The Business of Tollywood: An appreciation of film costs

"Julayi" movie collects over Rs.11 crores in Nizam region. "Eega" movie collected over Rs.15 crs. in the same region during its 50-day run. "Sudigaadu" collected over Rs.2 crores in Hyderabad region alone in its first week clocking over 91 per cent occupancy on opening weekend. So, Tollywood has had a better run this year compared to previous year as many of big-star releases turned out to be good hits starting with "Businessman". The run of Tamil film releases this year dubbed into Telugu hasn't been that great despite increasing openness and awareness of Kollywood films in Andhra Pradesh.

Now that the starting bets have been good for Tollywood, the season in the second-half of the year is hotting up with some spectacular releases lined up. "Life is Beautiful"(Shekar Kammula), "Shirdi Sai" (Nagarjuna), "Rebel" (Prabhas), "Cameraman Ganga tho Rambabu" (Pawan Kalyan) and so on...looks like September - October will see some big-ticket releases including the much-awaited multi-starrer "Seethamma Vakitlo Siri Malle Chettu" (Mahesh and Venkatesh), we'll call it "SVSMC".

Let's guess how the costing of "SVSMC" will add up. I have taken a ball-park estimate based on some simplistic back-of-the-envelope calculations of how these costs will add up and later how they will be marked to recover. They may be wrong but I hope the thought process should clarify to you how film costs generally add up in budgets which are becoming huger and monstrous. It becomes necessary to understand them because the blind bets are placed by the group who are not impervious to the speculative nature of films - the Movie Distributor. Lets see an example, first, before we conclude:

"Seethamma Vakitlo Siri Malle Chettu" Movie Costs:

Superstar Mahesh Babu's Remuneration:  Rs.8 crores.
Victory Venkatesh's Remuneration:          Rs.4 crores.
Director's Remuneration/Music Director   Rs.2 crores.
Samantha's remuneration                          Rs.1 crore.
Miscellaneous artists remuneration            Rs.2 crores.
Miscellaneous technician's remuneration    Rs.3 crores
Shooting cost for 100 Days @Rs.5 lacs    Rs.5 crores.
                                                              -----------------
Total cost so far for SVSMC                    Rs.25  crores.

Since it is unlikely that the producer will bear all the costs by self, he will take loan @ 3 per cent from the money-lenders and financiers to fund this cost. That will be about Rs.4.50 crores. Or roughly, say Rs.5 crores. That means the total cost without budgeting any contingency run-ups and other escalations by delays caused due to other reasons comes to Rs.30 crores.

We haven't added the distribution and marketing costs including the audio function which is becoming an eye-ball attracting event. Considering these, it becomes imperative to keep costs and shooting schedules under tight leash and you have to raise the buzz about the movie well-before the release so that you can out-sell and recover the costs as effectively as possible.

How do we recover the costs?
Satellite rights recover a good sum, say Rs.6-8 crores. Then comes overseas territory sales which can fetch about Rs.3-5 crores. Then comes the big stakes of Andhra Pradesh which will be sold at whopping sums. Take Nizam Region, for example. Assuming each show sells Rs.20,000/- multiplied by 7 days multiplied by 5 shows average multiplied by 350 screens will give Rs.24.50 crores. Thats how the bets will start at first- then they will negotiate it down or up based on the eyeballs and added attractions in the movie. In this whole game, commercial banks play it safe in recovery of costs - they will not fund above Rs.5 crores and get away with their interest and principal repayments well before the release of the film.

The riskiest category will be the distributor who can expect a return in binary numbers, zero or one, meaning hit or flop. If its a hit, they rake it in. If its a flop, they are finished.

But coming back to the crux of the budgets, this is broadly how they stack up and this should give you an example of how film costs are incurred, how they are marketed and how they are recovered.

