|
|
|
|
|
Home > Interviews > Girish Johar: Balaji Motion Pictures is having a dream run |
|
|
Girish Johar: Balaji Motion Pictures is having a dream run
Monday, January 16, 2012 4:08:12 PM (IST)
|
Rachana Sheth, Bollywood Trade Editorial
 |
GIRISH JOHAR-DISTRIBUTON HEAD OF BALAJI MOTION PICTURES
|
|
THE DIRTY PICTURE has become a case study now and earned Balaji a top spot in the market. Now they have a slate of films coming in the year 2012. So we met the distribution head of Balaji Motion Pictures, Girish Johar to know their strategies and future plans. Here are the excerpts:
Balaji is riding high with back-to-back successes is it the magic of distribution?
It’s always a team effort. Balaji Motion Pictures has a great team right from Ekta leading to marketing to production and yes distribution. Basically, we have got the right mix. The entire credit goes to Ekta, who is our motivating force. With Ekta leading and the content being made well, marketed well and distributed well everyone is clicking. Yes recently we’ve been green lighting good projects and we know which directors to work with, what stories to be told to public. We are having a dream run and hope to continue it further. Balaji is shinning actually! I am very happy and lucky to be a part of Balaji family.
What is the role of distribution in a film’s success?
For any film to work, the content, distribution and marketing has to be really strong. All three have to click together even if one falters… like if the content is good but not marketed and distributed well the film has chances to collapse. However, distribution has an advantage here if the film is good notwithstanding little or no star value or poor promotion then we have little edge saying that we can save the film by showcasing it at the cinemas at good time slots, in good cities. Yes we do have little upper hand that is why it is often said in trade ‘If content is king then distribution is God’.
The content and genre of a film do influence distribution decisions
Yes obviously it’s a cohesive unit. We sit within our teams and if we see a particular film has potential we tap the market or promote in a specific way. Like THE DIRTY PICTURE had more southish feel to it so we concentrated more in north and eastern regions as these were the least connected in terms of film content. And surprisingly it has paid rich dividends. We have done very well in North followed by East. In Mumbai and South, anyway we knew people will easily connect and needless to say it has performed as per our expectations.
That means distribution has the knack of turning a ‘B’ centre and ‘C’ centre film into a ‘A’ centre film
Yes definitely distribution is the key. Once we have film in our hand we gauge the market, we have the audiences pulse. On the basis of which we decide how many screens we need to open, in which centres to open or which particular town we have scope - whether we need to go to town B or C or D or A towns like Lucknow, Pune or Goa. For the metropolitans like Mumbai, Delhi anyways people want maximum screens there. But for smaller films like TARAYANCHE BAIT we had a very phased release. In week one, we released in nominal screens however by week 2, week 3 we increased it to 100. That was the key distribution success. Marketing takes a film to a certain level then distribution takes thereon. So content has to be really strong because both marketing and distribution can do upto a stage.
So, marketing and distribution work goes hand-in-hand. They have to work in tandem?
For any particular product they both have to go hand-in-hand. For instance, if I want to release a film for defined masses say small towns like Icchalkaranjis and Saharanpurs of the world, if the people are not aware of the film even though I release the film I will not get the desired collections, revenues from that region. So to avoid such howlers we ensure we keep pushing the marketing team to create the required awareness. It is a hand-in-glove function.
With right marketing mix, distribution job becomes easier?
Distribution is never easy. Enough is never enough in distribution job. Everyone wants maximum monies and there’s a very thin line, people tend to go overboard. There are recent films, which have gone overboard by releasing 2000 screens et al. If it’s an A class multiplex kind of a film there’s no point releasing it in B and C centres. One can always release it in B and C after having created enough buzz.
Why people tend to go overboard?
Actually piracy is one of the major reasons. However, I believe despite piracy being there people who want to watch in cinema halls will pay for it, people who want to watch on a pirated DVD, no matter how big the film is, will watch it on a DVD.
|
'If content is king then distribution is God'
| Unlike production and marketing, distribution is the fastest job to be done in shortest span of time?
Yes I do agree with that. Production takes time because of some date issues or production problem or some set related problems then marketing also takes good 7-8 weeks in creating awareness. It’s the distribution part who has to cash in, so we keep telling you’ve taken time in making a film why hurry releasing it? Earlier a film used to run for 10 weeks, 20 weeks, 25 weeks, golden jubilee, 50 weeks then it came to two weeks, one week, now we have to satisfy with weekends. A film is a perishable commodity it has a shelf life of one day so you just got a day to perform. One has to be shrewd in taking distribution decision. If it’s a bad film nevertheless a very good period either go all out so that you can cash-in two days or if it’s a loss making venture it’s better to release it in a limited way and at least do the saving by having it in the less number of screens.
