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.
Jag:
ReplyDeleteI would beg to differ slightly!
People invest in films because, in this businees there is an opportunity to not only make money but also acquire tremendous fame simultaneously that is not so readily possible in their original bussiness. There are lot of success stories, in both Hollywood and Bollywood of directors, producers, singers, songwriters, and actors who have been able to achieve fame & fortune beyond their comprehension. The real culprit is that people who invest, get so overwhelmed and enamoured by the glamor in this show business that they forget it is a real business which is perhaps tougher than their regular business. It is no different than venturing into any new business with all the headaches, however the only difference is that other businesses do not have such ability to sweep you off your feet as this show business. If one manages to keep one's focus on the business side and not treat it like a gambling outing in a casino, where you know you are just going for fun, then it is definitely possible to make money and not be honeytrapped so that you can not check out. A lot of producers and directors have been financially successful for generations in this field, becuase they understand the true nature of this business and they do not treat it like gambling. The fact is that people who come in this show business looking for fun or glamor do actually get just that, and wind up loosing their investment. A great Indian director once said that " there is no glamor inside the show business, the only glamor is on the outside."
wonderful article!
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