"Mugamoodi" (Tamil) "Mask" (Telugu) Movie Review

"Mugamoodi" (Tamil) is dubbed as "Mask" (Telugu) released today amidst unprecedented expectations from one of the slickest directors of Kollywood - Mysskin. I watched a few Tamil movies in original in my life but I have largely followed the work of some great film-makers of the last decade like Bala, Menon, Murugadoss, KV Anand and now Mysskin. Mysskin is bibliophile, a director who infuses fire and imagination into his direction and galvanises all the 24 crafts to give an exciting cinematic output. He has made some acclaimed films like "Anjathe", "Chithiram Pesudadi". He has made a film called "Nandalala" where he brought back the orchestral beauty and composer's breath of maestro Ilayaraja. In "Mask", he prefaces with a dedication to the master Bruce Lee who's life story is somewhat revisited in the storyline.

This movie "Mask" is something that held me excited for weeks. It is worth the wait. Its the story of a normal boy Jiiva who is the best pupil in martial arts in a non-descript school run by his Master who follows Bruce Lee. Like Bruce Lee who learns Karate but later invents his own stunts by "knowing self", his master encourages Jiiva to be an original hero instead of trying to become somebody. In his journey towards discovering himself, he falls in love with Pooja Hegde (debutante) who is the daughter of a Commissioner of Police (Nasser) who is on a mission to nab a gang of masked men who kill old couples at nights and rob them of gold. In a freak incident, Jiiva wears a "mask" to woo the girl and succeeds in the capture of the some of the mysterious gangsters one night. That "mask" eventually becomes his "identity" as a superhero as he becomes the most endowed person to catch the culprits. He gets some scientific help from his grandfather played well by veteran Girish Karnad.He gets the bad guy (Narain) who turns out to be an ace adversary of his Master and eventually wins the hearts of Pooja and all. But only after knowing one last trick from his master. Quite a simple but many-layered story that has a well-conceived starcast, and a classic three-act. A dashing introduction, an interval with a big-bang and an elaborate, spectacular climax.

Mysskin is surely the master of the movie as he reveals his gripping form in all departments. He ropes in exceptional foreign talent in editing, stunts, cinematography whose work shines brightly on screen. Dialogues are crisp but not dramatic and hardly humorous. Thats the intent of the film as the director deliberately builds tension from first frame till last giving a free hand to music director "K" to experiment with a range of electrifying compositions in the moods of the film. But "K" uses both symphonies and silences to punctuate the film in all its intended nuances by the director. Already "K"'s music is a hit in Tamil with three of its main songs making it to the top while the music CD itself has all the key orchestral themes as numbers on the track. I liked the two songs that give the best relief in the film - one of them squeezes in the very first jingle Ilayaraja composed in his career. Vintage Ilayaraja continues to inspire generations of music composers. "K" is another reason to watch "Mask".

Mysskin has got most parts of the film right making it quite watchable in spite of the length of 160 minutes. It could have been shorter. He has given an intelligent film with good starcast and narrative depth that will see his fan club grow in Tollywood. He blends the best of world cinema with a Hollywood touch - but he may have done better if had dumbed some scenes and narration for lay audience. Humor and mass entertainment (on the lines of Shankar) is missing in the film. Jiiva looks good and raring to go places with this film after "Rangam". Pooja Hegde is the most covered face in Kollywood before this film but I wonder whether such adulation is deserving for her after seeing the footage. The best part of the film is that Mysskin did not show one special effect in spite of being a "superhero" film. Thats because, he wants to show that it's all in the mind - you don't have to be a Superman, Batman, I-Man or Spiderman to become a superhero in life. Know thyself and project the superhero within- is the subtle message. I will give 3.5/5.00 for "Mask" because intelligent film-making must survive.

Uncertainty is Not Injurious to Anybody!

Gregory Meyer, a commentator in Financial Times wrote last weekend that Uncertainty is the only thing markets can be certain about. This is quite suggestive that we all live on the edge - and thats what the chief executives and head honchos are paid for - you will never get to do decision-making under all knowns. You have to make decisions amidst all the mayhem and clouds on the horizon. Right now, there is lack of visibility on everything to do with Policy Decisions, Economic Growth  and Corporate Investment Climate - that the payoff for those taking even marginal/incremental risk is lilkely to hugely rewarding.



