I had decided that come what may, I won’t interview Shoojit Sircar before the release of his film, Madras Cafe. His film had already spawned a controversy which just got bigger and bigger as the release date approached.

Not that I could make a difference to what was happening all around, but I desisted from using the controversy to my advantage by fanning emotions of an already enraged section of Tamilians who felt that the film had portrayed the LTTE in a negative light.

The film released amid sporadic events of violence across Mumbai and rest of the country, but then it strangely died down with the same speed that it flared up.

The film garnered generous marks from critics and some of the protesters, who were violently opposing the film’s release, took a step back. So, I stepped ahead and made that phone-call to Shoojit.

It was easier to get hold of Shoojit because the filmy press had already moved on to promote films like Satyagraha that was lined up next.

I know that this interview won’t get as many shares or views as it would have normally got before the film’s release, but then that has never been my concern.

Here is some straight talk with the director of Madras Cafe:

Your phone was switched off…

I was on a flight. I just landed in Kolkata and I will soon be on my way home.

Where do you stay in Kolkata?

My home is near Salt Lake and I am here till Durga Puja is over. I am exhausted is an understatement. I am drained and I desperately need some rest. I just want to switch off. Till then, I am not talking about my next project.

I don’t want to talk about your next project, I want to talk about Madras Cafe…

Really? It’s all out there in the open (laughs).

Tell me Shoojit, were you scared and intimidated when you started hearing about the protests and violence before the film’s release?

I was actually in a different zone which was a very lonely one too. I wanted to tell everybody that I have neither portrayed any community in bad light, nor did I have any intention to do so. I kept telling everybody through whatever channel I had, to see the film first before reacting. But it didn’t happen. 

The film was not being perceived in a way it should have been. I have written a fictional story around a historical incident and to make it appear authentic I have peppered the dialogues with certain terms (like Eelam). But some people perceived all of that in a wrong way. I felt helpless. At the same I knew that the feelings of hatred would die once the film was out.

Now that the film is out in the open, I have got so many calls from my Tamilian friends telling me that they didn’t find anything wrong with the way the characters have been portrayed. I am glad that people are realising it in the end. Guess that is the reason why the protests have died down suddenly.

Did you re-edit and chop off some scenes to avoid enraging the protestors further?

No. The film was not re-edited. I was happy with the first edit itself. There was no question of chopping any more scenes.

During the promotions, I noticed a very conscious attempt to not use words like LTTE though it was the moot point of your film…

Prabhakaran in Madras Cafe tried to take enough precautions to ensure that I put my film across as a work of fiction and not as a biopic or a slice of reality.

I kept telling everybody one should see the film before reacting adversely to it. But somehow things had taken its own course and were beyond my control.

I was surprised to hear some people referring to my film as a biopic. None had seen the film though. Making biopics in India are a cautious zone for all filmmakers.

I feel that the biopic that everybody should see is Gandhi (by Richard Attenborough) to realise how biopics are made. It is not easy to make something based on history because of its numerous interpretations. It is a very difficult job. I was certainly not ready to take that route.

I noticed that ‘Madras Cafe’ has been influenced by documentaries such as ‘The Sri Lankan Killing Fields’…

Not one, but I was influenced by a lot of documentaries. I had also read up a lot of articles from The Hindu and keenly followed as many documentaries, short films and articles that I could find on the subject.

I am a guy from Kolkata who makes Hindi films in Mumbai, naturally, I didn’t have any first-hand information about the Sri Lankan civil war. Read More>>

*Disclaimer

We have not paid Soumyadipta Banerjee for this article and that we have picked this article from his blog at www.bollywoodjournalist.com.

The post Exclusive Interview: Shoojit Sircar appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Two years ago, I had a heart-to-heart chat with Shah Rukh Khan in Singapore.

I was part of the media contingent that was there to cover an award function and as usual, Shah Rukh was the star performer.

