The Hindu Business Line : Big budget films back in Bollywood

You have a Rs 35-crore Lakshya (a UTV project), directed by Farhan Akhtar of Dil Chahta Hai fame along with a low-budget Rs 3.5 crore yet to be named film from Balaji Films, a subsidiary of Balaji Telefilm Ltd, the stock market favourite among media stocks.

Big budget films, which had been put on the back burner because of the losses faced by the industry, are coming back to theatres this year. Mukta Arts Ltd, another stock market listed entity, is in the process of completing Kisna, a Rs 25-crore project. The film, which stars Vivek Oberoi and Antonio Bernath, is expected to be released in November 2004.

Yet another big budget film, Swades, a Rs 30-crore co-production project between UTV and Ashutosh Gowarikar is due for release in August. While Yash Chopra's Hum Tum, a large budget film, is coming up for release shortly.

India is truly living up to its reputation of being the world's largest film production factory. During 2003, 725 films were released. Of this, Hindi films accounted for 246, the highest in the last five years.

Last year, the Hindi film industry had a much better performance in comparison to the previous two years with 16 films grossing over Rs 10 crore each and many small and medium budgets bringing in better returns, according to a study by FICCI and E&Y.

Players, who were intermittent until now, have also spruced up their activity. The Rajshri Group, known for blockbusters such as Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hain Koun, is scaling up film production during 2004. The Group is in the midst of a Rs 15-crore film project, Uuf Kya Jadoo Mohabbat Hai, which is slated for release shortly.

K.C. Bokadia Films, which is a yet another stock market listed entity, is looking at higher number of films. Between July and December 2004, Bokadia Films plan to release four films — Challenge (Sunny Deol and Tabu); Ek Hasina Ek Diwana (Govinda, Priyanka Chopra); We Are Friends (Jackie Shroff); and Limit (Neha Dhupia). "I am looking at providing production services to any film-maker on 50:50 revenue sharing arrangement," said Mr K.C. Bokadia, Chairman, K.C. Bokadia Films. Compact Disk India Ltd, which is into animation, has announced plans to produce a Hindi film, Friends Forever, at a budget of Rs 10 crore.

Mukta Arts, a major player, will be confining itself to two projects — Kisna and Aitraaz (Akshaye Khanna and Kareena Kapoor) in 2004. A company's spokesperson said that the number of projects are lower because of the higher costs in each of these.

UTV has a huge line-up of releases this year — joint productions with Ram Gopal Varma, Prakash Jha, David Dhawan, Vishal Bharadwaj, and Aparna Sen, among others. Some of these productions are jointly with Star TV Group.

Padmalay Film, a Zee Group company, is also looking at producing five Hindi films and five regional films. Other players in the medium budget level include Balaji Films, K Sera Sera, Mid-day Multimedia. New entrants include Jeetu Chawla of Castle Peak Pictures.

The buzz in the industry has also prompted the Confederation of Indian Industry to head to Cannes Film Festival to showcase Indian films.

Film-makers had indicated that technologically Indian films had made considerable progress but efforts to come up with interesting story line are also being put in place. Technology, if anything, will help reduce costs, thereby improve profitability chances.

Multiplexes, another factor, have ushered in better margins for the industry, according to Mr Manmohan Shetty, Managing Director, Adlabs Films Ltd.