Big budget or smart budget – What could be the success formula for Bollywood? – #BigStory | Hindi Movie News
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As per the observe document of 2022, not many huge budget movies (like Samrat Prithviraj, Shamshera, Laal Singh Chaddha) tasted success at the ticket home windows, whereas many smart budget movies (like Badhaai Do, The Kashmir Files, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2) did spectacular enterprise. In South cinema too, there have been some shock hits in the type of Kantara, Karthikeya 2, Sita Ramam that weren’t mounted on an enormous scale, however had been actual crowd pullers. On the different hand, huge budget movies like KGF, RRR, Ponniyin Selvan too did spectacular enterprise. Of course, that they had their share of disappointments too.
In at present’s #BigStory, we search views from commerce analysts, exhibitors and filmmakers on what could be the final success formula for Bollywood. Whether huge budget movies have to revisit their expense sheets, or is it smart budgeting alone that may sail the ship by and revive Hindi cinema. Read on.
Big budget/small budget
Changing occasions and altering style of the viewers demand an evolution in the thought course of behind filmmaking too. Looking at the destiny of most of the latest huge budget movies, it might not be fallacious to conclude that star energy is a factor of the previous. The viewers is extra to observe high quality content material, and never every kind of movies will entice footfalls into the cinemas. As a consequence, smart budgeting appears to be the most vital step in the filmmaking course of.
Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta believes huge budget or small budget doesn’t matter all the time. “The budgets do not matter if there are no stars,” he says. “We’ve seen these South films like Kantara, Karthikeya working despite no big stars. Whatever money is spent, is spent on the film. Secondly, they are doing well because they have wonderful scripts, that is the main thing. It’s not the budgets, but the scripts that are working.”
Film exhibitor and distributor Akshaye Rathi says whether or not the budget is huge or small, smart budget is the key. “And that is not defined by the kind of actors in the film. It is defined by the intrinsic value of the story. Now you can take a very niche story and make a superstar feature in it, but that won’t add value. And you can also take a very massy story and cast a very niche actor in it; even that won’t work. So it has to be the right combination that justifies a smart budget. I think that’s the way forward,” he says. “Movies like RRR or KGF, even at their mega budgets, are smartly budgeted. But a film featuring, let’s say Rajkummar Rao, which is a niche tale, even at its budget possibly was steep. So it’s the story that defines the budget more than anything else.”
As per Sanjay Gupta it’s not the scale of the motion pictures like Ponniyin Selvan, RRR, Karthikeya or Kantara that made a distinction. “Many big scale films in South have also bombed. An equally large number of small budget films have also bombed. It is not the budget or the scale that is working at the box office, it is the script, the honesty and the sincerity of the filmmaker that is working or failing depending on the effort put in making the film,” he says.
Trade analyst Komal Nahta agrees the star energy has diminished. “Definitely content material used to work earlier additionally, however there was a lot sheen of the stars that generally even common content material was accepted. And due to star worth, the movies grew to become above common and have become a success. Now after the pandemic, the style of the viewers has modified, the consciousness about the content material has elevated and the similar stars don’t maintain up the appeal that that they had earlier. Therefore, the whole focus is now on content material. Until the content material isn’t good, the movie isn’t going to work.
Smaller stars chalenge, lekin lesser content material nahi chalega. Average content material with nice stars isn’t the formula, however smaller stars with nice content material is unquestionably a successful formula,” he says.
Curtailing manufacturing prices
Time and once more it’s stated that movies do not fail, however it’s the budgets that fail. “And this holds true because we have seen many films doing good business, but since the landing cost was high, those films got a flop tag,” says commerce analyst Atul Mohan. “A 200 crore film doing business of 100 crore can’t be called a hit because it didn’t recover the investors’ money. Smart budget is the only way out now. Invest only that amount which the film has potential to return.”
Sanjay Gupta analyses the latest failures of huge budget Hindi movies and believes it’s the scripts which have failed. “Let’s be objective and fair. Were these good films or good scripts? Did they offer something new for the audience, or for the actors to do. Did the scripts present the actors in a new way that would be enticing? No,” he says. “So if something is failing at the box office, it is not the stars, it is not the budget, it is not the scale, it is the scripts that are failing. That is where we need to really pull our socks up, get our act together and stop taking the audience for granted. They are today exposed to everything. During the pandemic we sat at home and watched great content on OTT that has enlightened the average Indian. They know a good story, good content when they see it. They will not accept bullshit.”
Komal Nahta believes it’s only trustworthy filmmaking that may click on with the viewers. “I can solely say South filmmakers are making trustworthy movies. Stories instructed from the coronary heart and integrity stand extra possibilities than dishonest tales or compromised tales or those who have undergone modifications 20 occasions. Bollywood isn’t making trustworthy tales. Sure, the Khans and Kumars do get the consideration, however the underlying assumption of the distributors and exhibitors is that the content material should have been taken care of by the writers and producers. But in the case of small stars/small movies, the expectation isn’t there. But in the case of huge stars,
naam bade darshan chhote,” he critiques.
Tanuj Garg shares that his manufacturing firm has thus far been in the enterprise of well budgeted, excessive-idea, mid-dimension and higher mid-dimension movies, which have labored each creatively and financially. “We don’t think it’s about big or small budgets as much as it is about smart budgets. Rationalising actor and entourage costs, along with curtailing crew sizes, is among the many crucial steps for efficient working that require institution,” he says.
Should actors slash their charges?
Akshay Kumar’s assertion about actors’ charges stirred up a hornet’s nest with many coming ahead to query his personal ask from the producers, particularly after the latest buzz about his walkout from Hera Pheri 3.
