In my earlier blog titled ‘Bollywood Spotlight’ I had chalked out couple of interesting trends. One among them was how global buyers are hungry for Indian films. Gone are the days when Indian films were appealing only to the Indian Diaspora overseas, today audiences in non- traditional markets such as China, Korea, Japan, Germany are longing to see Indian films mainly the Bollywood flicks. After films like 3 idiots, Stankey ka Dabba, Ra One to name a few- ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif and directed by Kabir Khan premiered in Tokyo on March 7, 2013. Yash Raj Films (YRF) has entered into a tie-up with Japan’s oldest Production and distribution companies Nikkatsu Corporation to release YRF films in Japan. Ek Tha Tiger (ETT) will be followed by Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Both the films will release in Japan across 30 screens on April 20 along with Japanese sub titles. ETT has been renamed in Japan as ‘Tiger-The Legendary Spy’
Nikkatsu has produced and distributed over 5000 titles in various genres including Shohei Imamura films. It has also distributed a wide range of foreign film, including ‘Eastern Promises’, ‘CHE’, ‘Burn After Reading’ , ‘The Ghost Writer’ and ‘Wrestler’. The company was keen to explore Indian films to be distributed in Japan.
I remember, Japanese buyers have been showing keen interest in the Indian film market for a while. Infact, South superstar Rajnikant is one of the most popular stars in Japan. ‘Muthu’ was the film that made him a star in Japan. Today, all his films simultaneously release in Japan. In 2011 when MAMI film festival organizers had launched the Mumbai film Mart (MFM) a place for buyers and sellers to come together, Nikkatsu Corp was also there. It was one of the participants at the Mumbai Film Mart (MFM).
The overseas market for Indian films is growing and is likely to increase by about 20 per cent in the next five years according to global and Indian buyers and sales agents.
According to the 2012 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report on the Indian entertainment sector. The Indian film industry clocked overseas box office revenues to the tune of Rs 770 crore in 2010 and this is estimated to go up to Rs 1250 crore by 2015 which is a compounded annual growth rate of 10.2 per cent per annum. Film industry veterans say ten years ago, the overseas market for Indian films was just about 3-5 percent of its entire theatrical business.
Apart from Japan, South Korea and other markets in South East Asia, Euorpe and Latin America has also shown interest in Indian films. Germany has been an ardent fan of Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) and has released couple of his films as well as other Hindi films.
Latin America is the other market that Indian filmmakers are understood to be exploring. Rakesh Roshan’s ‘Kites’ was a big success in Latin America.
This is really Interesting - mohan
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