The story goes that FT archives threw up 2,877 articles with search word "uncertainty" in 2005 before the Subprime crisis. Now, well into 2012, there are 3,290 articles with the word "uncertainty". Which year is more critical? Or, more uncertain? Can't say much but there are always two categories of people who face uncertainty - in business, careers or anything to do with life. Those who accept uncertainty as a fact of life - and have a vision for the day after uncertainty blows over. Then there are those who have tunnel vision, see crisis in every oppportunity, get flummoxed by the half-dozen doomsday specialists - Roubini, Gross, Taleb, Mauldin, Faber and Soros - and then watch television and read newspapers that spell more bad news. Remember, the TRPs for bad news, and harbingers of bad news are always higher - these experts (who have an axe to grind for what they pontificate) command more eyeballs than what good news can attract. Remember, that for every General Motors that closed down for bankruptcy (and now allowed to revive), the market share went to few others in Automaker space. For every 99 companies or businesses that cannot escape the "valley of death", there will be one company or two or three that rises to market leadership. That hardly gets reported. Thats the way life is. I have always loved uncertainty - in markets, in life, in Chess and Black Jack, in relationships and in money matters. Uncertainty helps  me focus better and get back to basics.


Those who abhor uncertainty should live in bunkers, wear Sunita Williams spacesuits, go for gold-digging, and give non-collaterized deposits to PSU or Private or foreign banks (which as Dr.YV Reddy succinctly put, will be lent at low cost to the Government whenever the government wants - which Dr Reddy says is the biggest con game going on in the world of banking today). The aim of this story is to look at uncertainty in new light - welcome it, it can benefit you if you are enterprising.

A K Hangal @95. RIP. Bollywood's Angelic Old Man.

AK Hangal. RIP @95. I had the fortune to meet this towering stage/film personality when he gave me an interview at CPI congress. It was a heady feeling to push my way as a sophomore journo/freelancer for "Deccan Chronicle". We met at Railway Guest House at SCR. He was charming and gentlemanly. But the caption my editor gave for this story in DC forever estranged him - it hurt him for he was a communist at heart. I pray for his peaceful soul journey wherever he is. He gave me one of my earliest press stories while I was still in journalism school - and a scoop to boast of. Even if he has essayed fewer roles, he will be remembered forever - his multiple hats as theatre personality, as Rahim Chacha in "Sholay", as a CPI activist - all gave him a halo. He is the most-loved old man of Hindi Cinema.

The Chiranjeevi Phenomenon

I wrote this piece on the occasion of Chiranjeevi's 57th birthday on August 9, 2012 which was published on http://www.frontpageindia.com/views/chiranjeevi-hero-love/36403

Chiranjeevi, the Hero we all love


When Chiranjeevi burst open his innings in Tollywood with “Praanam Khareedu” on Septemeber 22, 1978 (One month after his birthday), not many would have given him a half-chance. Tollywood was already in the grip of multiple matinee idols across multiple generations from NTR and ANR to Krishna, Shobhan Babu and Krishnam Raju besides star directors from Dasari Narayana Rao and K Vishwanath to Bapu and K Raghavendra Rao. Around the time his first movie was released, Chiranjeevi’s only claim to filmdom was as an actor struggling to find a foothold. Chiranjeevi had nothing to offer to what’s already not on fare – he is not hugely charismatic like NTR and SVR, nor had a lineage of filmy family. He could get hold of one such bargepole in the fomr of Allu Ramalingaiah when he married the latter’s daughter in 1980.


But Chiranjeevi had that killer instinct and the deep desire to create a unique position for himself – he tried various family fares playing the rogue liar in “Kothalarayudu”, the shrew-taming dummy husband in “Mogudu Kaavali” and the self-righteous do-gooder middle-class householder in “Intlo Raamayya Veedhilo Krishnayya”.

Almost all of them met with unexpected success at the most embryonic stage of his film career – one of them running for more than a year in some theatres. Fans – mostly toddlers, teenagers and housewives growing up in the anarchic years of the 1980s were hungry for a star who will project their aspirations, rebellions, frustrations and dreams on celluloid – they wanted a hero who is as rebellious as Krishnam Raju, a hero as dashing and daring as Krishna , a hero who is lovable like Shobanbabu and someone much more than all of them combined.

