Rehash, Remake and Replay

• "Mughal-e-Azam" and "Naya Daur" were recently re-released in colour with digitally enhanced soundtracks.
• "Don", "Sholay", "Devdas", "Umrao Jaan" and many more classic hits are being (or have been) remade. Some have remained true to the original storyline, while some have been adapted to a more modern storyline.
• "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" was re-released to celebrate it's decade of success.

The aforesaid are just some examples how the film industry has been using nostalgia to rake in money from old classics. The music industry has been at it for quite some time as there was a phase when albums of remixed old songs outnumbered new original music itself. Then there are movies like "Bluffmaster" which used remixes of old songs quite intelligently. Giving the movie a little old-school feel while being completely new in story. There were remixes of "Do aur Do Paanch", "Sabse Bada Ruppaiya" and "Eena Meena Deeka" among others; the intelligent part was that the songs used reflected very well the con-artist theme of the movie itself. "Jhankaar Beats" is another such example where the music of maestro R. D. Burman was the essence of the movie. Another tactic is basing the movie title on old musical hits. "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge", "Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost" and "Dil Vil Pyaar Vaar" are few examples where the songs with these titles were huge hits.

Then there is there is the "inspiration" game. I'm not against this as long as the storyteller provider his / her perspective to the original book or movie. "Omkara" was an excellent play on Shakespeare's" Othello", "Sarkar" a good adaptation of "Godfather" as was the movie adaptation of Amrita Pritam's novel "Pinjar" and there is also the unforgettable classic "Angoor" based once again on Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors". All the aforesaid acknowledged their source of inspiration and rightly so. On the other hand are movies like "The Killer (Collateral)", "Abracadabra (Harry Potter)", and "Commando (Where Eagles Dare and American Ninja)" that are practically frame-by-frame rip-offs of the movies they have been inspired from with just a few changes twists thrown in here and there to make it look a little different. I'm appalled at how these blatant copyright violations even escape the legal tangle.

Using animation to tell old stories is gaining momentum in Indian cinema. Mythological epics such as "Ramayana" and popular gods like "Lord Hanuman" and "Lord Ganesha" have already been 'tooned'. A thought I have here is perhaps to animate some powerful classics like "Sikander-e-azam" or "Prithviraj Chauhan" using the soundtrack as it is (perhaps enhancing it further) and animating the visuals. What a pleasure it would be to hear the baritone voice of Sohrab Modi once again on the silver screen. The animation on the other hand would provide a means to make the classic even grander :) One may even give the visuals a more contemporary feel, the possibilities are endless. Virgin Comics has been trying to do this on the comic front in their tie-up with some renowned filmmakers and Gotham Comics.

Rehash, Remake and Replay is here to stay...

The Merchandising Game

Production companies in the US have been very successful in using merchandising as an alternative revenue stream to pure ticket sales for a movie. Some movies have a whole universe built around them that has created fan cults. "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" are just some examples that have books, games, comics and animation series complementing the original offerings.

Merchandising however has not been very successful in India. The only successful venture that comes to mind is the "Koi Mil Gaya" and sequel "Krrish" franchise. There is an offshoot kids' series on television featuring the alien "Jadoo" that was there in the first movie. Also another sequel to "Krrish" is planned. "Bunty aur Babli" had limited success with apparel stores launching a clothing line featuring the styles worn by Rani Mukherjee in the film. "Roop ki Rani, Choron ka Raja" however was not very successful with the character figurines as the movie itself failed to deliver on the box-office. Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan also gave a shot at merchandising by being launched as the protagonist of the comic book series "Supremo" which had very few additions. A point to note here is the Jackie Chan, the Homg-Kong actor has a very successful cartoon series "Jackie Chan Adventures" which is quite popular in India too.

Most of the merchandising today in India is centered around mobile and PC related downloads. Perhaps the biggest revenue earner apart from the ticket sales is from the soundtrack, as music is an integral part of the movie even today in India. However with the advent of MP3, specially pirated copies, this revenue stream is being hurt badly. We do not make movies that lend themselves to the merchandising game. One reason for this can be that most movies in India have an undertone of romance or some social message, thus it makes it difficult to identify how to add merchandising. However we can take cues from movies/books like "The Da-Vinci Code", which promoted Louvre to offer tours based on the events in the book.

The 2004 movie "Dhoom" had great potential to play the merchandising game. As the movie centered heavily around motorbikes, biking gear, customized bikes (akin to those used in the movie) and scaled down models of the bikes could have been potential revenue streams. A racing game based on the chases in the film (whether as a mobile or a PC download) would have further augmented the merchandise. While this may sound quite ridiculous, but a "Devdas" co-branded liquor (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) would've been an interesting addition to the movie merchandise, given the significance of the same in the movie :)

I visited Universal Studios last year and was amazed by the various attractions. Warner Brothers, Disney and Discovery Channel all have stores that sell merchandise related to programming offered by them and its great to hear that something similar is finally opening in India too. The state of Maharashtra has been very proactive on that front, read the news here and here. Even Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad has an interesting proposition, they have sets for various global cities in the complex and some of these are offered for honeymoon couples who can't afford to go to the real place! Now that's what I call enterprising...

