A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak about the Business Of Bollywood in front of a very distinguished gathering of entrepreneurs, industrialists, eminent doctors and other professionals at the Taj in Colaba. Someone asked a very pertinent question. In spite of the fact that week after week one reads about films flopping at the box office and the statistics are that ten out of hundred films released in a year barely do better than covering their cost, why do people invest in movies?
My answer was that it is the lure of the 3G spectrum: GLAMOUR, GLORY and GAMBLE, that attracts investment in movies. One can make a lot of money in transportation business or running a steel mill but that doesn't give them a brush with GLAMOUR. You announce one film as a producer and there is a continuous stream of young, beautiful people armed with portfolios carrying pictures of their toned up bodies, visiting your office looking for that elusive break.
Now comes the GLORY part. You can be the most accomplished structural engineer or a nuclear scientist with a Ph.D, but other than your fellow workers no one else will even know your name. You produce one Desh Drohi and everyone comes to know who Kamaal Khan is.
Then comes the thrill of the GAMBLE. Once you have made enough money in another business that you can afford to lose some, you come to the movie business for throwing your dice hoping that it may hit the jackpot. It is the same reason one goes to a casino, knowing fully well that the odds are against you.
Every new producer comes with the hope of making their '3 idiots' but more often than not there is only one idiot and we all know who that is. Even then, drawn by the lure of the 3Gs, year after year new entrants come in this Show Business ( as BR Chopra once wisely said, ' it is all Show and no Business' ) providing job opportunities for thousands of technicians and a cushy, privileged life style for the stars, making this industry a honeytrap in which once you check in you can't check out.
