Once upon a time Indian cinema could rest secure in the loyalty of its large domestic base. Even if Indian audiences didn’t always like local movies, they were unlikely to defect to American (or other foreign) movies. However, this is all changing, as Hollywood sets its sights on the domestic Indian movie market:
… only a few years ago, Hollywood films warranted only about 100 prints, and if there were dubbed versions, they were often released after the English-language version finished its run. The tactic made most Indian moviegoers feel like second-class citizens …The turning point, experts say, was last year, when some 400 prints of the James Bond film “Casino Royale” were released in India – including three versions in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu – simultaneously with the global debut. [Link]
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p>In 2005, foreign films had only around 5% of the $1 billion dollars in theater tickets sold in India each year. However, Hollywood profits are now growing at 35% per year as they aggressively roll out dubbed movies as part of a global release. Despite Bollywood’s size (more people buy tickets to Bollywood films than Hollywood ones, world wide), it doesn’t have Hollywood’s deep pockets:
Movie tickets in many part of India cost $1, meaning Bollywood’s global revenues are about 2 percent of Hollywood’s, says Mr. Bose. “Hollywood can spend 8 percent of its normal marketing budget for a film and get the same amount of exposure as a top Hindi film,” says Sanjay Ram of BusinessofCinema.com in Mumbai.
The most lavish Bollywood films rarely cost more than $10 million. “Spider-Man 3” is thought to have cost $260 million. [Link]
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p>The new release of Spiderman3 has local moguls scared:
The film opened to Rs 19.17 crore on it’s opening weekend in India, making it a likely contender for the highest earning film of 2007 — Indian or otherwise. [Link]“Spider-Man 3” has already been blamed for taking the momentum from one of the few major Hindi releases this year, “Ta Ra Rum Pum” (“Don’t Worry, Be Happy”). [Link]
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p>Sequels to “Shrek”, “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Harry Potter” are all also due out later this summer.
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p>If you’re an optimist, you believe that all this competition will produce innovation in the stagnant Bollywood film industry. If you’re a pessimist, you think it’ll just lead to more poor Hollywood imitations, like Krrish. Either way, it’ll be a bumpy ride for Bollywood over the next few years as they realize they’re no longer the only game in town.
BTW, this is what I wish the dubbed versions were like:
Related Posts: Spiderman 3, Officially Released in Bhojpuri
Sadly, what seems incredibly cheesy in the original SpiderMan seems like its right in place when set to bollywood music. Message: indian dudes – cheesy by nature
If you’re a realist…business as usual.
The same arguments were made when JurassicPark (and some others) was released in Hindi in the mid-90’s. The fad quickly died down. At the end of the day, the situations in Hollywood movies, the jokes, the mannerisms etc are still alien to most Indians.
HBO/Cinemax/CNBC/StarPlus etc have been in the TV market for at least 6+ years in India. But yet they command only 2-3% of the market. Similiarly, PizzaHut/McDonald’s have been around for longer, and command only 0.5% of the market.
The only good thing that might come out of it is that Desi movies will become technically/visually better, and screenplays will have fewer holes in them.
M. Nam
I don’t know… looks like Hollywood is taking its cues from Bollywood, as Tobey Maguire has a clear “SRK-inspired” mop. Parted on the same side, no less. ^__^
As I won’t see Spiderman 3, someone else will have to let me know if he ever does the “hair shake with glistening droplets of water flying everywhere” thing.
hollywood has no place here. india has it’s own sense of cool; see–sleazy, sweaty, smelly…backwards…remember, this is the place that frowns on two people getting married if they love each other…..i am far from a self-hater, let it be known. but bollywood is just crap, plain and simple. amitabh bachachan should come to america and see how far he gets.
I think Hollywood is just not going to appeal to Indian audience at a social level as Bollywood does. Remember Krrish and Superman 3 were released around the same time, but Krrish did a lot more business in India than Superman.
I agree with MoorNam about this “percieved” competition. It has a potential to make Indian cinema use better technology. But have real writers writing stories and screenplay for Bollywood for original content….. Well that is a fantasy, and will not happen any time soon. Bollywood shamlessly copies entire shot sequences from Hollywood movies. That will continue.
