Bachchan

The two September 26 releases — Bachchan and Chotushkone — have made producer Reliance Entertainment proud. Mahesh Ramanathan, chief operating officer of Reliance Entertainment, tells t2 why...

How have Bachchan and Chotushkone fared at the box office?

For Reliance Entertainment, both the Puja releases have done well and outgunned competing films. That is a matter of satisfaction. Chotushkone (co-produced with Dag Creative Media) is a ‘hit’. Bachchan (in association with Grassroot Entertainment) is still going strong in the mofussil centres and, backed by the family audience, could emerge a hit by the middle of November.

How do you gauge the box-office performance of a film like Bachchan?

The film faced stiff competition and has come up trumps. It underscores Jeet’s star status and the importance of releasing big films during the festival period. Bachchan is an entertaining cocktail of comedy, action and romance. Action is not overdone. Therefore the film has brought in family audiences.

Were you confident about Chotushkone?

We were very confident with Chotushkone right from the outset as Srijit Mukherji is a storyteller par excellence. Also, the interesting cast was a contributing factor. Reliance released the film nationally on October 31.

When can you say a Bengali film is a hit?

When a film’s first-run revenue from all rights exceeds its investment — in terms of production, marketing and distribution costs — the film is categorised a hit. If the film earns 20 per cent more than its investment, it’s a ‘superhit’ and 50 per cent more than its investment, a ‘blockbuster’.

How do you calculate, from the first few days to the first week to second week?

We track the daily net box-office collections of a film (what audiences pay at the ticket counter minus entertainment tax) from its day of release to the end of its run at the theatres. Thereafter the distributor (in this case Reliance) receives its share of net box-office collections from theatres after theatres have deducted rentals. This is revenue for the distributor and normally comprises 65-70 per cent of the total revenue of the film, which includes revenue from other rights like broadcast, music and international territories.

How can you say that Bachchan did better than Game, Jeet’s previous release?

Bachchan’s net box-office collections are almost 30 per cent higher than Game on identical production budgets. Game was a regular Friday release and did not have the backing of a holiday period. Once Bachchan’s music was well accepted before the film’s release, we were confident of its performance.

Chotushkone

With Bengali films not throwing up encouraging figures this year, do you feel investing five crores in a big-star film is okay?

Eventually you are backing a story and testing your conviction in a story. Budgets are always fine-tuned based on the demands of the story, keeping the revenue potential of the story in mind. Budgets are therefore not necessarily fixed at levels you are referring to even for big-star films. We are glad that our choice of stories connected with audiences and the “double success” will inspire us to look for more innovative, original and entertaining stories.

Will Reliance Entertainment now rethink its plans for Bengali cinema, both for commercial and middle-of-the-road films?

Commercial Tollywood cinema is at the crossroads... it might just be the time for Tollywood to reinvent itself with a burst of new stories and younger directors coming through to get the primary cinema-going audience in the 15-25 age group back to the theatres. This is a challenge the creative community must meet head-on.

What’s your take on the exhibition sector in Bengal?

The exhibition sector in Bengal is on the decline. Unlike other parts of the country where multiplex screens are being added on a daily basis, there is little or no investment in new and refurbished theatres in Bengal. This is offering audiences little incentive to visit poorly maintained theatres. This has resulted in exhibitors maintaining ticket prices at levels which are one of the lowest anywhere across the country and compromised on audience amenities and upkeep which has further kept audiences away.

It’s a vicious cycle of decline which can be broken only with serious investment forthcoming from national multiplex operators. However these operators prefer to invest elsewhere as Bengal contributes a mere five per cent to the national box-office.