Going by the growing budgets, it is evident that the Bangla film industry is going places
The Indian film industry churns out almost 200 films a year, out of which Hindi films undoubtedly enjoy the major market share. As far as the regional films are concerned, it is the South Indian film industry that comes in a close second. So much so that it is sometimes dubbed almost parallel to the Hindi film industry. And now we are witnessing a surge in the growth of the Bangla films too.
The period between the 50’s and the 70’s were probably the Golden era of the Bangla film industry with films by veteran directors like Ritwik Ghatak and the Oscar award winning Satyajit Ray dominating the Bangla film space. The industry nosedived during the 80s and now has risen like a phoenix yet again.
From a mere two-film industry in 2001, to 96 releases in 2010, Tollywood is making a habit of hits. 2011 saw one of the biggest years in Bengali films. Films are now even dominating the box office for more than just one or two weeks and sometimes experiencing even a 100-day run at the cinemas.
With the burgeoning production budgets, many production houses are choosing foreign locales spread across the globe like the US, Bangkok, Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai to shoot their films entirely. Some small filmmakers are also using these destinations to shoot merely a song sometimes. While earlier, filmmakers were shooting films on a budget of about Rs 90 lakh to Rs 1 crore, the investments have now shot up as high as Rs. 5 crore. Some filmmakers are quite optimistic that the budgets are likely to soar further to Rs 15 crore as well.
Hence, if the film has a foreign location as its USP, the marketing will also have to have a similar impact. Naturally, the marketing and promotional budgets have skyrocketed too. So while earlier, filmmakers would spend close to Rs 10 to Rs 15 lakh to promote a film, now they are even ready to shell out as high as Rs 1 crore for the same.
This may also have to do with the fact that a lot of corporate production houses are looking eastwards. The digital cinemas entering the domain have also resulted in lowering piracy and making sure that the films run at least seven to eight weeks at the theatres.
Just like the Hindi film industry, Bengali films are also now being segregated into two kinds: the commercial films that are more akin to fetching revenues from the single screens and the content rich multiplex films.
While the commercial Bengali cinema comprises mainly of remakes of popular action films like Singham, the multiplex films usually are directed by critically acclaimed directors like Rituparno Ghosh, Aparna Sen and Aniruddha Roy Choudhury.
We spoke to a few eminent producers, distributors, directors and actors from the Bangla film industry to gauge the real reason behind the sudden boom in Tollywood. Here’s what they had to say…
Mahendra Soni
Producer, Shree Venkatesh Films (SVF)
The Bangla film industry has grown a lot over the last three to four years. The budgets and investments for these films have also gone up. The number of screens that these films release across has gone up from 170 to 200. The major digital cinema revolution that occurred at West Bengal, has really helped the film industry. We have witnessed a rise not just in the investments but also in the marketing budgets of a film. These films are now using the television, outdoor, print and social media to promote themselves too. Though a lot of corporate production houses like UTV, Viacom 18 and Reliance Entertainment have shown a keen interest in Bangla films, there is still no actual footprint that these companies have made here. Our films are not just earning good profits but are also bagging critical acclaim in the film festivals around the globe.