Unlike other bosses, my editor knew that I had a tough week looking for exclusives and she had indulgently said that the interviews of the top stars attending the event would suffice for the editorial agenda.

“Just send me the interviews and then you can relax,” she had said.

It basically meant that I only needed to speak to Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan.

After going through a horrible week that assignment looked easy and I was quite happy.

Shah Rukh arrived on the day of his performance and said he will need just an hour to sync in with the background dancers and the stage management team.

The rest of the time, he declared, will be devoted to us – me and a journalist-friend from another reputed English newspaper. We decided to speak to him at his exclusive but cramped green room, backstage.

The day was going like clockwork as Shah Rukh finished his practice well in time and settled down with us, incessantly puffing on his trademark Classic cigarettes which come in red packets.

Just before he joined us, I was checking his Twitter account and found that he hadn’t tweeted for a long time. That made me curious. I had started wondering whether he had stopped using his newly gifted Iphone or had shifted back to his old love, a black and silver Blackberry Bold.

‘Twitter broke my heart’

Those were the exact words he used to describe his experiences when I asked him why he had stopped tweeting. Frankly, I was not expecting such an answer.

Shah Rukh then went on to describe how a bunch of faceless, nameless morons who had opened fake and misleading handles on the micro-blogging site would go on showering expletives on him and his family.

The worst part? They would do it just for the kick of it and there wouldn’t be any apparent reason for that action.

Some would just wake up, post a few gaalis in Hindi or in absolutely wrong English and then go back to sleep again. The gaalis would mostly contain words that referred to a man’s or a woman’s genitals.

I never heard a similar complaint from Salman Khan. I then went back to check with Aamir because he too was on Twitter and didn’t seem to tweet much. I was told Aamir too was upset with those faceless people on Twitter.

Salman wasn’t complaining probably because he had practically never clicked on “@”.  He was just happy tweeting.

After a few more meetings with the other stars attending the event, I realised that the problem was generic and much bigger than I had imagined.

Most of the stars were reeling under the negativity that these ‘twit fans’ were spreading.

The reports of stars getting abused on social media were not new but the monstrosity of the problem sunk in when I actually spoke to a lot of them in person.

Every star was capable of giving these ‘twits’ a fitting reply and trust me, they perhaps knew more sinister Hindi gaalis. The problem was: They couldn’t do it because they were public figures on social media.

A few actors showed me some of those abusive tweets and I was ashamed of the fact that I breathe the same air as those people posting those tweets.

Who are these people?

I did a small survey of people who have opened those so-called funny and fake accounts on twitter and frequently post explicit jokes. When they are not doing that, these ‘jokers’ go on a star-abusing spree. Read more>>

*Disclaimer

We have not paid Soumyadipta Banerjee for this article and that we have picked this article from his blog at www.bollywoodjournalist.com.

The post The Bhaitards appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

They say journalism is fraught with risks that one can’t fathom. This I realised on discovering former Bollywood siren Mamta Kulkarni.

To get in touch with the elusive and controversial Mamta Kulkarni was a big kick because she was reported ‘missing’ from India for over a decade. She never spoke to the Indian media before and her whereabouts were shrouded in mystery because it was rumoured that she was dating Vikram alias Vicky Goswami, who was described as a drug-lord by the South African police and the press.

Through sheer persistence, I was able to get through to her one day. I established contact with her through email. Once I got her email, I was given a link to her website. I got a chance to look at her recent photographs, compared them with her location through her IP address and then compared it with some privileged data that my friend provided.

I was convinced that I was interacting with Mamta Kulkarni. After verifying the authenticity by checking the chats, emails and the links, I published her interview on my blog.

My discovery of Mamta Kulkarni and her subsequent interview created a kind of sensation among her fans and I was quite happy at having achieved the feat.

I moved on to the next story as usual. But it seems that for some, the story has just begun.

This time the story doesn’t centre around Mamta Kulkarni, but her beau andalleged drug-lord Vicky Goswami.

