Assamese Cinema - Missing the Art behind Commerce.

Assamese cinema is in doldrums. To my knowledge, none of the Assamese films in the last few years have made profits. It has become critical that we understand the reasons and do the needful to try to revive Assamese cinema.

In order for Art to survive, it needs patrons.

This is more so when it comes to commercial cinema. Commercial cinema needs much more than cinema lovers. It needs patrons at various stages of the film from making, distribution to exhibition. In other words, commercial cinema needs an eco-system to survive and flourish. The eco-system that is tightly bound by commercial and other interests. The eco-system of commercial cinema comprises the Financiers, Producers, Production, Creative, Distributors, Actors, Exhibitors (cinema halls) and Audience (Patrons).

Each of these elements of the eco-system has to profit from the act of making, distributing and exhibiting the film. The motivation comes from the commerce of the trade of making films. We have to understand each of these elements in detail, to analyze and find a solution for the future of Assamese cinema.

I don't have extensive experience in the Assamese film industry to opine on each of the elements of the eco-system. This article is primarily from my experience of producing, distributing and promoting India's first martial arts comedy - an Assamese feature film - Local Kung Fu.

Poor Dated Content

Bordoloi Trophy was extremely popular and Gauhati stadium used to be packed until television came and increased the expectation from a football match. This is the same psychology affecting Assamese Cinema. The quality of Bollywood, Hollywood and South Indian Film has improved with time. They have become accessible to Assamese audience like any Assamese film. Perhaps more accessible than Assamese cinema. So it is obvious that Assamese film has to compete with all kinds of content easily available and accessible today. It is a pure economics of demand and supply, where Assamese cinema is failing to create demand because of poor quality of content – both creatively and technically. .

As recent as last week, an Assamese film was released with mono sound. Can you believe it? Cinematography, Choreography, Editing, VFX, Sound Design, Art Design, Make-up & Styling - all these departments have to open to current trends, technology and young talent. We have educated and experienced Assamese talent in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai who have to be given the responsibility to create cinema at par with Bollywood.

Cinema is Business. Distributors are Wholesalers. Cinema Halls are Retailers.

Only perhaps Art cinema without profit considerations, supported by Government and the super-rich, will survive without a proper business strategy. Commercial cinema cannot survive without making profits. One can make profits with a sub-standard product if sales and distribution are good.

Assam does not have a single distributor whose primary business interest is regional Assamese cinema – a distributor who distributes Bollywood and other films, but has either emotional or sentimental interest towards Assamese cinema. A cinema hall is dependent on the distributors for films. A distributor has the upper hand in deciding for the cinema halls. But Assam does not have a distributor (patron), who feels strongly for Assamese cinema.

As a result of which, Assamese films today just get one show, that too in a non profitable time-slot. In a city like Dibrugarh or Jorhat, where there are multiple cinema halls, Assamese cinema is lucky to get one show and one theatre. Distributors would openly suggest to the producer to release in one cinema hall in one city / town. There are 69 cinema halls considering the defense halls in Assam, and it is unfortunate that it is a great achievement to get 17-18 halls for an Assamese cinema.

A recent release only got 7 cinema halls. 7 cinema halls multiplied by 7 shows in a week is 49 shows. If 200 people come in all the shows, we will have an audience of 9800. If we take an average of Rs. 25 as the share of the producer in a ticket, the net collection for the film would be 2,45,000. This makes the business of films a loss making proposition from the start.

Assamese cinema lovers and patrons need to invest in an exclusive distribution channel hiring the best talents, which would have the power to dictate terms with the exhibitors. The channel should get all the Bollywood mega hits to distribute in Assam. A box office hit benefits all the cinema halls, more than the distributor himself. Once the exhibitors make money out of these releases, the channel would get the upper hand to release an Assamese cinema asking for the best shows on the best dates.

I am planning to start a distribution business in Assam with the next horror film of the famous Ramsay Entertainment - Neighbours. Check the trailer here. I am in touch with producers to buy the rights for 'Jackpot', 'Dedh Ishqiya', 'Gulab Gang'. I am looking forward for investments. There is risk, but there are handsome gains as well.

