Tough times need tough decisions and rules need to be broken. The big learning from the article below by my veteran friend Prof. Viveck Vaswani is ‘movies arw not made only with money’ - you need something else also. The X factor, the hunger to deliver, the dedication to your job without having to look at the clock, the homework before entering your set, the research before taking random decisions, the study of your target audience and the most important one being ‘FEASIBLITY’ - at all levels! Our audience understands ‘value for money’ - flamboyance of a High price luxe ticket pinches even the richest in India. Everyone likes being rational here, if you really want to give a deal, why not offer buy 1 get 1 free on the pop-corn and coke or any combo. That would be an attraction for the youngsters and audiences. As far as the film-makers are concerned they should just stick to making films at reasonable prices and make them feasible. Learn from the south -Indian film makers and technicians. When they go on a set, they worship their work and they never look for any comfort. No one demands a ‘vanity van’ or outside food. Many jobs done by a small team of people. Thus they make films, unlike Bollywood where we waste money.
There is a new trend. Audience and distributors saw through fake collections.; then they saw through fake reviews; then they saw through fake stars given by fake critics/ analysts/ experts. Now the new thing is, buy one and get one free. Which means that the producers pay for one ticket for every one you buy. Why? so that the collections are boosted, So the OTT platforms which have linked the OTT rights to the box office collections pay for the target collections achieved. How much more can genuine cinema take? How much more will genuine film makers be battered? Wouldn’t it be simpler to just make better films, giving the audience the highest possible quality at the lowest possible price, and making sure that the ticket price at the cinema is affordable for the entire nation? Wouldn’t it? But unfortunately, and I saw it in the end credits of the film that I saw yesterday, more than 500 names in the end credits were lawyers, studio executives, administrative employees, marketing and sales teams, taking up the budget of the film by nearly 30%! Is there seriously no common sense left? When I made Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, I was the producer, the line producer, the executive producer, the casting director, the assistant director, the assistant story writer, the Production secretary, the go between between the actors, the director and the assistants, the marketing head, the PR person and I liaised distribution. I worked as 20 people and didn’t look at the clock. It worked. The film was high quality, low budget, superbly marketed, had a great score and created a mega star! Thirty two years later I am doing it again! In every way! Minimalistic in cost, huge in mounting and its canvas! Great music, young team….If you though Raju was terrific, look out for M*nn*! Giving the audience a great experience! Creating a new distribution model. Getting a great musical score and yet the full film up to censor certificate at 25% of the price that a star could charge… And mouth wateringly priced! Let’s wake up and smell the coffee! Let stakeholders dictate terms, not employees! Let’s just work and not look at the clock! Let’s give cinema a chance! Here’s a hint : the film doesn’t cost money! Everything else does!!!
Independent Producer UK
7moWell said, unfortunately not many people are here for the love of cinema, vast majority are for glamour and personal agenda. Unfortunately people who really want to make good films suffer.