The South African police and a section of the press are hot on the heels of Mamta Kulkarni’s boyfriend and I have now become a cog in the wheel, much against my wishes.

Why Johannesburg Police is after me

I had started to receive mails right after I published the interview with Mamta Kulkarni. I had expected that after giving that exclusive interview to me she would speak to others in the Indian media. I had also asked her if she wanted me to connect her with anyone in the media, but for some strange reason, Mamta clammed up. I remained the only journalist from India to have established contact with her.

I had heavily edited her interview and didn’t publish any name. But the subsequent withdrawal of Mamta from the rest of the Indian media spelt trouble for me.

Why Mamta Kulkarni is a prized catch for Johannesburg Police

Within a day of the publication of the interview, I started receiving mails from ‘people’ who want to get in touch with Mamta. Those names sounded strange, and typically like those that spam your account with details of how they have inherited a cash stash and want to transfer part of the funds to your account.

Some of these mails directly go to my spam account. I deleted all those mails.

Then came one ‘comment’ on the blog where there was a request of providing the exact location of Mamta. I traced the IP address of the sender and it seemed to have originated from some hidden government ID in Johannesburg.

I did manage trace the location of Mamta from the footprints of her social media handles but I didn’t want to give that out. It was nowhere near the USA as she declared on her twitter account.

Later, I deleted that comment too.

Two days back, I received another mail from the official ID of one of the most reputed investigative journalist in Johannesburg attached to one of the biggest newspapers there. The journalist desperately wanted me to cooperate with them and tell them about Mamta’s location. They believed Mamta would lead them to Vicky.

The mail had three attachments – the resume of the journalist and all the links to her office and scanned newspaper articles.

The mail explained in detail why they have ‘unfinished business’ with Vicky Goswami. The mail also says that the journalist had gone to Dubai to speak with Vicky after his release but he was not allowed an audience by the Dubai Police. The journalist was also allegedly attacked by unidentified people in Dubai.

Why I cannot cooperate with the South African police… Read More>>

*Disclaimer

We have not paid Soumyadipta Banerjee for this article and that we have picked this article from his blog at www.bollywoodjournalist.com.

The post Why the South African police needs to leave me alone! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

It’s been far too long that a section of the media have raised a question mark against item numbers in films. They are saying that item numbers provoke men to commit rapes in India.

Though I haven’t been a part of a single item song myself , I choose to protest against this opinion.
Before I launch into any kind of reasoning, I want to make it very clear that I am mortified with what happened to the photo-journalist in the heart of my Mumbai city.

I feel better for her when she chooses to fight her ordeal bravely and get back to normal life. But I fear that her positive attitude and her belief in Nari Shakti might now not be misunderstood by our government who will continue to believe that women of this country are ready to be raped and then move on with their lives.
I’m sure this photo-journalist girl is lucky to be born in a family where she got all the support.

1. There are many Indias within India

Let us also not forget that there are many Indias within India. The reality of the people and especially of the women belonging to these different Indias is drastically different from each other.
If the same girl was born in a remote part of India then she might have been ostracized from her village or would have never got marriage proposals for the rest of her life.

I wholeheartedly support the movement which aims at freeing this city from criminals who target women. Having made my stand clear, I want to talk about why people should stop ‘distracting’ themselves by blaming item numbers for what is happening around them.

2. Should item numbers be banned in an age and time of the internet and satellite television?

We are in 2013 and today even a paanwala or a rickshaw driver (you will be surprised) has either internet on his mobile phone or has access to a television which showcases world entertainment.
I have seen television sets glare out of the shanties or the so-called jhopdas on the streets of Mumbai. Do people need Indian item numbers to provoke a sexual urge in them when they have access to foreign channels on their TV sets where nudity is considered natural? Mumbai’s Dharavi: One of world’s largest slums.