Cinema halls too have a critical role to play. Most of the cinema hall owners are not Assamese by language and by community. It is not that they should not own cinema halls. But the fact is that they will naturally have a lesser interest or passion for Assamese cinema. Without Assamese people coming out to open cinema halls with all modern projection and sound equipments, Assamese cinema will have a tough time getting screened in the first place.

The cinema hall business is a profitable business if the business is done like it should be done keeping the consumers in mind. 

For instance, Assam is hot, humid and poor. Assam does not have variety in terms of cinema options. Assam does not have entertainment options. Low cost cinema halls with AC and dolby 5.1 sound with 2 or more screens with less than 80 seats may be a profitable option. It is not necessary that these halls only run Assamese cinema. Bollywood releases a new movie almost every week. Bollywood has many hit cinemas that consumers would like to watch on big screens. These halls can also be used for music functions, plays and quiz/debate competitions.

Missing Stardom. Missing Aspirations. 

Assamese cinema does not the essential STAR attraction. The actors and actresses are not bigger than life. People do not aspire to be like them, or to follow them. Most of the actors and actresses work for a living like any normal Assamese. Assamese cinema has failed to give them the pedestal of respect, fame and money, that any actor or actress gets in other cinema industry.

One of our famous actresses is a lawyer, which means she is accessible and available in the high court every other day for the common people. This undeniably takes away the exclusivity and star attraction for her, in the minds of the cinema audience.

When we were kids and Assamese cinema was doing well, Nipon Goswami, Biju Phukan, Brajen Borah, Purabi Sarma etc. were larger than life. People used to flock to have a look at them. We used to wait for a film with our favourite actors and actresses. That is no longer the case. We now instead have Bollywood stars that we follow. The media and the film fraternity has to understand this essential ingredient for a successful cinema industry. We have to lift our actors and actress to a pedestal where they become stars. Exclusivity has to be created. The remuneration has to increase many folds so that they don't have to have alternate careers. They should not get into mobile theatres, but for special appearances.

Actors and Actresses also have a role to play. They have to maintain their glamour quotient by being fit and slim, and by being good social citizens.

Alternate Distribution Channels

The world of cinema is not limited to theatres alone. With Internet and technology, films can be distributed in multiple ways. The audience is also scattered across the globe. Assamese cinema can be made available to the Assamese population staying outside Assam and India through the use of technology.

We have options like BigFlix and Netflix for online streaming of movies. We have online stores like Flipkart and Amazon for selling of DVDs. We have the DTH channels where movies can be distributed with a fee (Airtel Movies, Tatasky Showcase etc). We have upcoming technologies like Lukup, which can distribute content to any device like a television, mobile or the computer. We have the option of social media and YouTube to create awareness of the films. We can even put the whole movie on YouTube and earn revenues through advertising.

I should also mention that all the local clubs and auditoriums in various parts of the state of Assam could be instrumental in bringing Assamese cinema to those towns and villages where there are no cinema halls. All we really need is a DVD player, a projector, a good sound system and curtains to make the auditorium dark enough for viewing cinema. The producer and the auditorium authorities can share the revenue equally, helping both the parties to earn handsome revenues.

Cinema is an integral part of a culture. If cinema is not aspirational and in demand, the culture tends to get stagnated and diluted. It is of immense importance all of us - proud Assamese - should come forward and help the cause of Assamese cinema with a vengeance.

CRAZZY 4 - Good movie and a great strategy !!

If I am right about what Mr. Rakesh Roshan is planning with his new release - Krazzy 4, he is a genius. He tried to do the same with Krish and now he is trying to do it with a better approach.

Contrary to the reviews, the movie is much better than most of our comedy brigade. If Partner, which was completely trashy, can be a hit, I wonder why crazzy 4 cant be a hit.

It has the best of actors in Irrfan Khan, Rajpal Yadav and Arshad Warsi. Acting was consistent and could beautifully carry the characters without deviation. Humour was not overflowing, stupid and unrealistic. The movie is based on 4 characters and so the humour was because of the nature, attitude and personality of the characters. Situational, genuine and of course very funny.

