Immigrant
The immigrant experience
Cannes is a marketplace. The red carpet is there just to attract attention
to certain films. So there is no negativeness about the fact that India did
not have a single film in the participative category of the festival,” UTV
Motion Pictures boss Ronnie Screwvala states matter-of-factly.
UTV took three films to Cannes — Blue Umbrella, Rang De Basanti and Viruddh.
“None fitted the competitive category. So it didn’t make sense for us to
enter the competition,” he shrugs. “More goes on at the festival outside
that circuit.”
The European festivals, according to Screwvala, are opening up to marketing
activities. “The American Film Market has always been more active. Last year
we did a deal with Miramax International there.” The result is a cluster of
Miramax films being distributed in India by UTV, like the Bruce
Willis-starrer Sin City knocking at release door.
The importance of Indians being showcased at Cannes is manifold. “Faces like
Aishwarya Rai become pictures that people carry back as their impression of
our films and our country. This helps to market not just our productions but
also tourism and other service industries.”
The global market, he points out, is growing at a never-before pace. “The
market abroad is just as big as the domestic market. All these years, we
have been misinformed about its size by overseas distributors, who gave such
projections for their own benefit.”
Supporting his claim, he points out how the value of tickets is seven times
that in Indian theatres. “Most countries do not have entertainment tax.
True, the marketing cost is higher, the exhibitors strike a harder bargain;
yet the returns are much more.”
Other than producing and distributing movies in India, UTV is going for
international co-productions. The Namesake is the first in the line.
Screwvala had come to Calcutta to ensure a smooth take-off for the shooting
of his $ 9.6 million co-production.
“I had been in touch with Mira (Nair). Then we met at Wellington Club in
Mumbai last November. She wanted me to distribute the film, I offered to
produce it. Mira wanted to roll in February-March as she wanted to catch the
New York winter. By February the paperwork was done. By June 8, they were
through with the US schedule,” he smiles.
The Namesake, in the UTV chief’s words, is “a truly Hollywood film”. “The
Indian revenue that would be generated is only two per cent of our global
expectations.” The film is unique in having global distribution from Day One
of production rather than going in search of a buyer afterwards to the
festivals.
Would a film with Indian characters sell like mainstream Hollywood films?
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding was a Greek story. It did business worth
half-a-billion dollars. Nicole Kidman is an Australian, Russell Crowe is
from New Zealand, Antonio Banderas is Spanish. They are all Hollywood stars.
The Namesake is a story of immigrant Americans. The Ganguli experience is
what even migrant Italians or Germans would identify with.”
It is the treatment of a film that makes it Indian or international, not the
story or the characters in it, Screwvala feels. “Mira knows the American
sensibility.”
He is all for designing movies that appeal to the target audience. “Swades
did far better abroad than in India as it was aimed at the migrant mindset
at the crossroads, rather than the family back home. It would be silly to
take D abroad. The gangster concept is well-known abroad. If they have to
see a gangster movie, they’d rather see Godfather. A Hindi film that we
release outside India as well would have to be quintessentially Indian —
with strong cultural roots — that would appeal to the south Asians.”
The Namesake is the second UTV film to be shot in Calcutta. (UTV is
distributing Parineeta). “I have heard about the trouble Vinod had,” he
said, commenting on Parineeta producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s tiff with the
local industry hands. But Screwvala is not concerned. “Such problems get
resolved.”
But, he categorically states that there should be flexibility when one is
working for a film. “It cannot be a strictly eight-hour shift. The film
industry involves a lot of passion. If a shot is good and things are
rolling, one has to continue without looking at the watch,” the producer
muses.
SUDESHNA BANERJEE
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050608/asp/calcutta/story_4820504.asp
Cannes is a marketplace. The red carpet is there just to attract attention
to certain films. So there is no negativeness about the fact that India did
not have a single film in the participative category of the festival,” UTV
Motion Pictures boss Ronnie Screwvala states matter-of-factly.
UTV took three films to Cannes — Blue Umbrella, Rang De Basanti and Viruddh.
“None fitted the competitive category. So it didn’t make sense for us to
enter the competition,” he shrugs. “More goes on at the festival outside
that circuit.”
The European festivals, according to Screwvala, are opening up to marketing
activities. “The American Film Market has always been more active. Last year
we did a deal with Miramax International there.” The result is a cluster of
Miramax films being distributed in India by UTV, like the Bruce
Willis-starrer Sin City knocking at release door.
The importance of Indians being showcased at Cannes is manifold. “Faces like
Aishwarya Rai become pictures that people carry back as their impression of
our films and our country. This helps to market not just our productions but
also tourism and other service industries.”
The global market, he points out, is growing at a never-before pace. “The
market abroad is just as big as the domestic market. All these years, we
have been misinformed about its size by overseas distributors, who gave such
projections for their own benefit.”
Supporting his claim, he points out how the value of tickets is seven times
that in Indian theatres. “Most countries do not have entertainment tax.
True, the marketing cost is higher, the exhibitors strike a harder bargain;
yet the returns are much more.”
Other than producing and distributing movies in India, UTV is going for
international co-productions. The Namesake is the first in the line.
Screwvala had come to Calcutta to ensure a smooth take-off for the shooting
of his $ 9.6 million co-production.
“I had been in touch with Mira (Nair). Then we met at Wellington Club in
Mumbai last November. She wanted me to distribute the film, I offered to
produce it. Mira wanted to roll in February-March as she wanted to catch the
New York winter. By February the paperwork was done. By June 8, they were
through with the US schedule,” he smiles.
The Namesake, in the UTV chief’s words, is “a truly Hollywood film”. “The
Indian revenue that would be generated is only two per cent of our global
expectations.” The film is unique in having global distribution from Day One
of production rather than going in search of a buyer afterwards to the
festivals.
Would a film with Indian characters sell like mainstream Hollywood films?
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding was a Greek story. It did business worth
half-a-billion dollars. Nicole Kidman is an Australian, Russell Crowe is
from New Zealand, Antonio Banderas is Spanish. They are all Hollywood stars.
The Namesake is a story of immigrant Americans. The Ganguli experience is
what even migrant Italians or Germans would identify with.”
It is the treatment of a film that makes it Indian or international, not the
story or the characters in it, Screwvala feels. “Mira knows the American
sensibility.”
He is all for designing movies that appeal to the target audience. “Swades
did far better abroad than in India as it was aimed at the migrant mindset
at the crossroads, rather than the family back home. It would be silly to
take D abroad. The gangster concept is well-known abroad. If they have to
see a gangster movie, they’d rather see Godfather. A Hindi film that we
release outside India as well would have to be quintessentially Indian —
with strong cultural roots — that would appeal to the south Asians.”
The Namesake is the second UTV film to be shot in Calcutta. (UTV is
distributing Parineeta). “I have heard about the trouble Vinod had,” he
said, commenting on Parineeta producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s tiff with the
local industry hands. But Screwvala is not concerned. “Such problems get
resolved.”
But, he categorically states that there should be flexibility when one is
working for a film. “It cannot be a strictly eight-hour shift. The film
industry involves a lot of passion. If a shot is good and things are
rolling, one has to continue without looking at the watch,” the producer
muses.
SUDESHNA BANERJEE
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050608/asp/calcutta/story_4820504.asp
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