Exporting Movies

The Indian cinema industry is perhaps the biggest in the world and the number of people that watch movies is also perhaps the largest. Despite this the revenues generated in our industry are nowhere near the revenues generated say in Hollywood.

Cost of production in Hollywood is higher and the price ticket ($5-$12) range also higher. On the other hand cost of production locally and the price ticket ($1 - $4) in India is lower. This however also provides a unique arbitrage opportunity. We pride in our English speaking capabilities, so I wonder why we can't make movies that can transcend borders without difficulty? Will it be so difficult to make a movie in English that can do well in the Tier-I and Tier-II Indian cities as well as other international centres? Let's take the recent "Life in a ... Metro", which showcases life in a blossoming metropolitan city; the premise of the movie is applicable worldwide. Another option could be to make the movie in both Hindi and English (not dubbed), which could provide an even wider reach.

Many Chinese movies (predominantly from Hong-Kong) enjoy immense popularity with the Indian masses. Jackie Chan's movies and the martial-arts based movies are perhaps enjoyed the most. We should be able to take the reverse route too. Actors like Mithun Chakraborty and Rajnikanth are quite popular in other countries like Russia and Japan respectively, which is something we should use to our advantage. This might also lead to better acceptance of our actors in the international arena. Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat and Jackie Chan have all been part of major Hollywood blockbusters and the availability of their regional language cinema in the English language might be one of the reasons for their visibility and acceptance in the Hollywood industry.

Product Placement and Viruddh

Product placement has been a valid marketing tool and used in various movies and television serials. The Jim Carey starrer "The Truman Show" showcased the use of product placement very well. In the movie the truman show is a 24/7 reality show based on the life of Jim Carey, who is actually unaware of the same. Being continuous, there are no commercial breaks in the show so all advertising has to be through product placement and the actors of the show promoting the products as well from time to time.

Hindi movies have also started using product placement and two examples I'd like to illustrate are the Big B starrers "Viruddh" and "Cheeni Kum". I did not see "Viruddh" completely but I saw three products being promoted quite blatantly. We had Sanjay Dutt promoting the products of "Elf" by not only wearing their uniform but also giving advice to a customer to use Elf engine oil. There is also a scene where the various characters are painting the house and the products of "Nerolac" are quite visible. The icing on the cake is the "Nerolac" jingle playing in the background as the gentlemen get to work. Then there is "Navratan" oil, which Sharmila Tagore is applying to the head of her daughter-in-law.

"Cheeni Kum" used a slightly different approach. The movie had situations interleaved which were used by companies in their usual promotion. ICICI used it for their insurance advertisements and Cadila Healthcare for "Sugar Free Natura". Infact the tag line for the movie itself is "a sugar free romance" and even their website features a scene from the movie (where the product placement is quite apparent). This is in a way akin to the context sensitive advertising used by companies like Google etc.

My view is that product placement works when the viewer does not realize that the product is actually being advertised to them, "Viruddh" seemed to take it a little too far by being so explicit. "Cheeni Kum" had an innovative approach but once again the product placement became a little too apparent.

Life imitates art ... or is it the other way round

There is often debate whether we are being corrupted by what we see on the silver screen and the idiot-box. There are drives to remove "immoral" scenes from movies such as deleting scenes showing the protagonists smoking or getting cozy which may give ideas to the populace at large. This however raises the further question whether movies are influenced by life around us or are we influenced by movies?

I think it is more of the former than the latter. Let's take a brief view of the history of Indian cinema itself. Earlier movies were historical and mythological in nature. Perhaps because these kind of stories were predominant. Then as the country struggled to get back on its feet itself after independence and moved from an agro to an industrial economy, movies like "Do Beegha Zameen" centered around the struggles of the people moving to city centres and exploitation of the common man during the late fifties and early sixties. This followed by the dacoit movies, when "Chambal ki Ghaati" and "Gabbar Singh" put fear in the heart of all during the seventies.

Then came social issues related to dowry, untouchability and family values which led to movies like "Saraansh" in the eighties. The Nineties were more romantic and some level of experimentation by directors. "Shiva", "Gentleman" are classic examples and it was surprising that many fresh concepts originated outside Bollywood in more regional cinema. We are a more open society today and movies today are a reflection of the same. Some recent examples - "Salaam Namaste", "Hum-Tum", "Ek Hasina thi", "Bhoot" and even "Krrish". Romance and Comedy have been evergreen subjects, "Devdaas: has been made thrice with K. L. Saigal, Dilip Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan all playing the lead character in the different eras of Indian cinema.

Are their more live-in relationaships and single mothers after "Salaam Namaste" released or is the movie a reflection of the trend in the society with higher disposable income, higher eductaion levels and greater independence among the youth... I rest my case...

The First Post

This blog is inspired by the recent flurry in the various media promoting the use of movies as a medium of education to illustrate business concepts. You can read the news here.

I want to extend this to the various lessons we can learn from the movies. These may be in the form of social messages, lifestyle related issues and discussion of relationships in addition to concepts related to business.

This is a window to the real world through the film screen and I invite you to accompany me on this journey.

Stay tuned ...