatt has reason to smile. He's
in Ooty, overseeing the making of a supernatural thriller called Raaz.
The film, starring models Dino Morea and Bipasha Basu, will be completed
in two schedules and cost Rs 3 crore. "The kids are so enthusiastic,"
Bhatt continues, "We start work at 8 a.m., play cricket after lunch,
finish at 10.30 p.m. This is the only way to work. Make films of substance,
on your own terms."
Bhatt seems to have hit upon something. Last
month, he released Kasoor, a Rs 3 crore thriller, ripped off from the
Glenn Close-starrer Jagged Edge. The film had a reputed director (Vikram
Bhatt) but no stars (Aftab Shivdasani and Lisa Ray). The Gujarat earthquake
had decimated the western territory by at least Rs 30-40 lakh, but Kasoor
surprised everyone by taking the biggest opening of the year in Mumbai
and then holding on admirably, even in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Kasoor
isn't Kaho Naa Pyar Hai but its distributors have made money. Meanwhile
heavyweight films like Aashiq have sunk. "We make big ideas,"
says Mukesh, "not big films."
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Rahul
Producer: Subhash Ghai
Director: Prakash Jha
Stars: Neha, Jatin Grewal
Budget: Rs 1.5 crore
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Call them the little big films. Faced with a
shortage of stars and chronic box office failure (last year, 219 releases
produced one blockbuster), Bollywood seems to be discovering a new formula.
Films with little face-value that are high on concepts, low on budgets
and are completed in a given time frame. But these aren't the usual sparse-looking
art-house products. These are mainstream films, complete with songs and
aggressive promotional strategies. These films push the formula, and,
if they work, may provide an alternative to the increasingly vulnerable
Bollywood mega-movie.
Even Subhash Ghai, the showman famous for 70
mm melodramas, is going minimalist with a Rs 1.5 crore movie called Rahul.
Directed by Prakash Jha and produced by Ghai, Rahul is the story of an
estranged couple told from the point of view of their four-and-a-half
year-old-son. Ghai himself is currently directing the big budget Hrithik
Roshan-Kareena Kapoor starrer Yaadein but backing Rahul made perfect sense.
"From now on," Ghai predicts, "you'll only see two kinds
of films: the small ones with different stories and no stars or the really
big films with stars. There is no midway."
Indeed. So Jha has also tied up with filmmakers
Govind Nihalani, John Mathan, Romesh Sharma and Pravin Nischol to launch
Entertainment One. The company aims to encourage new talent in films and
television and is looking primarily at medium-budget movies. But, says
Jha, maker of serious fare like Damul and Mrityudand, "It's not arty
stuff. We want to do profit-making films." Entertainment One, which
will also have a sister concern called Music One, will launch its first
film by March 20. Shringar Films, blue chip distributors and exhibitors,
are also entering production with the small film. The company will make
up to three films a year, each costing between Rs 1.5-2 crore.
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Raaz
Producer: Mukesh Bhatt
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Stars: Bipasha Basu, Dino Morea
Budget: Rs 3 crore |
Director Raman Kumar, who shaped Indian television
with Tara, is returning to the big screen with Aur Phir, a Rs 2.5 crore
movie about a young couple who move abroad. The film, which will be extensively
shot in Australia, looks at a live-in relationship, a different culture
and how it impacts on love. And coming soon is producer R. Mohan's Chandni
Bar, a gritty look at the life of a Mumbai bar girl, played by Tabu. Chandni
Bar, a Rs 2 crore drama, was completed in two schedules. Mohan's Shogun
Films will be launching three more films, all with budgets of Rs 2 crore.
"I can't make movies the way they are being made today," says
Mohan. "First you talk to Shah Rukh Khan, get dates for 2002, then
find a script. Here we are giving something different."
Different is the mantra of the small film. "The
medium budget doesn't guarantee content," says filmmaker Ram Gopal
Varma, "but the probability is that the maker will be more alert.
The minute you have a star you're thinking of a Rs 5-lakh choreographer
in a Rs 10 lakh location." Varma should know. His 1998 hit Satya
foreshadowed the little big film. And Varma, who has stars vying to work
with him, has all but abandoned big movies, concentrating instead on distinctive
smallies like Kaun. He is now producing Pyar Tune Kya Kiya, a Rs 5 crore
tale of fatal attraction, and directing Company, a look at the Dawood-Chhota
Rajan rivalry, which will have a big budget but few stars.
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Chandni Bar
Producer: Mukesh Bhatt
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Stars: Tabu, Atul Kulkarni
Budget: Rs 2 crore
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Stars, super-expensive and super-busy, are forcing
makers to look at other alternatives. At any given time, at least 50 reputed
banners are chasing 10 heroes. But the money and the effort don't guarantee
a hit. Recently, names as big as Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Ajay Devgan and
Salman Khan have failed even to get an initial audience. Says Trade Guide's
editor Taran Adarsh: "In four weeks, we had two releases, Farz and
Champion, which had Sunny playing a cop from Punjab. Obviously neither
worked. People are tired of the same stories and faces." With newer
markets opening up, the small film is also becoming increasingly viable.
Kasoor's entire budget was recovered from audio, satellite and overseas
sales.
The key is an expert promotion and distribution
strategy. Kasoor's astounding 94 per cent opening in Mumbai was attributed
to the high-adrenaline television commercials, made by Vikram Bhatt himself.
Mohan launched Chandni Bar in an actual Mumbai beer bar-Tabu danced with
real-life bar girls-generating reams of press. Also, small films need
small releases. Says Shringar's Shravan Shroff: "If you're making
a Maruti 800, don't try selling it like the Mercedes."
The coming multiplexes (despite the lack of
a tax policy, Mumbai will have at least four by the year-end) will also
help jump-start the small film. "We can't make more than 30 big budget
movies a year," says Kumar, "and we need at least 130 movies
to sustain our theatres. This is the only alternative." So both makers
and audiences can look forward to moving beyond the formula. Finally,
size doesn't matter.
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