Jeet and Priyanka Trivedi shoot for their debut film Sathi

From show reels to audio tapes. The makers of blockbusters like Sathi, Sasurbari Jindabad and Pratibad now plan to start a music company. “There is a huge dichotomy in the scenario. Bengalis love music but there is no revenue in Bengali music,” says Mahendra Soni of Shree Venkatesh Films.

So bleak is the situation that of the 70 to 100 albums that are released during the Pujas, rarely does one manage to notch up sales beyond 5,000 to 10,000 units. Sathi, containing the biggest hit in recent times, O bondhu tumi shuntey ki pao, sold barely a lakh units.

Compare this to the Hindi film music industry, where despite a slump in business due to various factors like piracy and FM radio, even a moderate hit sells five to 10 lakh units. “This makes it difficult to recover even the production cost in Bengal. If you cannot risk an investment of more than Rs 50,000, you cannot expect to produce quality music,” says Soni.

That might be a bit of a vicious circle, but Soni is confident of success. “Our company will produce good music.” Nor is he looking at just album sales as a source of revenue. “We will be going into ringtones and other downloads, too.”

By the next Puja, the new company will have come out with about 35 albums. The targeted number of annual releases is 50. Soni is looking at a Poila Baisakh launch.

Sree Venkatesh does have a presence in the music business, thanks to its Bengali channel Sangeet Bangla. The fledgling TV channel, which has already achieved a break-even point, ventured into the uncharted territory of beaming new Bengali film music when it started in July 2005.

“When we were launching Jeet with Sathi in 2002, there was no audio-visual platform. We had to depend completely on outdoor media. Now that Sangeet Bangla is in place, Dev could become a familiar face even before his film I Luv You was launched.”

But the company sees the channel as a bigger brand than just a platform to promote its films. “We want to launch five-six more channels by end-August, like Sangeet Marathi, Sangeet Bhojpuri and Sangeet Punjabi.” If this sounds like an audacious leap by a local player, the reason is not far to seek. Sree Venkatesh has already tasted national success. It is a joint partner in a channel called Music India. “It is true that just 50 to 60 per cent homes in Calcutta have the channel but it is No. 3 in certain target groups — just behind MTV and etc. Zee Music is behind us.”

Music India is meant for an upmarket audience and so, steers clear of Bhojpuri music, a staple of etc. “There is no anchor, no nonsensical talk; just music. Trailers of only top-grade films will be shown and that, too, at intervals. The channel, which has an exclusive tie-up with T-series, promises to increase its penetration by April.