Issue 2, 2010 Volume 7 - Kodak

On promoting films:
My Name Is Khan and 3 Idiots were good films, I don’t think just
promotion can make a film successful. In India, now everyone is
promoting films in a big way, with all kinds of gimmicks, but all that
doesn’t translate into success, if the film is bad. It’s unthinkable, the
money that it spent on promotion, and after all that if the film does not
do well, it pinches.
All these years not more than seven or eight percent films were
successful; and I am talking success-failure in terms of money only.
Those days of jubilees are gone. Today, lakhs is nothing, everything is in
crores and how much comes back? Business is not more than two
weeks, and of this 70 percent is in the first week. If you miss the first
week for some reason, you miss the business completely.
On new revenue models:
There are other avenues of business… but now, the physical format of
music is almost finished. Money is spent on the promotion of music, but
it is not recovered. Other forms like internet and mobile downloads have
appeared, but they are not making as much as we used to make with
only music sales. Now, I am told, even mobile downloads are decreasing.
On globalization:
Globalization actually started when we started shooting abroad.
Because of terrorism in Kashmir, I started going to Switzerland, where
the locations were beautiful. Now almost every country is trying to woo
India to come and shoot on their locations. They earn foreign exchange,
even if 10 percent of the people who see the films visit their countries.
There are lots of deals going on, subsidies offered, as a result it is
cheaper to shoot in Switzerland than in India. Rakesh Roshan and
Singapore had big deals when he shot Krissh there. There is comfort of
shooting, fantastic locations, but I don’t think just because you shoot
abroad, the film will be successful.
We did a co-production with Disney on the animation film Roadside
Romeo. They were surprised by our animators and the film won awards
internationally. We are doing good work, but when you see Avatar, you
know we have a long way to go.
Pyaar Impossible
Ta Ra Rum Pum
Tashan
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic
Everyday the world is becoming smaller—co-productions can be done,
technically and financially. The difference in exchange rates goes a long
way. Fifty crores are a few million dollars, why won’t they gamble? But
nobody can make a crossover film; if it is good, it will cross over. In 10
years, a lot of deals have been done at FICCI Frames, ultimately global
interaction will benefit us.
On Bollywood and the world:
Bollywood has become a big name, the whole world wants it in one way
or the other. Indian entertainment, cinema, theatre, costumes,
food—everything. It’s a big craze and it has never happened before. We
were in Paris at the Ritz Hotel, and Tom Cruise was also there. When he
went out of the hotel, there were a few fans, but when Shah Rukh Khan
came out, it became difficult to control the crowds. The security people
requested us to travel in a bus and not separate cars, because they could
not handle it. It’s happening at every level. Our stars are very big… in
Egypt, Amitabh Bachchan is god! India is going global.
On the downside of going global:
We are losing a lot of things in our culture. In our music, the soul is
gone… the Indian melody is gone. They say that the market is dictated
by the youth and get away with anything. China and Japan have not lost
2 3
Badmaash Company
Dil Bole Hadippa!
Chak De! India
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
“All these years not more than seven or eight
percent films were successful; and I am talking
success-failure in terms of money only.
Those days of jubilees are gone.”
Veer-Zaara
their identity.
The advantage of going global is that people are rejecting formula films.
They are patronizing new kinds of cinema. The disadvantage is loss of
identity. You hardly see Indian costumes in out films anymore, or hear
Indian melody. You hardly get to hear powerful dialogues in our films. In
the old days there used to be special dialogue writers with a knowledge
of the language, who wrote those dialogues that people still remember.
Maybe now people want simple, colloquial dialogue, but you don’t hear
audiences clapping any more, or crying in emotional scenes. Dialogue ka
zamana chala gaya.
On directing again:
New York
I am trying to make my kind of film… romantic, human, emotional, so it’s
taking time to finalize. I can’t make just any film, and I can’t make a fool
of myself… but I have promised myself, that this year I will direct a film.