Then by those standards, are we going to ban Indian newspapers from writing about foreign models and actresses because they are ready pose semi-nude at the drop of a hat? Going by that argument, photographs could also have the same perverse impact on a man’s psyche. Further do you think that every man who sees a Bollywood item song would want to rape a woman?

Think about it.

Who are these men who get ideas in their minds that give them the courage and confidence to rape a woman? Do you think these men belong to the same families as you and I? Did they go to school and learn moral science?
These men are a part of the larger reality of India. They belong to the majority that is parched and deprived. Their life is so deprived that they don’t have access to the basic facilities that a human needs to grow up with. They don’t have access to basic education for him to develop a sense of principle and value which makes him distinguish between right and wrong.

3. It’s time to focus about awareness and not item numbers Read More

*Disclaimer

We have not paid Soumyadipta Banerjee for this article and that we have picked this article from his blog at www.bollywoodjournalist.com.

The post Why item numbers are being scapegoats? appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Bollywood veterans sermonise too much and frequently talk about how Bollywood has finally come of age.

I disagree, Sir.

Bollywood is still as archaic as its archives.

The reality of this film industry is a far cry from the general perception outside of it. Bollywood has only gone through a few cosmetic changes from what it used to be 25 years back.

The popular notion about Bollywood is that the female stars here share an equal footing as the males.
My experience and observations tell me that Bollywood is as male-dominated as it used to be 25 years back and the heroines are still as replaceable as they used to be.

Nothing has changed here in Bollywood.

Even today, most commercial film scripts are written with the heroes in mind and the heroine is just an add-on. Films get delayed or even shelved for the lack of a hero’s dates, but does a film falter because the heroine’s date diary is full? No. She is promptly replaced.

The male stars who used to dominate Bollywood 25 years ago still dominate the industry today.They have gained more importance in film projects over the years and still hold the reins as far as big budget films are concerned. Examples of female oriented films scoring at the box-office are far too few to even challenge this trend.

The cluster of heroes in Bollywood are now like that of the erstwhile Left Front in West Bengal. In West Bengal, the Left Front was officially a democratically elected politically party but in reality they were the kings who ruled West Bengal for 34 years before being overthrown by a rival party led by a woman.

Unfortunately, Bollywood is yet to see a woman who can give the men a run for their money.

Even today most commercial film scripts are written with the heroes in mind and the heroine is just an add-on. Films get delayed or even shelved for the lack of a hero’s dates, but does a film falter because the heroine’s date diary is full? No. She is promptly replaced from the film.

Ask anybody in the industry and they will tell you that it is always the heroine who has to match her dates with the hero and never vice versa.

It is interesting to note that most top male stars in Bollywood have been in the industry for more than 20 years and over the years, have assumed more importance in film projects.

Previously most heroes used to get paid a fee for their performance. Today, the dependence on the heroes have become so important that most leading heroes get a share of the profit that is generated from the film’s box office sales. The producers have no option but to agree because Bollywood heroes continue to drive ticket sales. If a heroine talks about sharing profits then most producers will die of shock.

They say that you have to be a part of the system to know it well. I don’t want to claim that I am outside the system. I am very much a part of it whether I like it or not, even though I frequently try to be an exception to it. Like me, there are a lot of heroines who want to be an exception to the system and some have even tried with some amount of success.

In the end, they have only proven the general rule that it is a male dominated hierarchy which is considered regressive and archaic by all standards. Read More>>

*Disclaimer

We have not paid Soumyadipta Banerjee for this article and that we have picked this article from his blog at www.bollywoodjournalist.com.

The post Why West Bengal is better than Bollywood appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

I am told that Bollywood segments of most TV channels are being re-evaluated in terms of cost and return on investment. Leading channels have scrapped numerous entertainment related shows. In some media houses across the country, entertainment journalists have been asked to clear out with their stuff from their work desks.

In the last three months, three of my close friends have lost their jobs. All are journalists. Two of them covered Bollywood as a beat. One of them is in Kolkata and two are from Mumbai.