Chiranjeevi started feeding what the generation demanded from him very quickly acting in many movies, rotating directors and dialogue-writers and acting with the best in the industry – K Balachandar, Dasari, Raghavendra Rao, Bapu and Vishwanath. Fans loved the intensity of his eyes, the depth of his acting, and his dancing prowess quickly became the toast of a whole new generation who were fed on insipid dancing steps of veterans acting with half-opened shirts and bell-bottom trousers.

Chiranjeevi delivered the blockbuster “Khaidi” which positioned him as the new dashing hero and quickly followed more movies from Raghavendra Rao, Kodi Rama Krishna and Kodandarami Reddy – a director who relied on action dramas with light-hearted romances and the incredible storylines of ace novelist Yandamoori Veerendranath.

Chiranjeevi quickly became the darling of the masses as he belted out jubilee after jubilee hit with “Abhilaasha”, “Challenge”, “Raakshasudu” and “Marana Mridangam”. Like Amitabh Bacchan in Bollywood, movie scripts were written for him and artistes and heroines, technicians and writers all vied with one another in working with the first megastar of Tollywood.

Amongst the many trends he started, Chiranjeevi is famous for bringing in elegant dancing and stylish way of acting in tune with the rising tempo of music. He started the import of villain talent from Bollywood, and gave many technicians - choreographers (Raghava Lawrence), music directors (Mani Sharma, Raj-Koti), character actors (Amrish Puri, Prakash Raj, Kannada Prabhakar, Sarath Kumar) their major breaks.



Now with 149 films to his credit, Chiranjeevi’s career spans the most momentous period of Tollywood that marked the new decade after color productions, multi-starrers with excellent story scripts, the invasion of heroine as a star attraction, introduction of true item songs, choreography as a focal attraction of films, elevation of directors and dialogue-writers to cult status, intelligent use of fans and satellite and social media to enhance a star’s longevity, craze for audio release functions, and the undying craze for first-day-first-show tickets, heroes taking a cut in the distribution of movies as part of the remuneration, the list goes on…


Every five years or so, despite the unavoidable flops, Chiranjeevi systematically used the collective and imported talent in Tollywood to push new boundaries for himself, his family and for the industry. Today, Tollywood enjoys the best monetary status because of a huge star power and in-house talent of technicians from cinematographers and directors to music composers and story-writers, the credit goes to heroes like Chiranjeevi who pushed new boundaries for business of Tollywood.

When “Indra” was released amidst truly the first major audio event for Tollywood in the last decade, there was unprecedented frenzy – it sold close to a million cassettes on day one – there aren’t that many CDs sold even today.

Chiranjeevi, despite all the massive fan following is probably the second actor in Tollywood, after NTR, who has used the medium of Cinema to feed the adulation of the masses and gain symbiotic relationship to accelerate his family’s fortunes in Tollywood.

Because of his direct allegiance with fans, he has created many platforms to interact with them on a continuous basis. He is cognizant of the spinoffs that accrued to him over the years, and the payoffs that continue to others who turned up into films from his family – Pawan Kalyan, Allu Arjun, Ramcharan Tej.

Chiranjeevi and his brother-in-law Allu Aravind created fan clubs, organized them into strategic business units, fed their frenzy at all eventful functions, created websites that offer biographical wikipedias of the Chiranjeevi phenomenon, offered a bankable platform called “Blood Banks” which galvanized more of them into purposive actions which though met with unexpected controversies, and finally harmonized all the fans into one mega family of fans of Chiru the actor.

Even though he was lured into politics a good five years ago before he burst open on the scene with Praja Rajyam Party, Chiranjeevi is the second star-turned politican in the history of Tollywood to create some eyeball impact on the politics. Though his party fizzled out at the hustings in 2009, unable to create any impact with the themes of “social justice” and “inclusive growth”, the PR party managed to grab 17 per cent voting share of the population.