There’s a proper time period and slot to release every film. There’s a trending thing. You cannot release a sad film on Diwali. People are in a jovial mood during Diwali they prefer light-hearted entertainers. That is why GOLMAALs of the world do wonders at Box-office. You may ask then why the other so-called biggies didn’t work? There could be other competing films which were better off. So at the end of the day it should be entertainment entertainment entertainment!!!
What do you have to say about the latest trend of opening in myriad screens
The latest trend to open your film in 2000-3000 screens looks fascinating for first 3 days but on Monday once you open your umpteen number of screens’ all the four shows are cancelled what is the point? To have 3 day or one day opening that is what the game is all about. Hardcore distributors or experienced people like us see what is a net profitability of a film right from a centre to a particular screen.
How is it every time Balaji, irrespective of the period in which the film released, is doing great
We’d take credit for that. We planned our releases in such a manner that we were sure of grabbing the eyeballs and generating revenues. Like I remember we had three films releasing back-to-back in 2011. Despite having time crunch we released TARYANCHE BAIT on 15th April, then two weeks later we came with SHOR IN THE CITY and then on 13th May with RAGINI MMS. These are now benchmark films in their respective genres. Lot of homework and logic went behind their release. For TARYANCHE BAIT, which was a Marathi film and a family audience film, we knew that the Marathi audiences would be free after March once children’s are done with their examinations. The Marathi audience is a very traditional family kind of audience. Though the film was ready, we locked 15th April and ensured no other big film is coming on that date. The date slotting for that particular film was fruitful. For RAGINI MMS, being a horror film we blocked Friday the 13th as our release date. Though HAUNTED 3D, yet another horror film, released before us we were confident of its content and marketing and it did well. Then SHOR, the most critically acclaimed film, is being rated in top 5 best films of the year by various reviewers and critics in their own chartings. We position our films according to how critical the slot is for us.
Planning a release date is not entirely the producer’s call. Distribution does have an influence over the same?
The release date is always Distributors call. We check with all the parameters what are the competitors release dates, what would be the mood at that point of time for e.g. we would try and avoid releasing a mass film during Ramzan. As per the analysis 60% of the Indian movie going audiences are Muslims. During Holi the multiplex audience is free. Holi festival is for youth, family films. Earlier no film used to come in Holi or in the first week of Jan. Now films like NO ONE KILLED JESSICA, which came in Jan last year, then MAALAAMAAL WEEKLY, which came in Holi, have started the trend. IPL, everyone perceives it as a threat, but I feel IPL is a threat only for those 3-4 hours and 3-4 cities suppose if you have a 20-20 Mumbai-Banglore match which starts at 6. It’s a three hour match so probably for Mumbai and Banglore it’s a threat not for Pune, Delhi or Kolkata. Whereas if you observe Hollywood trends there is base ball world cups, rugby’s of the world, wrestling happening throughout the year and still it doesn’t affect their film release. Producer Vashu Bhagnani released BIWI NO.1 during the Cricket World cup in 1999 and did superb business, then Sajid’s HOUSEFULL came in IPL last year. We also took a chance in IPL and came with SHOR and RAGINI MMS and did good business. If we have forthcoming line ups ready and find that we’ll be able to market it then we don’t fear IPL.
Having said that, the threat is during the beginning or launch of IPL and semi-finals & the finals as they have lot of hysteria but that’s only for those 2-3 days not for the entire 60-day period.
How do you anticipate in advance for contingencies and unforeseen event?
Obviously there are very unfortunate incidents and no one wants to plan keeping such things in mind. These are uncontrollable events and we have to live with it. You cannot plan for all that. If the film is good everyone understands – even public understands but if the film is bad nothing can save it. If the film is good we request our exhibitors, our partners to hang in the movie for a couple of weeks as we might have some revenues. We keep hanging in and the movie finally finds its audience over a period of time.
Is there a specific strategy which Balaji follows for each film?