The movie is definitely worth a watch.

What really caught my attention in the movie is a clear strategy of Mr. Rakesh Roshan trying to introduce this whole concept of crazzy 4 as a brand. He has tried to create brands like 'Fantastic Four', Famous Five, 'James Bond'.

I am really surprised that none of the movie reviews have noticed or written about the same.

I wonder if the strategy would work but he did a good job. Firstly, he along with his director, Jaideep Sen etched the four character with utmost precision and clarity.

Character 1 - Gangadhar (played by Rajpal Yadav) is a Gandhian whose mind is stuck in a time warp. He thinks that the country is still a British colony and we must fight for its freedom. Character 2 - Dr. Chowdhury (played by Irrfan Khan) is an eccentric with an obsessive compulsive urge to keep everything clean and proper. He has the urge to think that he is the captain of the team and be the messiah to keep the society clean and better. Character 3 - Raja (played by Arshad Warsi) is a character suffering from perpetual and spontaneous anger, who cannot control his anger in support of the world view that he has. Character 4 - Dabboo (played by Suresh Menon) is a character who has suffered trauma in the past and is unable to talk and is perpetually scared of the world.

Secondly, the director has shown an emotional bonding between the 4 characters. Even though the characters are not in proper mental state, they understand each other. To top it all, the director has brought in the character of Dr. Sonali who is the Godmother for the crazzy 4. They would do anything for her and also listen to her without question out of respect and love. This makes a team and perfect for branding and making a series of movies on the team.

Thirdly, the movie has a lot of scenes that tries to preach morals and good principles. It is typical for a movie brand to preach high morals without being boring and by being acceptable to the society at large. It is also important that the brand takes relevant issues into consideration. For instance, it preaches patriotism. In one of the scenes, the movie screen-play makes everyone in the scene stand up and respect our national anthem. The scene is so entwined with the story that it is hardly preachy and boring. It also brushes through the issue of keeping our cities clean through the character of Dr. Chowdhury.

Lastly, the movie has a song after the end of the story which clearly tries to put forth 'Crazzy4' as a brand. Hrithik Roshan introduces Crazzy 4 with his excellent dance. The lyrics of the song is cleverly crafted to introduce Crazzy4 as a brand that is truthful, honest, daring and would fight for the good.

Break free gotta get some chhutti... Tod do zanjeeron ko…Break free get ready kyon ki…Aa rahe hain krazzy4; They may be nuts… but they’ve got guts... Woh hai paagal deewane; And they don’t care… if people stare…Laga dein sabko thikane…; They’ll make you drool… they ain’t no fool…Chant hain wo mastane…And if that’s mad… its just too bad…Sach hai ye solah aane; So if you wanna… yeah… yeah…Dil hai deewana… yeah… yeah…1 and 2 and 3 and 4…Swing it with me doston…. Break free gotta get some chhutti... Tod do zanjeeron ko…Break free get ready kyon ki…Aa rahe hain krazzy 4…

Great Song. And I hope it does its purpose. All the best, Mr. Roshan.

A confused 'Salaam' to the confused concept of 'Ishq'

My Thoughts on SALAAM-E-ISHQ

All of us know what 'Ishq' is? Ya, of course. We know what love is all about. The 10 year old Tom in the neighbourhood knows what love is. His friend Tina knows about it too. The college going Prakash knows about it all. His crush Sonali also has a mushy idea about it. You know what Ishq is and I know about it as well.

Thats the thing about Ishq, about love. Everyone knows about it but everyone has a different idea about it, has different expectations and has different ways of expressing it. When I was watching Salaam-E-Ishq - the latest release by Nikhil Advani - I was thinking... perhaps thats the idea about the movie... showcasing love and its manifestations from 6 different angles. And it would be interesting... but as we all know you can't expect too many things from bollywood movies made for the masses. And it was a massacre of an experience.

