By Rohit Sharma

The year 2009 has been a nightmare of sorts for Bollywood. Going by the sheer number of flop movies, Bollywood might just get used to sad endings. The Indian film industry hasn’t experienced a profitable year after 2006, and 2009 was just an addendum to the hat-trick. Even critically acclaimed movie like Shimit Amin’s Rocket Singh failed to draw in the audience. The rocket fizzled out within its first week with a weak response of around 30-40 per cent. The box office collections for Paa — the definite award sweeper for 2010 — do not look promising enough as the movie enters its third week. These movies follow an array of gargantuan flops of this year — Kurbaan, London Dreams, Blue, Main Aur Mrs. Khanna and many more — despite boasting of big production houses and superstars.

For Bollywood, 2009 has been a tragic year. Barring a few flash-in-the-pan hits, most of the films flopped making 90 per cent of the financiers lose money. Most movies couldn’t shroud the Bolly-backyard full of flops that marred the producers bad.

The omen

The year began on an ominous note. Much hyped Chandni Chowk to China opened the year only to face extreme criticism from all corners. Noted Indian film critic Taran Adarsh gave the movie 1.5/5 stars, calling it “a big, big, big letdown”. Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman said, “This galumphing elephant of a chopsocky revenge-of-the-nerd quasi-musical lacks the lyrical choreographic beauty that has marked such Stateside Bollywood releases as the gorgeous Lagaan.” In three weeks, the Akshay Kumar-Deepika Padukone’s “chopsocky” collected only Rs 130 million.

Even ‘star’ power or publicity could not guarantee a hit. Critically panned Kambakkht Ishq salvaged the reputation of Akshay Kumar to an extent. Domestically, the movie opened to 90-100 per occupancy and garnered Rs 360 million in its first week. But, another ambitious film Billu, made under Shahrukh Khan’s banner, went flat at the box office with only Rs 370 million after six weeks.

Thereafter, most of the movies released during the mid-year disappointed. Star sons were given grand launch pads (Jackky Bhagnani in Kal Kisne Dekha), movies were launched with media blitzkrieg (Delhi 6), and actors were given phenomenal comebacks (Rani Mukherji in Dil Bole Hadippa), but their fate were already in shambles. Films like What’s Your Rashee (collection of Rs 110 million), Jail (Rs 60 million), Aladin (Rs 60 million), Aa Dekhe Zara (Rs 20 million) along with many others only added to the massive loss of Rs 7 billion to the industry, according to experts.

Even big banner productions could not moved audiences to multiplexes. For instance, there was enough brouhaha about ‘Saifeena’ starrer Kurbaan — from plot to cast to Shiv Sena’s poster noise. But much to the chagrin of Karan Johar, this safe bet was waiting to turn unsafe. On the day of its release, the movie barely managed 40 per cent occupancy and the following weeks saw deteriorating results. This was a big blow to Dharma Productions and a bigger one to real-life couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor who have given three consecutive flops since their first pairing in LOC (later in Tashan). Downcast by Kurbaan’s outcome, Khan’s production house Illuminati has brought down the budget of its next film Agent Vinod, also starring Saif and Kareena, from Rs 650 million to Rs 400 million.

Corporate quandary

So, is it just the fading creativity that could be blamed for Bollywood’s 2009 debacle? Not entirely. The economic slowdown that gobbled industries across the world had its impact on Bollywood too. To be fair, the box office seemed recession-proof towards the end of 2008 with movies like Ghajini and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi doing exceptionally well. But things started to turn blue since banks got hit by losses, forcing them to take cost-cutting measures, including going slow on film financing. Most of Bollywood’s finances come from private capitals and financiers along with producers tapping banks (like IDBI and Exim Bank) and institutions. In an interview to Business Standard, officials from Exim Bank said they have become cautious in lending to this sector, and are now taking extra steps to screen proposals and monitor payment flows.

Producers felt the pinch and had trouble in finding buyers for their projects made with astronomical figures which were piled on by the hefty fees charged by stars. For instance, the rights of Blue were difficult to sell. Made with an approximate amount of Rs 1.14 billion, producer Ashtavinayak (also, Jab We Met) failed to find a buyer who could afford the rights and finally resorted to selling theatrical rights to individual territory distributors between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 1.8 crore. But the movie tanked at the box office without a trace even after ostentatious publicity, including a special appearance by Kylie Minogue.

The year also began with a huge blow to the film industry with almost no new releases for two months. The multiplexes-producers/distributors tiff over revenue sharing led to a whopping Rs 3-billion loss to the industry. The stand-off ended with a mutual agreement, but the damage was also felt by industries like advertising and hoardings with an estimated loss of Rs 1 billion. Multiplexes were also hit hard. In Q1 this year, PVR reported a plunge of 46 per cent in revenues, Adlabs Films saw a net loss of Rs 640 million, Cinemax reported a net loss of Rs 5.8 million and INOX lost Rs 40 million. Theatres had no option but to repeat old movies which didn’t draw crowds. According to Screenindia.com, loss was also seen in the sales of food & beverages at multiplexes too — PVR’s sales dipped to Rs 3.15 crore and Adlabs to Rs 1.13 crore.

If events like IPL-2 distracted audiences, other factors like Swine flu scare kept people away from theatres. Bollywood then resorted to cost-cutting measures, with job cuts being the favourite. In early 2009, Yash Raj Films (YRF) was understood to have laid-off 20 of its employees as a part of its cost-cutting initiatives.

Reeling 2010

With a bad year behind, the Hindi film industry is pinning its hopes on the initial months of 2010 with a host of biggies lined up. 2009 ends with the year’s most awaited and superbly publicized film 3 Idiots that stars Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead. Karan Johar, recovering from Kurbaan’s losses, has planned a safe bet with My Name Is Khan, which stars Shahrukh Khan who had only one release in 2009. The film, rumoured to be made with a budget of Rs 1 billion, releases in February. Other biggies line up till March include Chance Pe Dance with Shahid Kapoor, Rakesh Roshan’s Kites, Amitabh Bachchan starrer Rann, Salman Khan’s much delayed Veer and Bachchan-Ben Kingsley starrer Teen Patti. Small-budget movies like Ishqiya, Dulha Mil Gaya, Hook Ya Crook, Housefull and many more are expected to release soon. The long due Reliance Big Entertainment’s deal with Hollywood’s mammoth production house, Steven Speilberg’s Dreamworks, was finally signed. The US$825 million worth Anil Ambani-Speilberg partnership has already announced its first three Hollywood projects— Pirate Latitudes, I am Number 4 and Harvey.

After a dreary year, Bollywood’s New Year wishlist would surely include fresher scripts, new talents and a changing audience. As they say, kabhi khushi, kabhi gham, but a bountiful box office collection is sorely missed.

Indiabiznews