Bags I’m an optimist– better production values for Bollywood movies, better dubbing/subtitles for Hollywood movies in Desh– there may be IP battles in the near future though.
Ennis, as far as I can see it, this is the impetus that Bollywood has been waiting for. For years, critics and filmmakers alike, have been throwing their hands up, saying, “This is what the masses want.” Now, we see the market voting with their INR. With large multiscreen movie theatres across tier 1 and tier 2 Indian cities, it now costs the same to watch a Hollywood movie as it does a Bollywood movie. Moornam makes good points with his market-size arguments, but those numbers are in units of headcount. Distributors and producers expect to make most of their money in the big metros first. That’s why pizzas are different from movies. You pay the same for a pizza or for HBO in a village in Bengal, as you pay for them in Bangalore — not so with movie tickets.
There will be a more perceptible shift towards higher production values in the coming years if Bollywood wants to compete — and I think the Indian film industry will rise to the challenge. It’s not like Jurrassic Park anymore.
Shrek 3 is out and it is not as funny.
But some people watch Bollywood films specifically for it’s sleaze, sweat, smell, corniness and kitsch. Those films are a great escape from one’s everyday reality. Even the serious dramas of Bollywood have us rolling in the aisles with their corniness, so they do fulfill a need — the need for humour and fun, even if the movie is “serious”.
haha but how about dubbed versions being like this Spiderman
or a comic strip like this
I agree that there is still a lot of cultural differences, and a lot of jokes and mannerisms go right past most Indian viewers.. They don’t quite understand what they are watching it is almost like little kids watching adult movies. They just don’t get it..
Even when I watch sun TV now, when I see the comedy specials and I see what they think is funny and entertaining, those things just seem stupid to me.. I call it the “third world humor”, it’s just not the same as ours..
I guess eventually these differences will dissappear and entertainment will become more western and people will start to understand..
But like I said on one of my other posts — Indian directors don’t have the budget to compete with hollywood and that’s the way it is always going to be..
Mumbai ekdum danger place!
Hollywood films will become increasingly popular, but regional and Hindi films will always be more popular as they deal with the real and fantasy worlds of the audience.
Spiderman 3 though….that seemed like a Bollywood film to me.
I don’t think Spiderman3 numbers should scare anyone in Bollywood. It is probably an aberration. The script was noticeably Bollywoodish. And among all superheroes, Spiderman always had the deepest penetration in India — I am thinking of Rasna-sponsored late-80s Sunday-afternoon “friendly neighborhood” animation series. Without a strong brand like that, Hollywood will need a lot more love songs and family tension than they are comfortable with. But if the trends in these charts hold up, they can definitely tweak their taste.
Each genre – Pure Hollywood, Dubbed Hollywood, Bollywood, Regional Movies will have their own set of audiences. Now – will Hollywood conquer the land of Bollywood – probably not.
1.Hollywood movies appeal “mostly” for – technical reasons. Take out the computerization & animation – the market size dwindles quickly. 2.Personally & a whole bunch of my buddies would always – want to watch Govinda & David Dhawan flicks. No Hollywood would replace them. And trust me- all those ‘chich,urbane & suave’ twenty somethings – enjoy & love movies of Govinda genre. They love Hollywood stuff too. 3.Regional Movies have their own flavor which will never be captured nor imitated by any Hindi or English movies. With expansion of CableTV, it was expected to abet Hindi movies popularity in Tamil Nadu- yes, it did to some extent. But Tamil Movies still rule.
As long as Hollywood would churn out 90 to 120 min flicks – Indian audience (majority) would be left wanting for more.
I’m a free marketeer in most respects, but even I must admit that brute protectionism has worked wonders for the Korean film industry.
How charming!
The turning point, experts say, was last year, when some 400 prints of the James Bond film “Casino Royale†were released in India – including three versions in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu – simultaneously with the global debut.
Indians love James Bond.
And dinosaurs, snakes, spiders. Hollywood movies that appeal to the human id succeed in India. The others don’t work.
Right “third world humor” does not include poop and fart jokes i see in cable television in the “first world”. I would rather have it stay at “third world humor” than hearing poop jokes that entertain 3 year olds. Go watch your fart jokes.