“The thing with Akshay is that his choice of subject is totally wrong. And secondly, charity begins at home. If he is saying stars should slash their fees, he should be an example and first declare that he is slashing his own fee,” says Komal Nahta. “
Marvel ki baat kar rahe hain, however Marvel jaisa content material bhi chahiye. Khali budget se nahi hoga. The Hollywood and South filmmakers work very exhausting on the topics. They don’t give extra significance to the stars.
Bollywood mein stars ko bahot significance hai. No hurt in that, however don’t deal with your script as dust that anyone and everyone can come and alter. There is not any hurt in giving extra significance to stars however not at the price of script. No script is inferior to the star. Script is the greatest star.
Jab tak wo nahi hoga achchi filmein nahi banengi. They must reinvent the enterprise. It has to be a multi pronged method –
huge budget banao, lekin content material acha ho. Content acha ho, lekin star payment kum ho, in order that burden on the movie isn’t an excessive amount of.”
Sanjay Gupta feels hefty star charges are justified provided that they’ll convert it into footfalls. “As far as Bollywood is concerned, stars were taking big sums and we producers were paying them because somewhere they were justified. They gave us good openings, sales on digital and satellite, on music… Today what Hrithik Roshan sells on music is very different from what anybody else does. So yes, it justifies the money that he asks for. So is the case with Akshay Kumar and everybody else. It is the post pandemic scenario that has changed. The audience does not believe in the star system anymore. They don’t go to a theatre to see a star, they go if they are convinced it is a good film. Even today, if a star wants to charge an astronomical fee, it is justified if he translates that into footfalls in cinema. So if the star’s fee can be deferred in relation to performance of a film, then there is no problem in paying them big monies. But if you are paying a huge amount and then the star cannot bring people to the theatres, then it is not justified,” he says.
Akshaye Rathi echoes the sentiment as he says, “Actors’ fees is a very critical element because in most of our Hindi films, whether we like it or not, it becomes one of the biggest overheads on the production budgets. While I completely understand that the superstars bring a certain degree of visibility and excitement around a film, the kind of budget that we’ve been seeing of late really doesn’t justify the kind of fee they charge upfront. So I am all for these superstars taking a very significant stake in the back end, but by front loading the project with a massive fee, they are only killing their own market. Because then the producer has to compromise on the making and the scale and the spectacular value of the film as a larger chunk of the budget is allocated to the talent fee. So a rational bare minimum upfront fee for the stars is completely understandable, because they give their time and effort to the films, but beyond that I think the larger chunk of the fee that the actors get need to be a part of the back end and the profit shares that come out of the movie’s monetisation.”
Atul Mohan believes correction has to ‘begin from the top, i.e. actors, and go all the way till the unnecessary marketing spends’. “We can make films like Marvel – Sooryavanshi and War are recent examples of films that worked big time, but to make these kinds of films you need big money,” he says. “Gone are the days when a single producer used to make multi-starrers. Now multi-producers are not able to make solo hero films. Again the budget here plays the biggest role to make films with 2-3 heroes.”
Amod Mehra provides not simply stars, even the administrators’ payment and different bills have to be curtailed. “If you are making good cinema, then the price of the actors is out of question. Now you have to do it the other way around – give token money, if the movie works, the actors can take a share. Gone are the days when actors were paid 50-90 crore for a film. Even directors should be paid less. Why are directors paid 25-40 crore? It wasn’t the case earlier. Even the best of directors like Vijay Anand did not charge lakhs of rupees. Why do you think a film like 83 ran into losses? The hero took 45 crore, the director took 25 crore. They spent 70 crore among just two people, how will the film recover that money? How is this justified for a film based on history, on cricket that people know already about? There is no element of romance or comedy, only cricket! How does it become feasible to recover the money? Gangubai Kathawadi is not a big hit today, because the director took 50 crore, Alia took about 25 crore. How will it work? So first and foremost is budgeting and then content. The writers these days get about 20-50 lakh. Earlier there used to be one photographer, now there are 5-6. That definitely soars the production cost. There were no vanity vans earlier, now there are multiple vanity vans on the sets, all adding to the cost. If you reduce costing by about 90 percent, content 19-20 chal jayega. Think about it, why does a film like Cuttputlli need a star like Akshay Kumar? Bottomline is, films never fail, the budget fails,” he says.
Need for sustainable IPs
As Amod Mehra believes, the viewers will certainly come to the theatres if the content material is interesting. “Slashing the ticket prices has already proved that alone will make no difference. Even if the price is low, people will not come to theatres to watch a film if the content is not appealing,” he says.
Immersive cinematic experiences, collective viewing experiences are the method ahead for theatrical success, believes Akshaye Rathi. He feels in addition to having superheroes or superstars, we have to have IPs that may be monetised over a time period. “Let’s face it, as much as all of us love our superstars, every superstar has a shelf life,” he says. “We’ve seen that happen to the greatest of the great, right? To Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna… and going ahead, it will happen to the superstars that are reigning the scene today. So we need to create some solid IPs that become the superheroes that audiences become fans of, like Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible series, or Dwayne Johnson in the Jumanji franchise, or Vin Diesel in Fast and Furious, or Robert Downey Jr being Iron Man. Now these IPs, the characters are iconic. We’ve had Tobey Maguire as Spiderman, and we’ve had Andrew Garfield as Spiderman as well. But Spiderman was still the superhero that had fans.”
Bollywood has definitely begun the journey on these strains the place a franchise like Brahmastra is an IP that’s making a fanbase of its personal. There is Rohit Shetty’s cop universe, Golmaal universe, and the spy universe that YRF has created which have a following of its personal. “I truly hope that we can do more of these in the future and have these IPs monetise themselves irrespective of the actor featuring in them,” Akshaye concludes on a hopeful observe.
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