Film release, interrupted

Legal wrangles of films

The Delhi High Court lifting its injunction against Gulaab Gang’s release, after activist Sampat Pal filed a complaint claiming that the film was based on Gulabi Gang—the group of women vigilantes led by her, may have come as a relief to the film’s producer Anubhav Sinha and director Soumik Sen. But it still raises pertinent questions: How does the film industry tackle the menace of legal suits and litigation before a film’s release? And does a film gain to benefit or lose by being in the limelight with these incidents?
“Any kind of litigation is bad for a film, especially when a producer has to face it just before a film’s release. The energy and attention, which should be used for the film’s marketing, gets diverted to the problem,” says producer-director Kunal Kohli, whose directorial venture, Fanaa (2006) could not be released in Gujarat because of its lead actor, Aamir Khan’s remark on the Narmada project.
Trade analyst Komal Nahta, however, believes that in some cases a protest could work for the film. “A protest or litigation could mean publicity for the film. But it all depends on the kind of claims that a person is making, and the craze and curiosity around the film. In the case of Gulaab Gang, there was no curiosity or pre-release buzz to it. And Sampat Pal’s protest did not rake up much curiosity either. Even if the film’s release had been stalled till May, the audience would not have felt that they were missing anything. But if the protest centered around a film like Dhoom 3 or Krrish 3, it would have generated even more curiosity for the film and most likely increased the collections,” says Nahta.
Girish Wankede of Cinemax India Ltd., seconds the observation, citing the case of Shekhar Kapur directed Bandit Queen (1994), which was based on the life of Phoolan Devi; the former bandit turned politician tried to stall the release. “That was an instance which helped a film grab eyeballs,” he said.
While there are incidents of protests, what happens when a film gets banned or fails to get a release in some states? The losses can be huge, states Kohli, giving the example of his own film Fanaa. “The production house, in this case Yash Raj Films, suffered losses to the tune of Rs. 4-5 crore because it could not be released in Gujarat. That’s a huge amount considering Fanaa released way back in 2006,” he said.
In fact, many producers have been affected by partial bans resulting in losses. The dubbed version of Gunday was banned in Bengal despite the production house spending lakhs on dubbing the film in Bengali and on the music. Before that Madras Cafe could not be released in Tamil Nadu and London because local organisations there opposed the film, and the release was also hampered in Canada and Malaysia. “We thought the film would do well in a territory like Tamil Nadu as the film was set there, but we couldn’t even release it there. The loss in revenue was in the range of Rs.4-5 crore. The problem is that even if the court issues orders to release the film in a state, like it did in Tamil Nadu, the theatre owners refrain from doing so because of security issues. Every film-maker announces his film well in advance and it releases after a certificate from the Censor Board. I wish that the court would not entertain such kind of cases,” said Ronnie Lahiri, co-producer of Madras Cafe.
If one looks back, there are films that have had delayed releases because of litigations. A classic case is Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroopam, whose release was delayed in places like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, after a ban by Muslim organisations, who felt certain sections projected them in a bad light. Before that Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan was banned for a while in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh for allegedly showing Dalits in poor light. More recently it was Shaadi Ke Side Effects that suffered a two day delay in Ajmer. The reason why the film was banned there, was because it was made by Balaji Motion Pictures, also the
producers of the teleserial Jodha Akhbar which people of the city said hurt their sentiments. “The loss of revenue of a film banned for a few days depends on the potential of the film and how much demand there is for the film in that state. These instances have become a real nuisance. Either some minority groups demand a stay on the film’s release even after the CBFC has cleared it, or someone wakes up at the last minute and claims that the film has been plagiarised. This results in incredible stress and inconvenience for the producer in the week of release, in addition to financial losses and legal fees,” says Tanuj Garg, CEO – Balaji Motion Pictures.
Nahta, however is of the view that, “The loss due to delayed releases is ambiguous. This depends on how the film fares in other states. In the case of Shaadi Ke…, the film did not do well, so the loss will also be less. If the film had done well, the loss would have been more. It also ups the marketing budget as the buzz about the film has to be created again.”
It’s not just the film-makers that are in a limbo because of unexpected developments, but also the exhibitors, who have to reschedule the programming of shows in their theatres. “Today advanced bookings in multiplexes happen generally for big releases, as people know that they can walk in any time as there is a show every hour or so. But we cannot gauge our losses as we don’t know how the film would have done. Generally, the distributors, who bought the film, stand to lose,” says Sanjay Dalia, President, Cinemax India Ltd.
Mushtaq Sheikh, associate producer of Gulaab Gang, is a relieved man now that the film has released. The losses, if the film had been pushed to May, would have been colossal, he says, as another Rs. 5-7 crore would have to be spent on re-marketing the film, as the audience perception would have changed during that span.
“The fervour with which we marketed now would have waned. Overall, I feel the film would have suffered a loss of about Rs. 20 crore. The film industry is a soft target and everyone thinks they can mess around with it. We fought tooth and nail to keep the release date,” said Sheikh.

geety.sahgal@expressindia.com