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Alibaba
And 40 Crores : All Khushi No Gham!
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Karan Johar's mega-buck multi-starrer 'Kabhi Khushi
Kabhi Gham' is understood to have fetched almost Rs
40 crore through sale of satellite and overseas
rights even before the film's release. Johar, the
man behind the runaway success story of 'Kuch Kuch
Hota Hai', has once again built so much hype around
his next production that he has succeeded in
marketing his product which is yet unfinished.
Add to this the several crores that he will fetch
through sale of theatrical and audio rights, say
Karan's friends, and that gives the new formula of
market economics which Karan has mastered, but which
is yet to sink in the average Indian filmmaker's
psyche.
According to industry estimates, Karan's magnum
opus 'Kabhi Khushi' has cost him anywhere in  the
range of Rs. 25-30 crore. Therefore, going by the
sale of his overseas and satellite rights, he has
already started making profits even before the
release of the film. Anything else will be a bonus.
'KKKG' has all the big names--Amitabh Bachchan,
Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Jaya Bachchan, Kajol
and Kareena. It is a 'family movie' with the usual
melodrama thrown in and is due for release by the
end of this year.
 Not
many in the Bollywood industry, so famous for it
enterprise, have yet learnt the rope-trick of this
trade--to recover one's investment ahead of the
release of the film. Needless to add, the box-office
situation has been poor in the last couple of years
and has deteriorated further this year. So far,
there is not a single box office hit. Therefore, it
makes sense to make big budget films only if one is
able to market them before release to the theatres.
The other film don, Subhash Ghai, known for his
big-budget multi-starrers, has also perfected this
unique marketing technique. Even before his
Hrithik-Kareena starrer 'Yaadein' has been released,
he has sold the theatrical rights of his film for a
phenomenal Rs. 3.5 crore per territory. The word has
also gone around that Tips has bought the audio
rights for Rs.9.1 crore for India only. It is known
that Ghai has also made an equal amount through the
overseas audio rights.
 'Yaadein'
is a love story with Hrithik and Kareena in the
romantic lead and Jackie Shroff in a stellar role.
Although there is no dearth of love stories in
today's Hindi cinema, Ghai made 'Yaadein'
"different" by organizing a media
blitzkrieg for his production. So much so that after
the media hype came the mahurat which was a mega
event held in London and attended by no less than
the captains of Indian industry--the Hindujas, the
Jains, the Mittals and many more. The British
Commonwealth minister was present as well and it is
well known that Ghai left no stones unturned to
ensure that anybody who was somebody in Bollywood
was present on the occasion. This was the first time
that an Indian producer had chosen to hold his
mahurat abroad and that too on such a grand scale.
 A
spokesperson for Ghai's umbrella company, Mukta
Arts, says that the event brought in its share of
returns. The company made profits on the film even
before the date of release was talked about. Citing
another example, he points out that the film 'Rahul',
despite the hype raised about it, did not meet with
success at the box-office. However, Mukta Arts
converted 'Rahul' into a winning proposition even
before the fate of the film could be decided at the
box-office. Its audio and satellite rights fetched
Mukta Arts twice the money invested in the film. The
theatrical rights were a bonus. Therefore, though
the public perception about the film may be that it
has not done well at the box-office, the producer
was not a loser. On the contrary, he made a huge
profit.
Each industry has its own market economics, say
industry sources. The film industry for many years
waited for the public response on the release to
justify the investment made in the film. However,
there was a difference then. The avenues of
entertainment were not so diverse and the public
often re-viewed each film. In cases where the film
was a hit, like 'Sholay' and 'Abhimaan', people
often saw a film 7 to 8 times even. Now the times
have changed. Films are being constantly beamed by
various channels to the middle class via cable TV,
the price of seeing a film with the family in a
theatre has gone up steeply and many more avenues of
entertainment are now open to the public.
The film industry now need not work its economics
on how the response in the theatres will be. It is
all about the marketing mantra. A product that is
well made and attractively packaged will definitely
sell.
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