Every film has its own strategy. It’s not single set parameter. For THE DIRTY PICTURE we wanted to go all out because we knew it is the film which had all the potential to pull the audiences. We had Naseer, Vidya and Milan pushing towards the multiplex angle while Emraan & Tusshar having more massy appeal led us to explore B and Cs also. For the first time our marketing team did a commendable job of taking the starcast to Patna and after that various films followed going to Patna. And Bihar as a territory the revenue numbers are extraordinary. Similarly, our team went to Kolkata because Bengali sensibilities are least with the south sensibilities so we pitched in and it has done very well in Bengal also. It is critical to have different strategies.
For RAGINI MMS, we knew it will not work in C and Ds being an urban-centric film. Also to the fact why would someone shell out bucks onto a non-cast film that too on the first day. They would rather wait, hear good things about it and do whatever their interest is. So we released RAGINI in metro key multiplexes because we knew youth would like seeing MMSs. We went to A and B centres like Lucknow, Pune, Chandigarh, Mangalore, A class mini metro cities.
For SHOR IN THE CITY again we targeted only key metros because we knew the film will have its word of mouth. It will start slow but eventually run long. Obviously you cannot open wide because if the occupancies are low it circulates a negative vibe about the film. So we had tight release and maintained good occupancy level and then increased subsequently.
For TARAYANCHE BAIT we did very tight and suboptimal release. We knew this film would have good word of mouth. Had we gone TARAYACHE BAIT with 100 screens in week one we would have crashed in week 2. And we ran the film for 12 weeks in this day and date. TARAYANCHE BAIT is one of most running films and it has collected huge gross at the box-office.
|
'Ekta Kapoor is a great visionary'
| Balaji Motion Pictures is astute in understanding the market dynamics
This is very competitive field and one has to be sharp as big monies are riding on our backs and if we falter then it’s a huge blow to us. The kind of films we do, the content which we back, the production values et al are good. Even in the distribution area we have the right partners we just don’t play with each and every cinema. Moreover the show timings matter. People now just look into the showtimings. No father will go along with the son to watch a film like TARAYANCHE BAIT at 9.30 in the morning. On the other hand for a film like RAGINI MMS call centre students, college going students, call centre working executives will watch a 9.30 show in the morning. SHOR IN THE CITY was more of an evening film, for executive working class, business class people. So the slots are critical at a particular theatre or multiplex across all the cities. We take such parameters into account.
Which has been the most profitable venture for Balaji?
From distribution perspective THE DIRTY PICTURE and RAGINI MMS were best. They have the highest ROIs (return on investments). We have a good line-up coming and hope we continue our winning streak with it.
There are hell lot of changes happening at the 11th Hour.
It purely depends upon the demand of a film for e.g. if I want to release a particular niche kind of a film in a C town unless there is a demand I won’t release. But if I want to release an A class film in B and C town with the queries coming from the exhibitors we would release it. The exhibitor of that region feels there is lot of curiosity among the public we then decide the distribution terms with that particular cinema. If it is beneficial to us then obviously we go ahead with it otherwise we just don’t throw away giving up number of screens. In the case of small films it’s more difficult. We wanted to release TARAYANCHE BAIT in Malegaon but we decided let the film have its word of mouth, let the buzz travel over there. The worth of that film, the business potential of that particular centre was not that much that it should be released in first week. Sometimes what happens is we may like a film but the public may not so it is always on our gut feel. And I really thank top management and Ekta for entrusting those decision making powers upon us and opportunely we have delivered also. They trusted our thought process and we have delivered it.
How much of Ekta’s intervention and control is there with the projects. At the same time how much liberties she provides in?
All the films are her babies. Basically all the divisions sit together with Ekta once we green light a project and have her approval. If she is keen on particular project then all the teams present their respective plans. It is the time where entire interaction comes in. On the basis of the film we suggest about the number of screens to be opened.
We suggest marketing team what kind of posters, creative will get more crowds, what kind of talkie, standee, or a trailer will get the people talking about it. For all our films we closely worked on creatives. To drive in and grab the attention of the audience the first look and first teaser of the film, the trailer, the posters, the creative which people see in Ads is the first impression. It should not be misleading. People come with certain expectations and if they don’t get what they want immediately the film crashes.
Comment on Ekta’s business acumen
She is a great visionary and has a huge inborn talent. She’s turned tables around on projects like that just by hearing the scripts, watching the film for 15 min or 20 min or 1 hour. That’s why we all are here and that’s why we are at such position after delivering back-to-back successes. I don’t think any studio has done it. Now audiences too feel if it’s coming from Balaji that means it has some meat.
