Why are we not able to make films which appeal to an international audience and go beyond the diaspora? Vidisha Jha reports from the ‘Indian Films Going Global’, a debate at FICCI.
Much as we may want to, but we cannot take credit for the success of a Slumdog Millionaire or a Monsoon Wedding which were all international productions, albeit with Indian settings. To add to this debate, another question that arises is how and why should an Indian movie make a crossover?
Rahul Bose, actor and film maker, debates to this issue saying that the success of an Indian movie overseas does not merely remain a directorial decision; it gets to be a financial decision. For instance, a movie might be labeled as a ‘small budget’ movie but guaranteed success of the movie still lies on the shoulder of intensive and enormous marketing budget. Much success of an Indian movie also depends on the ‘nationality’ of the production house. Unless it’s a movie which is made in English language and has a foreign producer, it really doesn’t stand a chance to be acclaimed internationally.
“Yes, our films can cross over,” embarked Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios India Pvt Limited. Films deeply rooted within the cultural context will always do well; however, few Indian films that cross over can do well. The answer to this paradox lies in the explanation that success of films making journeying beyond relies on global theme and sensibility. But are these two ingredients enough when we are talking about taking Indian cinema on a global dice?
No, it is not enough. What matters are infrastructure and research about what the mass wants to consume. This can be explained in context of the recent blockbuster hit that has taken Indian cinema to a new level internationally, “My Name is Khan.” Fox Star Studios India Private Limited invested heavily to understand the audience in the Middle East which revealed positive results and the movie crossed over to prove an instant hit. The promotion strategies of ‘My name is Khan’ did not use the conventional practice of spill over media publicity but strategically designed the promotion and publicity events to make the audience receptive to this new genre of Indian cinema. For example, showcasing the world premiere of “My name is Khan” was a strategic decision made by Fox Star Studios India Private Limited. And the result, “My name is Khan” has surged the ladder to become one of the top 4 films in Middle East. It has crossed a million dollars collection at the box office in Indonesia to become a huge hit among the Muslim population.
Another important strategic decision taken by Fox Star Studios India private Limited was to release ‘My name is Khan’ in two phases. In the first phase, the block buster hit stormed the box office in 42 countries on February 12, 2010 proving to be successful in 40 countries. The second phase would be to storm the movie in another 25 countries of Poland, Russia, Italy and Germany.
But can we reach a conclusion based on one movie that truly connected with the international audience to say that Indian film industry is ready with movies that can make a cross over. Nandita Das, Actor and film maker says, “Independent cinema will not cross over,” which was clearly witnessed with her latest release “Firaaq”. Nandita elaborated that unless distributors and producers don’t have faith, the film would not cross over.
So is that distributors and producers lack faith in their films the reason why Indian movies don’t have a universal appeal. Essential to the success of a film making a voyage above and beyond lies with the fact that it needs to be more credible in terms of certain factors like welcoming complexity of characters. Is this because Indian movie makers don’t want themselves to be labeled as ‘too emotional’? When the essence of any successful creation is emotions, why do we shy away from the essence of sentiments? Or is it that Indian movies follow the trend of ‘being American’?
All the above issues can be addressed if the writers are empowered, if the film industry invests half as much as they invest in producing a movie to research the needs of their audience, if more movies are made which are multilayered, if the audience does not label characters of the movies based on their preconceived notions.
As stated by Rahul Bose, Indian cinema does not emphasize on making movies on the prevalent issues within the country. Hence, foreign collaboration is required to get the scripts right, and talents which can be mixed and matched to churn out a perfect bake which can be presented on the international platter.
So can it be rightly said that it’s all about empowering a film to reach it on a global platform? And truly, with the right essence Indian movies can surely cross over.