For the past two days, two of them haven’t spoken to me and have gone into a shell. I managed to speak to the wife of one and she told me that they are busy packing because they won’t be able to afford it in Mumbai anymore. He is going back to his hometown where he can get support from his extended family.

I haven’t been able to get in touch with the other friend. His mobile phone was switched off ever since he was called into a room and asked to sign on a resignation letter in exchange of a cheque that contained his salary of three months minus the reimbursements. Read more>>

*Disclaimer

We have not paid Soumyadipta Banerjee for this article and that we have picked this article from his blog at www.bollywoodjournalist.com.

The post The Slip appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Years ago, when I was a crime reporter in Kolkata, I had unearthed an incident of graft where a government babu loyal to an influential politician was caught taking a ‘cut’ from a private contractor after allotting him a government contract to relay an important road.

Being a rookie journalist, I was thrilled when I unearthed the nexus. My boss wasn’t as thrilled though but he still approved my article. The news came out and the government officer was immediately subjected to an internal inquiry.

There he was asked how he could manage to buy eight apartments when his salary was just about Rs 35, 000 a month. He promptly submitted a reply along with relevant documents that all those flats are owned by his ex-wife whom he divorced five years back.

As the inquiry got stuck, I found out that even the wife had ‘forgotten’ that she was divorced. Incidentally, the government officer was sleeping in the other room when I had called her.

Confused, I stopped pursuing the case and I don’t know whether the guy was finally indicted or not.

The above incident has no bearing or connection with Om Puri and Nandita Puri.

However I am equally confused this time too.

For the past two years, both Om Puri and Nandita Puri have come out in the open more than once and have said repeatedly that they are getting divorced. They have also been spotted at a family court in Bandra in relation to their divorce case.

After all the reportage, there is no reason to believe that they are not getting divorced since so much has been written about it already. If I go by all the reports and their own statements about it, it seems to me that the case is being fought keenly by both the ‘parties’ for at least two years now.

But since, the divorce case is in the realm of a court of law, I neither want to report on the case nor comment on it.

But I am still terribly confused about one thing — in spite of all that is going around, Om Puri, Nandita and their son Ishaan appear to be one happy unit. Click to see>>

Few days back, I was sent a few photographs which were taken last week when they were walking around the public parks of Bangkok. I couldn’t help but amuse at ourselves, the media. Why are we writing about how a couple is separating when they don’t appear so?

Are we only going by their statements or the news leaks from ‘sources’ who are insisting that they have locked horns over monetary issues? Is there something that we are ignoring when it shouldn’t be ignored?

The trip to Bangkok is not an isolated celebration of their togetherness. Om and Nandita also celebrated their marriage anniversary recently in Goa.

I am told that Om and Nandita got married on May 1, 1994, so technically they will be celebrating 20 years of being together next year. But that hasn’t dampened the spirit of their 19th year celebrations which was celebrated in the right earnest. The couple stayed at a five-star near Fort Aguada. They celebrated their anniversary with a romantic, candle-lit dinner on the beach. Some of their friends, which included an Anglo-Indian Bollywood film-maker, were invited at the party too. Read More>>

Also read: Domestic violence case registered against Om Puri

*Disclaimer

We have not paid Soumyadipta Banerjee for this article and that we have picked this article from his blog at www.bollywoodjournalist.com.

The post Of Divorces and Other Terrible Confusions appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Predictably every Bollywood actor and filmmaker is taking to Twitter and expressing outrage over the heinous gang-rape of a photojournalist at Mumbai’s Lower Parel yesterday evening. Apart from condemning the incident, some are also targeting the Mumbai Police for their shoddy security bandobast for the city’s women.

Thank you Bollywood for joining the ranks.

But has anybody in Bollywood thought about how they can actually help the crusaders who are fighting these criminals?

I have a suggestion, dear Bollywood.

Kindly stop churning out those sleazy and titillating ’item numbers’ with such alarming regularity.

