The Final Word – by Kevin Rego
Why getting into the ‘elite club’ is not a big deal anymore.
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Emraan Hashmi is not your normal A grade star. He does not have bulging muscles. His dance moves are average. He hardly exudes charm. Rarely does he get to act with the leading ladies. He is not even the B grade directors’ first choice. If anything, the serial kisser tag has stuck with him. Yet he is one of India’s most bankable stars with his films making more moolah for his producers than most of the superstars around. It is hardly a surprise then that Karan Johar decided to cash in and sign him under his own banner.
But Emraan Hashmi does not belong to the 100 crore club— the new benchmark of the industry. It is the new passport to underline your star status as an actor or director. The latest measure of success and ratings in an industry lately finding its mojo. As Bachchan Junior who recently entered that club with ‘Bol Bachchan’ states “100 crore is the new silver jubilee for movies”
He would know . His father had a string of silver and golden jubilee hits in his prime as the Angry Young Man. Amitabh Bachchan ruled. Now suddenly the veteran star does not find a place in this elite club. It’s the Khans who continually rule it out of the 15 movies that have gone over 100 crores (20 million usd) in the past 3 years have Salman (4), Aamir (2) and Shah Rukh (2). More proof that the feuding Khans are still on top of their game.
But how exactly does a movie make a 100 crore? Producers in the past were happy if they could recover the cost and make a few crores profit. But multiplex cinemas, a growing Indian economy, an increase in ticket prices at the theatres and a sudden love for Hindi movies on the big screen are perhaps some of the reasons for this newfound growth. And you wonder how it took so long. For India’s population of 1.2 billion, a movie making 100 crore is still peanuts. And let’s not even compare it to our Hollywood counterparts.
But is the ‘benchmark’ as significant as it is made out to be? The argument being that if you take an A grade star, throw in a tried and tested plot, add in item number, introduce a new actress with some silly comedy and a few action scenes, you ideally should get there. So it’s really not a big deal anymore. Ek Tha Tiger with a limp storyline reached that target 5 days afterall and ended up with 198 crore.
Bollywood kitsch is still served to the audience. Death of original scriptwriters has meant remaking yesteryear hits, or cashing in on mind–dumbing sequels. Action films are inundated by poor imitations of Matrix style stunts. They still enter the elite club, though. You wonder how films like Housefull 2 (114 cr.), Golmaal 3 (107 cr.) and Bol Bachchan (102 cr.) reach that “benchmark” with bizarre scripts and dim–witted dialogues. As Vidhu Vinod Chopra whose 3 Idiots remains India’s only film to reach the 200 crore mark, thundered: “Rubbish films are making 100 crore these days.”
But who cares? Bollywood has long since been dishing films with absurd storylines and terming it escapism. Even though television viewing has increased, the vast majority still flocks to the cinema houses on a weekend with their families. And perhaps the average viewer is enthralled by the histrionics of their favourite stars. So “rubbish” films rake in the moolah. Isn’t that all that counts afterall?
Well known director Muzaffar Ali who made the classic Umran Jaan is practical in his views” It’s equally true that there is a section of the audience who likes these 100 crore club films, else how do you explain the box–office success? Certain filmmakers are only catering to this class, which is understandable. At the end of the day, filmmakers have to earn money too!”
But do they? Bollywood A list stars are well aware of what’s at stake and have significantly increased their rates. Most of them demand a share in the profits or collections from certain territories in addition. Add the astronomical production cost of some of the movies with its foreign locales and extravagant sets and suddenly the numbers all add up. RA1 for example was made at a whopping 150 crore but ended up doing 115 crore business in India.
There is, of course, the overseas territories. US, UK and UAE figures for a film all add up to a good number but still is a small percentage of India box office collections.
In the real business dynamics of Bollywood it is however those films with a low budget that eventually storm the box office and are the real winners. OMG for instance was made for less than 10 crore and has earned almost 75 crore at the box office.
Ditto with Raaz 3 and most of Emraan Hashmi’s other films like Dirty Picture, Jannat 2 and Shanghai. He may have not joined that elite list yet but it’s increasingly difficult to ignore his clout as he churns out one hit after another. “Technically I think my films made more money than those 100 crore films” he says candidly.
The box office can hardly disagree with that statement. It does not matter though. He still would need that 100 crore tag to be counted. The fickle world of Bollywood really looks at the fine print.
– Kevin Rego