Million Dollar Movies

THE Subhash Ghai musical, Taal, an agonisingly slow starter at the box office in India, has quickly hit its chartbusting strides in the West. In its first 10 days in the US, where it opened on the August 15 weekend with an unprecedented 44 prints, the film grossed $1.1 million (approximately Rs 4.5 crore) and zoomed into the Top 20. In the UK, too, Taal broke into the Top 10, setting a new benchmark for popular Hindi films as it, with 25 prints, mopped up an incredible Rs 1.2 crore within a week of its release. In certain multi-screen cinemas in the UK, the Ghai film drew more viewers than the Hollywood releases it was competing with.

The incredible collection figures that Taal has registered overseas can't but be music to Subhash Ghai's ears. As they should be to the ears of all Bollywood denizens. For Taal isn't the only Hindi film that has made waves in the US and UK in recent times. Several Hindi releases—Dil Se, Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Sarfarosh and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, among others—have left an indelible imprint on the western market over the past two years, compelling distributors and exhibitors abroad to do a rethink on the global potential of popular Indian cinema.

"The American and British markets for Indian films have grown exponentially in the past two years," says Sundar F. Rai, vice-president of the Indian Film Exporters' Association. "The video culture is as good as dead in the West. So people are coming out once again and visiting cinemas to watch these films." Slicker packaging, better musical scores, Dolby sound, a slew of '90s megastars who easily strike a chord with the constantly expanding and more-affluent-than-ever-before expatriate south Asian community—a variety of reasons have contributed to the growing popularity of Hindi films overseas. "One important factor," says showman Subhash Ghai, "is the professionalism with which Hindi films are being positioned and distributed in the West nowadays. In the '80s, there was very little professionalism in the marketing of our films."

In a recent interview with India-West, a west coast weekly in the US, Amitabh Bachchan says: "I think marketing and distribution of Indian films has been a little indisciplined. I'm sure when the day comes, Indian cinema will get a much larger audience overseas." Is the day here already or is the huge success of Taal only a flash in the pan? "It isn't," insists Ghai. "It's a pointer to the way ahead."

 Ghai admits that he owes his film's incredibly strong showing in the US and UK to Kishore Lulla of Eros Entertainment, the overseas distributor for his film. Taal, after all, isn't a trademark Ghai extravaganza. It's a low-key love story in the Yash Chopra-Aditya Chopra-Karan Johar mould, far removed from the high-octane dramas that he specialises in. That, perhaps, is the principal reason why it has clicked in the West. Though Ghai's name and Anil Kapoor's presence in the cast may have helped, in the overseas market it is ultimately content that carries a film. "Indians in the US and UK are exposed to top-quality films all the time. So they will never accept junk," says Ghai. "Precisely," says Bollywood oldtimer Padmini, who's lived in New Jersey since 1970. "Only a good film with an appealing storyline can do well here."

Karan Johar, whose maiden film, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, contributed a great deal to furthering the cause of popular Hindi cinema in the West last year, takes the argument further. "While Indians in the US and UK want films to look modern, they want them to be essentially Indian at heart," he says. "A traditional love story with great music (that's Taal to the T) works very well in these countries." For a particular kind of Hindi film, says Johar, "the overseas market could actually be the biggest territory, or it would at least be as big as the Mumbai territory".

Could we, then, be facing a scenario in the none-too-distant future in which two different versions of a Hindi film are put out—one for the domestic market, the other for desis abroad? David Dhawan, whose consistently successful box office combi -nation with Govinda hasn't travelled well yet beyond India's shores, rules out that possibility. "Though audiences abroad are very different from those in India, I don't see anybody making different versions for the two markets," he says.

With big-budget Hindi films beginning to strike it rich in London and New York, distributors like Lulla, who's been in the business for nearly a decade, can now set their sights on mainstream multiplexes, instead of making do with third-rate, ramshackle cinemas, especially in the US. "The success of Taal augurs well for us. We can now demand better outlets," says Ghai. Taal premiered at Empire Cinema in London's Leicester Square, an event attended by the director and his leading stars—Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna and Aishwarya Rai.

SAYS Behram Shahparast, Eros Entertainment's point man in New York: "Things are set to change drastically." Somehow, he explains, "people in the US believe that Indian Americans will not pay the price of a ticket during the first run of a film. This myth is going to be exploded soon." American theatres, he feels, will soon realise that it makes perfect sense to release Indian films because "Indian Americans patrons are capable of paying the full price for tickets". A similar thing has happened with Spanish films, Shahparast says. They were once shunned by the very theatre owners who now realise how big the market really is.

In fact, the doors are slowly but steadily opening for Indian films as well. The demand for prints of Hindi films in the overseas market has grown dramatically of late. As many as 116 prints of Taal are being screened abroad, while Eros Entertainment has asked Ghai for 20 more prints subtitled in English. "Once the language barrier is eliminated, I'm sure films like mine will be watched by White Americans and Englishmen as well," says Ghai, which previous release, Pardes, had 85 prints on overseas screens. Sanjay Leela Bhansali, too, released 85 prints of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, while Indra Kumar sent 98 prints of Mann abroad. The Shahrukh Khan-starrer, Baadshah, being released in the US this weekend by Eros Entertainment, will have a record 120 prints in circulation market. "Just two years ago, a Hindi mega-starrer could command 50 prints abroad at the very best," says Rai.

According to Mumbai film industry estimates, the overseas market, worth a meagre Rs 15 crore a few years ago, is today a Rs 200-crore entity. With male stars like Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan and Anil Kapoor being the biggest draws among Indian expatriates, many a Hindi film fetches up to Rs 5 crore from the sale of the overseas rights. Says Dimple Saraiya, a New York-based Eros Entertainment official: "The actresses don't matter, there has to be a Khan in the cast." According to Shahparast, apart from Indian Americans, a sizeable number of Pakistanis, Guyanese and Trinidadians enjoy Hindi films. "There is also a small number of (White) Americans who watch Indian movies because they get a kick out of it, but the number is still very small," he says. But as Ghai points out, "there is definitely a great opportunity of growth here." With the super showman showing the way, Bollywood, it seems, has struck just the right note.