Being in house distributor, the strategies are more transparent?
That’s the thing of the past. Earlier the people used to make films, market it and buyers used to come from various circuits across the country to buy so no one used to know what is happening. Now with producers like Balaji Motion Pictures a long term vision is set which leads to formation of teams -production, marketing, distribution. Though at the end of the day it is Ekta’s call we do give in suggestions to production and marketing teams with their work. So in that ways the strategies are known to all.
Having in house distributor is advantageous to the production house?
All the good players in the market have in house distributor. Because then we know what the ground realities are rather than relying on some offhand businessmen. For them it’s mere 3 day business they will buy the film and not get into nitty-gritty. Revenues are imperative but even how the films are perceived, how the films are taken by the public matters a lot. We would not want a tacky film or a C class film to be associated.
|
'Overseas is a very star-struck market'
|
Are the strategies different in films distributed within domestic circuit and films distributed in overseas/internationally
As I said for every film there are specific strategies so for overseas market too there are different strategies. Overseas is very star-struck market. They follow Shahrukhs, Salmans and Aamirs of the world. The NRIs have other much wider options of entertainment there and we are a just third language film for them. The thought of screening a typical masala Bollywod film, THE DIRTY PICTURE with no major cast in overseas only raised eyebrows and was quite a challenge. No one would see a film like this in Botswana, Trinidad & Tobago or New Zealand. However, we were confident that the popular song and Vidya’s striking performance will create a buzz in the international market.. Hence we distributed the film overseas…In Pakistan and Qatar it was banned initially. But when we reapplied in Pakistan it did wonders and still running successfully. In Dubai the film rocked. Middle east, UK, it did well. In America we released its Telugu version as many Indian Telugu people reside there. These are the key findings and we exploited it to the most. We had good run in overseas till date. One region leads to another. It is essential to have touch points market. Like we opened in Capetown and it did well then cities in east Africa, Botswana, America in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hongkong, Singapore, Trinidad and tobago, became the touchpoints. We blasted over and released the film there and the film lent us other cities.
Does costing and budget affect the distribution of a film?
High costing is always a challenge. If you go very high in costing then recoveries become difficult. If you have a B category hero and you do a spending of A category hero how do you expect to recover? I cannot expect 100 crore from a B category star unless the content is very huge or it has some potential or it is path-breaking. People have so many avenues of entertainment, so maximum they watch a film is twice. Yes the costs involved in making a film, marketing a film affect distribution to a great deal. Once we have a particular project we evaluate the costing & revenues expected and then budget accordingly. Despite having budgets generally marketing cost tend to go overboard. Everyone wants to have a heavy buzz and visibility of their film. This is where distribution office steps in and controls the cost by providing the projected revenues. Once we have very good opening we can spend more. Any amount spent is less for film so we have to plan intelligently.
Are we moving towards digitalization? Which is in more demand digital or print release
Yes we have moved towards digitalization. People want to watch a film. It doesn’t matter whether it is a digital screen or conventional 35mm one. But for us distribution in digital does matter because they are fastest in communicating. Via satellite I can reach to town B and town C, which normally I would have given a print. Traditionally 35 mm analog print cost more than digital prints. What digital cinemas do is they give us a bandwidth and a range to go wide which becomes very cost-effective. It is not digital distribution but more of an exhibition kind of a thing. The digital thing helps us take the decision faster and makes the last minute calls easier.
Tell us about the plans for future projects of Balaji Motion Pictures?
Our forthcoming line-ups include KYA SUPER KOOL HAI HUM, ROCK THE SHAADI, DAAYAN, LOOTERA, ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI AGAIN, a film with Karan Johar and quite a few other projects. KYA KOOL is a very youthish film; it has a very young and peppy feel to it so summer vacation is the best time to release. ONCE UPON A TIME… is a big film with big cast made on big scale a tenfold release will be planned for it. ROCK THE SHAADI is a multiplex and metro film. LOOTERA will have its own market.
Tags : Girish Johar Interview, Interview With Girish Johar, THe Dirty Picture, Emraan Hashmi, Naseeruddin Shah, Tusshar Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Balaji Telefilms, Ekta Kapoor, Tarayanche Bait, Shor-In The City, Ragini MMS, Haunted 3D, Maalamaal Weekley, Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum, Rock The Shaadi, Daayan, Lootera, Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai Again
|
More Interviews
|
|
|
|
|
Sections
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|