Another year has whizzed by and it’s that time of the year when the cinematic balance sheet is scanned. It’s the only industry probably where production does not decrease even when sales are dismal. There are many things dangled as bait except return of investment. A friend who’s worked hard and made a fortune in real estate, produced a film with a shoestring budget swearing it would be his first and last. “It’s a dream and I want people in my tiny town to notice,” he said. One of the things that draw moneybags to cinema is that you could have earned millions but only cinema can lift you out of anonymity and push you into the limelight. It’s a couple of years and he’s just bankrolled his fifth project with a budget that just does not make fiscal sense. “I’ve not made a single rupee, in fact have lost a lot,” he says, but then cinema is not a disease but a deadly drug that no institution can wean you away from. Smooth talkers hover over him like flies in a sweetmeat shop. He seems to have learned the hard, expensive way and he recently put one of the most celebrated directors in Kannada cinema in his place, threatening to shelve an under production project even though a small fortune had been invested when he tried to act smart. Some people place respect over money and the sad fact is that we live in times when stars and directors treat producers like they’re doing a favour, ironically!
The near future looks very bleak. Filmmakers no longer bank on the strength of their content. There are all kinds of directors. Some make so-called children’s films just to get an award because there’s seldom competition. Others aim at State awards, subsidies and festivals. Mainstream filmmakers were banking on TV telecast, OTT platforms and Hindi dubbing rights. The top few stars would peg their remuneration based on these. The bubble seems to have burst. It had to happen. There’s too much content and few consumers. Channels in Mumbai wanted action, so fights were inserted at the cost of a plausible plot. When a producer recently told a channel executive he was depending on the rights to recover some investment he was unceremoniously advised to stop making films. The industry will flourish when they realise that they should concentrate on wooing the paying public with convincing content and the rest like telecast rights is a bonus. Now this doesn’t mean any of the top so-called superstars are going to reduce their remuneration. The last thing on their mind is sharing the risk with the hapless producer. There is a silent price war amongst the top Kannada stars and they charge around 10 crore,irrespective of the fate of their last few releases which has been dismal. In fact, producers are forced to proclaim their films as hits just to maintain their price tags. But please don’t blame the superstars, because there’s no dearth for new suckers eager to pour in money for projects designed purely to portray them as demigods with songs praising their virtues that befit a deity. Look at the titles of the films starring superstars this year. ‘Natasarvabhouma’ (Puneet), ‘Phailwan’ (Sudeep) and ‘Odeya’ (Darshan). Only their diehard fans will say the one word descriptions that best describe their idol!
Nearly 200 films were released this year sometimes ten in a single week. There were fewer remakes but all of them failed. Dubbed films have been accepted without a murmur and all eyes will be on the Kannada version of ‘Dabangg 3’ with Sudeep playing the antagonist. He can get beaten up in Hindi and Telugu films, but how will fans take his getting mauled in Kannada? Very few were unanimously declared hits and the biggest was the garishly mounted, over the top ‘Kurukshetra’. Darshan is as expressive and active as a mannequin, whether he plays Duryodhana or Gajendra (Odeya). The overrated ‘Bell Bottom’ has been declared a hit and is being remade in a couple of languages. ‘Seetharama Kalyana’ proved that neither make-up nor a mike suits Nikhil Gowda . Puneet’s sole release ‘Natasarwabhowma’ disappointed fans, while ‘Yajamana’ was declared a hit purely because it starred Darshan. Only the producer/director Krishna knows whether ‘Phailwan’ was a hit or not. Sunil Kumar Desai made a mess of his comeback vehicle ‘Udgarsha’ while Yograj Bhat’s frivolous attitude towards filmmaking was again evident in ‘Panchatantra’. Shivanna had three releases that none of the producers can preen about. Shivanna anyway is never bothered. Upendra’s ‘I Love You’ more about lust was declared a hit. Abhishek, Ambareesh’s son made an unimpressive debut in ‘Amar’ while it’s a mystery why someone offered to produce veteran producer K. Manju’s son’s screen debut ‘Padde Huli’. As usual the only person grinning like a Cheshire cat was K. Manju. My pick would be ‘Kavalu Daari’ and ‘Gantu Moote’. They stood out because of the brilliant writing. The rest usually falls in place. By the way do you know that a Kannada film with the title, ‘Nanu Nan Hudugi Karchgond Mafia’ was released? There are plenty more.
The footfall in multiplexes is pathetic. I sometimes buy a ticket and peep into all the halls. It’s mostly deserted and eerie. Morning shows are cancelled sometimes because not even the minimum number of tickets, around six is sold. I watched ‘Odeya’ on the fourth day with hardly a dozen others strewn around. It’s the kind of film where you don’t mind people taking calls and talking loudly. You constantly check social media and messages. Well thanks to ‘KGF’, every other filmmaker wants a pan Indian release. ‘KGF’ I think unintentionally turned multi-lingual because the budget spiralled out of control. Luckily for them it worked.I suspect it’s the burgeoning budget that turned ‘Avane Srimannarayana’ into a pan Indian film too. I do hope it works purely because the producer Pushkara Mallikarjuniah and hero Rakshit Shetty are passionate about cinema and the craft. What cinema needs is producers who pour in money for the love of the medium, an infusion of writers with fresh thoughts and directors who can reiterate that content is king and that stars are just cardboard cutouts!
sshivu@yahoo.com