Even though he failed as a politician, Chiranjeevi continues to make attempts to avoid being sidelined by contemporary politics or where his heart lies – in Tollywood. He is now at the heart of Kapu politics in the Congress and continues to spar with the other Kapu politician Botsa in creating a position of power for himself and his community.

As a Tollywood biggie, his family continues to corner the best technicians and talent to turn out hit after hit and strive to be in heightened public currency from Pawan Kalyan’s “Gabbar Singh” to Ramcharan’s “Raccha” to Allu Arjun’s “Julayi”.

Chiranjeevi’s brother-in-law Allu Aravind who produced over 15 films (his best-ever producer) has created a triumvirate monopoly in Tollywood with control over distribution of movies along with producers Dil Raju and D Suresh Babu. As an investor, Chiranjeevi has been careful with his star remuneration and hasn’t over-invested in movies like other stars or created studios that lose money. He has invested in prime real estate and prime time television channels like MAA TV. As on date, MAA TV is rising to the top as a close contender to Gemini TV.

Now, he ponders over the next move whether to remain in politics or plunge back into movies to star in his 150th film now that the stars are aligned for his younger family members to take over Tollywood. As a towering hero in Tollywood, Chiranjeevi has been a phenomenon that’s hard to beat . But as a politician, he has been marginalized. What can beat him in happiness at this crucial birthday milestone is another movie after his own heart. Happy birthday, Chiranjeevi!
By Sridhar Sattiraju

Link: http://www.frontpageindia.com/views/chiranjeevi-hero-love/36403
http://www.frontpageindia.com/views/chiranjeevi-hero-love/36403

At School with Ruskin Bond - New Book by Ruskin Bond

Ruskin Bond is back! This time, a collection of stories and anecdotes that you may have read in some of his earlier books like "Landour Days" and "The Lamp is Lit". Alongwith some new stories to rekindle the reading habit amongst today's school kids in portly format. A refreshing read as always. Ruskin Bond speaks with authority on the subject of what a child goes through at school and what endears him or her that no longer seems so easy to decipher in this age of multiple distractions like TV and mobiles and social media. Ruskin Bond recounts what it felt like to go to school, savour the school library, discuss literature with teachers and avuncular elders. A true lover of English literature, more than the English peers, Ruskin Bond gives a delectable excursion into the world of books and authors, of birds and bees (not the variety we now associate with) and what it means to grow up in the halycon years of Shimla, Dehradun , Mussourie and other stations his family caravan took him to.

Ruskin Bond is at his masterly best whether he talks about Wodehouse, Dickens, Walpole or others who left literary trails on his style - which still remains unaffected and distinctively simple. There are legions of his fans who like what he writes without an year's back since publishing his first novel at age 17 or early. I also find there are many others who don't relish his style of writing for whatever reasons - too rustic, too prosaic, too little variety, too much of autobiographical narratives, not so vigorous and sparkling. For all those who err on the hate-side of Ruskin Bond - pick this book or give it to your ward to read it aloud  - and lets compare notes if the book doesn't hold upto its promise. I recommend this book for anyone who likes Ruskin Bond or English literature - and for those who don't like to read him too for the simple pleasures of life they forgot to relate to. For school kids, this book will be another sure-fire hit. Good to find a third publisher - Ratna Sagar - which publishes academic books - give a neat cover and an elegant font to highlight the stories that make Ruskin Bond India's best-loved English-born Indian writer in English. Its a nice gift for any parent struggling to get kids interested in books and the early trappings of reading.

At School with Ruskin Bond, price Rs.185, pub: Ratna Sagar.

The Six Olympians who did India Proud!

The Six Olympians who did India proud - pushed a door open! Each of them brought a billion smiles and earned a retirement corpus that mainstream careers cannot hope to bring! There's a time for deeper introspection. But this is a time for celebration of the few who put us at position no.55 above developed countries like Finland and developing countries like Mongolia. Sketches by my uncle Sri Sattiraju Sankaranarayana. Hope we don't forget the road to next Olympic glory is paved with herculean efforts and not just good intentions. Cheers!