I know its difficult to pull out a movie through 6 different narrations. So many movies in the recent past failed at the attempt. More famously, Naseeruddin Shah's movie on multiple stories all ending with the twin towers in US. What a mess of good sub plots within a plot! And I thought one would and should learn from other's mistakes and escapades. However, in Salaam-E-Ishq, none of the stories moved ahead and they all finished without a trace of developmental or moral logic. What is the director trying to convey; or did he have too many things to convey? He got so entangled that he fell flat on his own cobweb.

I still feel there is a lot of meat in the concept of expressing (salaam-ing) Ishq from six different angles. But Salaam-E-Ishq could not do justice to any of the six angles. It started well but lost it soon after. The follow-through and the string to pull all the six stories together were not strong enough.
The most poorly portrayed angle was the angle of lust. If I was Sohail Khan, I would have killed Nikhil Advani for giving such a mindless treatment to his character. Ishq and lust or Ishq with lust could have been such a great powerful story..... if only the director could see it. Instead he killed whatever he weaved in the beginning by giving a comic twist to such an extent that you wonder that the director could have taken Johny Lever if he wanted to give a comic fillip to the movie just for the fun of it. Sohail goes flying through a wall in one scene.... what was Nikhil thinking!!! Thus he gave such a tragic end to a great potential story and the sixth angle became an object of mere pun. I weep in distraught.

The other two potentially great angles handled slightly better were the Akshay Khanna-Ayesha Takia and the Anil Kapoor-Juhi Chawla angles. Who does not get cold feet and butterflies just before marriage? And who does not go through a phase of confusion after 5-7 years of marriage, when one sees other beautiful woman? These are such universal concepts of (confusion in) love for strong story telling. But our Nikhil Advani could not do much justice here either. I would however say they were the best two stories in the movie as far as the narration of the 'Ishq' angles is concerned. Akshay did a great job and carried the movie all through. Anil Kapoor anyways is a class apart and adds tremendously to the screen play of every movie he does.

And then there is this ambitious woman who forgets love for famedom. And her ashiq who is bent on winning her back. What do you think? completely bollywoodish in smell and taste, isn't it?... definitely not as strong as the other stories which had a base and foundation in true emotions. But the producer had to do a justified investment and need a Salman Khan to safe keep his investments in crores. So no points for this angle.... The producer can make an independent movie on this theme however... the mass may love it...

And please don't force, I just wont talk about Govinda's re-entry into Bollywood... completely a hogwash of a story among such strong stories. Completely took away the maturity of the other stories from the film. What crap? A taxi driver - some sort of a prem pujari - falling for a foreigner and ultimately the foreigner falls for him. Oh man, give me a break.... that foreigner was a cutie and only that kept me awake. And I can't figure out what angle of 'Ishq' is this? What is the foundation or rationale for including this story in the movie. You cannot mix real and unreal. Either you stay completely real or completely unreal. One doesn’t expect reality in unreal movies like Hera Pheri and therefore don’t curse such movies after watching them.

And then we have our sweet upcoming actress Vidya Balan and our hunk Mr. John Abraham... He was a media planner in Ambience once, can you believe it? Anyways, in the movie he loved his wife (she is not from his religion and caste) like no tomorrow. He has fought all odds and family to marry her. He can do anything for her and so forth. So is that a big deal? All heroes love their heroines and die for them.. Amir Khan died in his very first film - Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. Here, too I cannot see the logic and morale of including this story with the other 5 stories. Perhaps the message was true love never dies whatever be the situation.

On the whole a not so good movie from the story telling point of view. Much below my expectations. I would like to think that people do not have much expectation from the movie. At least they wont come out of the cinema hall with the unsatisfied look. From the technical side, all movies these days are great from camera and choreography point of view. The money that a producer spends has to come out in the screen.

As I said earlier, love as an emotion has different interpretations for different people of different age, gender and background. And as such it is a confused emotion if you look at a summation of all the different interpretations. So I agree it must have been very difficult to bring six interpretations into a single movie. I can give it that much to the director as the subject taken was indeed difficult. But it would be a complete disappointment if the real reason for this disappointing movie is that Mr. Nikhil Advani could not understand the different interpretations of love in depth and therefore could not visualise the movie and made a complete mess of the movie.

I sincerely hope that is not the case.