I guess there are some factors in humour that cross many or all cultural borders, some that don’t.
One thing Indians in India don’t get is why people portrayed in American films or TV often are portrayed as not having a family — single people living alone and going through a series of various “relationships”, the jokes about those relationships are perhaps what Indians in India won’t get — like the humour in Sex and The City or whatever. Take “Friends” for example — male and female friends sometimes living together, sometimes going in and out of romantic relationships with each other — two friends having a baby together but not marrying, etc, and the humour surrounding it all.
The video is genuius! Love the Bombay Boys “lift”.
I’m not sure much of America gets it. Or, they watch to callibrate their heathen-gauge.
Many Americans may not be living the exact lifestyle of the ladies on that show, but I think they get the relationship humour.
I’m no expert on sex and the city.. But people mention that show acting like they are bad asses cause they watch it..
But I thought the whole point of the show is that the women on the show are no longer as trendy and beautifull as they thought they were, they often show scenes in which the main character women interact with the younger generation and the contrast is great..
So I thought the women are supposed to be really pathetic and not realistic but some people seem to misunderstand this and think that the women are cool..
Uh oh. Men, run for cover …
It’s a mediocre show but I like the narrative aspect. The women are not pathetic. They are just normal single women navigating urban adult relationships.
Dude, Peter Parker parts his hair, plays crappy music on the piano and does a dance number in this movie. This will definitely appeal to Indian audiences.
Wow, the effects of globalization are becoming more obvious everyday. It’s kind of exciting. Does anyone else find it interesting that globalization isn’t yet recognized as a word? The spell check always suggests verbalization or cannibalization. How weird…
Okay. I just watched the clip above.
W.T.F.
Seeing Hollywood movies has become a status thing with wealthy, urban, young people in India. Acquaintances would drop the title of the last one they saw into conversation and the reviews were never negative. That popularity trickles down to people who otherwise may not otherwise spend so much for a film. A distant cousin who is only 12 years old, from a middle class family, and lives in a medium Gujarati city cites that Harry Potter and Spiderman are her favorite movies on her myspace page.
The music is an incredibly important film component in India, and I don’t yet see how Hollywood can crack that.
When I watch Indian commercials that play on Sun TV I am impressed; they are actually cool..
Movies themselves are ok, but the song and dance scenes are ridiculous.. The people are dressed weird and they have no good coreography.. It is embarrassing for me to even watch the dance scenes..
The entire thread is about SHIPPING Hollywood content to the Indian market, whether dubbed in the Indian languages or not. I believe that Hollywood will follow the TV model, which is dominated by global corporations and brands such as Star, CNBCWorld and CNN that offer purely local or locally and regionally adapted content. That is true globalization and it will eventually come to Bollywood. Imagine someone like Spielberg taking a shot at the huge Indian market, applying his considerable finances and genius to a story that is rooted in India, using Indian actors, and actually making a Spielberg quality film in Hindi, with dubs in Telugu and Gujarati and Bhojpuri for good measure.
Every consumer product follows the same model in a global market. Why not entertainment? There is nothing like competition to raise the bar.
P.S. I was watching the Richard Gere interview on Koffee with Karan (okay, I admit it) and I was quite surprised to here Richard Gere say repeatedly that he would love to act in a Bollywood movie.
Ennis: Forgot to compliment you on your choice of topic. Entertainment is the new frontier in globalization. Products and services are old hat by now.
And you say you are not a self hater?
Anyone seen Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World ?
As for Bollywood being crap, the crap that does come out of Bollywood is just that if you use benchmarks we use here. But then Bollywood exemplifies catering to the market, people’s approach to movies in India is different from here. There it is more of a release than anything else, the average literacy is low and thus the market tastes are different. Judging the worth of Bollywood by Hollywood standards is not a good idea. Plus while the Indie scene there is not as great, in recent years as the market has diversified the non mainstream stuff is getting more mainstream and also better.
How surprising is this-being trendy in India means being as westernized as possible. Nothing new to it.
One inevitable but good outcome would be fewer movies but better movies per year.