Coming of Age.....

The regional film super stars are entering the game of co-production with big Bollywood film studios to corporatize the regional industry

After being in the background for years, regional cinema has emerged out of the shadows of Bollywood. Given the huge potential of regional cinema especially in the southern languages, Marathi, Bengali and Punjabi, Bollywood studios have been keen on producing regional films. Some studios like Disney-UTV, Eros International Media Dar Motion Pictures have tested the waters with producing a few regional films. Viacom 18 will be co-producing one in Marathi with Akashay Kumar and Ashvini Yardi’s production house Grazing Goat Pictures. It’s not the studios alone, the big stars of regional cinema are following suit to co-produce regional films along with Studios rather than tread the path alone. Kamal Haasan, the South supers star who is 20 films old as a producer under his production house Raaj Kamal Films is said to be in talks with a few Bollywood studios to co-produce Tamil films.

Jimmy Shergill, a Bollywood star and a super star in Punjabi Cinema has already taken the leap by signing a co-production deal for 4 films with Eros International Media.He is not alone in this mission. Benagli Superstar Prasenjit Chatterjee, son of the yesteryear Bollywood superstar Bishwajeet’s company- Ideas Creations & Productions has entered into a co production deal with Sahara Screen, part of Sahara Media to produce 10 Bengali and bi lingual films (Bengali-Hindi) in three years.

In an earlier interview to me, Shergill had said that Jimmy Shergill Productions’ association with a studio like Eros will bring about a systematic corporate approach to making Punjabi films. Punjabi cinema is growing with every film. “This tie-up will help us take Punjabi cinema forward. It will help in better marketing and promoting the films and present it on a global platform,” he added. Chatterjee’s idea of co-producing with a studio is to grow within the film business and to corporatize the Bengali film industry.
From a studios perspective to co-produce regional films is that this segment has the potential. It’s a potential market which cannot be ignored. Multiplexes emerging in small towns are also fuelling the growth of regional cinema.
Secondly, any good studio would want to have a diversified strategy rather than just stick to the Bollywood formula. Thirdly, other advantage of regional cinema is that the studio is able to rotate the money fast as the cycle of production is 6-9 months for a regional cinema as against the cycle of production of Hindi films which is 12-15 months.
That’s not all. Even at the box office regional films are also joining the Rs one billion (rs 100 crore) club following suit behind Bollywood. For instance last year a Tamil action film ‘Thuppaki’ was not only a blockbuster in the southern markets, but it collected Rs 100 crore ( one Billion INR) within 11 days of its release . Bengali film ‘Challenge 2’ also earned over Rs124 crore (INR1.24 billion) at the box office. These are unheard of nos. for a regional film but it’s true. It’s happening now. The latest FICCI-KPMG reports says that the increasing preference amongst patrons for local taste in content has seen regional cinema growing over the years.
According to the 2012 Ernst &Young’s paper on the filmed entertainment segment in India, the market size of India’s filmed entertainment industry was estimated at Rs 9700 crore in 2010, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.2 per cent from 2010 to 2014 to reach Rs 12,500 crore by 2013.
Although a break-up of the regional cinema industry is not given, it is understood from industry players that Hindi mainstream cinema contributes 45 per cent of the revenues and the remaining 55 per cent is accounted for by regional cinema. Two thirds of this, is accounted for by the South Indian cinema industry and the balance is accounted for rest of the other languages such as Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali and Bhojpuri largely.