Some filmmakers have a huge problem calling item numbers what they actually are. They prefer to call it by some other name, like a ‘special song’ or something. But I don’t mind referring to these ‘special songs’ with its age-old moniker.

Now, before I launch my tirade against item numbers, let me explain them to you. This is for my readers who are still looking for a reason about why item numbers haven’t become extinct by now. There was a time, not long ago, when item numbers used to be classy and existed in harmony with the script.

But today, it has become an inseparable part of a film in some other way. Its definition have gone through a sea-change in the last five years or so.

What are item numbers in commercial Bollywood films?

Item numbers are those ‘special’ songs which are not connected with the storyline of the film in any way. It is picturised on an actor who is otherwise not a part of film’s cast. In some cases, the item numbers are shot by the lead actors though the song is forcefully inserted into the narrative of the film.

Why are item numbers made?

Item numbers are made purely out of commercial concerns. The item numbers are used to promote the film and boost album sales. It aims to goad a lot of people to download the tune on their mobiles or computers. All of that spell money. Item numbers are the best sales tool for bringing in a quick buck before the movie’s release. Peppy item numbers also contribute to the opening of a film.

What is the content of an item number?

Item numbers will generally portray the actress as a sex object and will have lyrics that will titillate the sexual desires of the audience. Most item numbers will have actresses gyrating to the lyrics in a sexually suggestive way. The dance movements are choreographed in way that is sexually suggestive. Some item numbers are shot with male actors too. The sexual innuendos vary with every item song. The lyrics are the most important component of an item song. In some cases it directly talks about sex while in other cases, the songs are cleverly worded.

I know some filmmakers are classy with their item numbers but the problem is, most of them are not.

Now that everybody is expressing their outrage, I am asking Bollywood one question.

Do you really need that sleazy item song to sell your film?

There must be a reason why sexually explicit item numbers doesn’t exist in Hollywood or the UK but have become a rule in Indian commercial cinema in the last 10 years or so. If a big-budget commercial film doesn’t have an item number to boast of, we call that film an exception.

Read More>>

*Disclaimer

We have not paid Soumyadipta Banerjee for this article and that we have picked this article from his blog at www.bollywoodjournalist.com.

The post Dear Bollywood, stop making those ridiculous item numbers first! appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

After some research, I was convinced about the fact that there is hardly anybody from Bollywood who has seen crimes against women as closely as Somy Ali.

There are lots of Bollywood actors who are vocal on violence against women but Somy Ali has taken it to another level. I still have a feeling that the traditional Indian press hasn’t given her the space she deserves.

Somy spearheads an NGO called No More Tears, which works relentlessly to rescue women who are victims of violence. Over the years, Somy and her team have rescued 360 women and 660 child victims till date.

Somy Ali is the only Bollywood actress, who is working full-time to rescue and rehabilitate victims of violence.

One of the most ardent supporters of her organisation, includes her former beau, Salman Khan who has publicly acknowledged that Somy inspired him to coin ‘Being Human’ which is now the name of his own NGO.

The actress-turned-activist’s office is based in Florida (USA) but her footprints are spread across the world. I just feel that her work deserves more media exposure.

I contacted Somy to seek her reactions on the ghastly gang rape that took place at the Shakti Mills Compound at Lower Parel in Mumbai two days back where a colleague of ours was raped brutally by five men. Somy didn’t mince words in her reply. But for somebody, who has seen violence against women from such close quarters, I will still say that the reaction was muted. May be she is angrier than all of us taken together.

“I will say as I have said numerous times before, there is not enough outrage and anger when a crime against a woman occurs in that part of the world,” was Somy’s first reaction.

Read more>>

The post There is not enough outrage and anger : Somy Ali appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Important disclaimer: The above-mentioned films were not out when this post was written. So, whatever I am going to write next is not a comment on the performance, business strategies or the market policies of the above two films. I have not even considered these two films and technically they cannot be considered because they have not been released.

During the era of the golden oldies, stars looked forward to their films completing golden jubilees and silver jubilees. These days, it’s every producer’s dream to reach the 100-crore mark because it means that the audience have accepted the film. This also means that the film will spell huge profits for the producers and likewise for the distributors.

Every trade analyst worth their figure will be firmly fixing their eyes on the box office performances of the two upcoming Eid releases.

Are all box-office figures real?

Two months back, Twitter timelines were abuzz after angry exchanges between filmmaker Sanjay Gupta and trade analyst Komal Nahata. The conversation on Twitter revolved around the box office performance of Sanjay’s film, Shootout At Wadala. The sharp and sarcastic exchanges between the filmmaker and the trade-analyst were reported on some websitestoo.

While Komal claimed that the distributors of the film have lost money, Sanjay Gupta claimed that Komal was not presenting the correct picture.

Either or neither of them may be right, I don’t want to comment on that. But it is true that some box-office figures are allegedly fudged. It has become a regular occurrence now-a-days that some filmmakers and a section of trade experts hand-out a certain figure while another section paints a completely different picture of a film’s box office performance.

If the film’s box office figures are out there in the open then how come people in the trade differ so widely?

A trade expert I spoke to tried to provide an answer to the confusion. According to him, a set of trade experts get their figures from the producers while another set gets their figures from the distributors. Interestingly, some filmmakers try to impress the audience by inflating their box officer numbers, while the distributors try to suppress the figures because it gives out an exact indication of their earnings.

Till date, the film press usually don’t collect box office figures directly from the distributors while some production houses are ever ready to part with the information.

Please remember that I am not saying everybody in Bollywood fudges figures but it is alleged that some of them definitely do and for obvious reasons, I am not going to pin-point any of them even though I might know some of the names.

How are the numbers fudged? And why?

Click to read!

*Disclaimer

We have not paid Soumyadipta Banerjee for this article and that we have picked this article from his blog at www.bollywoodjournalist.com.

The post THE 100-CRORE GAME appeared first on Youngisthan.in.

Let’s just mull on the two contrasting scenes before we go into some self-introspection. The past six months have been some sort of eye opener for us. It’s perhaps time that we learn from our mistakes. Today, I am going to talk about one such mistake that I feel we are all making. It’s a mistake that can be corrected easily if we make up our minds.

Scene 1: The News Production House Over the past six months the TV News industry has gone through an unexpected churn in India. Hundreds of journalists have lost their jobs. Some channels are even struggling to make two ends meet because money is not flowing in easily. The costs are rising and the profit margins have shrunk so much that costs are threatening to take over the already shrinking profits. Running television channels are becoming expensive by the day and on top of that the media regulations about revenue collections are becoming stricter. The same media houses which were lavishly spending even two years ago are now drastically cutting down costs because they need money to invest in their businesses. The writing on the wall is clear: If TV channels don’t start consolidating their operational costs right now they will soon have to down their shutters.

Scene two: The Bollywood Production House: The budgets of Bollywood films are becoming lavish by the year. Bollywood production houses are also letting the cash flow when it comes to publicity. Bollywood is also spending humongous amounts on media relations, acquiring billboards, road shows and events, across the world. According to unofficial estimates, any big budget Bollywood film (which is made at a cost of Rs 60 crores) is spending at least Rs 40 crores on promotions and publicity. Bollywood films that are clicking in the market are taking home huge amounts as profits and coupled with rights selling across media platforms (like music and satellite), most of big budget hit films are making a neat profit of Rs 100 crores and upwards. A total revenue return of Rs 150 crores is becoming an industry norm for any super hit Bollywood film. The scene is bright, sunny and looking up towards even a brighter future.

Why Bollywood should afford its publicity

To read on more, click here!

*Disclaimer

We have not paid Soumyadipta Banerjee for this article and that we have picked this article from his blog at www.bollywoodjournalist.com.

The post How Bollywood can stop us from bleeding appeared first on Youngisthan.in.