Hollywood hard hit in Bollywood land

AUGUST 6: Even as their country cousins rake in the moolah thanks to a string of recent hits like Viraasat, Border and Yes Boss, English film theatres in Mumbai are having to confront a problem of scarcity an oversupply of English films with just two screens to show.

Inevitable fallouts are delayed and rescheduled releases of English films with Mumbai being among the last centres to receive Hollywood’s offering. In the melee to reach scarce screens, blockbusters of the calibre of Batman and Jurassic Park end up trampling on small films appealing to select audiences.A delayed release kills a film’s interest. “Cindy Crawford’s debut vehicle Fair Game was released all over the country in February 96 and did excellent business, but by the time it reached Mumbai nearly a year later, it had been saturated and did badly only here,” said Warner Bros executive George John.The situation looks even bleaker, with Warner Bros shelving their ambitious plans for multiplexes all over Maharashtra, including Mumbai, last year. “As a rule, English film theatres have to be located in South Mumbai to be successful, given the high real estate costs in Mumbai,” a film executive said.While Mumbai’s exhibitors are talking to foreign film companies for multiplexes, the city is still years away from multiplexes like the highly successful Priya Village Road Show opened in Delhi recently. “Nothing is certain unless you see the concrete on the ground,” explained Columbia-Tristar marketing manager N Muthuram. Parent company Sony had unsuccessfully scoured the Indian market for big partners for 1000 screens all over India. With no new theatres in the pipeline, the number of screens in Mumbai is going to remain static, unless foreign film distributors can convince theatre owners to begin screening English films a near-impossibility, considering the big business Hindi films do. Last year, a refurbished Novelty cinema at Grant Road reverted to screening Hindi potboilers after a brief flirtation with English cinema, including screening the acclaimed Apollo 13. “We’ve scored silver jubilees on Hindi films like Dil and Raja but had lukewarm response to English films like Species and Timecop,” said Novelty’s manager Jehangir Sorabjee.

“The situation isn’t expected to change overnight,” said Sarabjit Singh, General Manager, Paramount pictures. He explained that while the earlier quintet of New Excelsior, Eros, Regal and Sterling that earlier screened English films was insufficient, the situation was under control. Over the last two years, Excelsior and Eros quietly switched over to screening Hindi films an experiment that has paid rich dividends. Foreign film companies are having to accord higher priority to bigger English films. “The action-adventure English films are given priority over films like Primal Fear that would appeal to select audiences,” Singh admitted. Theatres like Sterling coped up with the backlog by running three movies in three slots – a matinee, three regular shows and a special late night show to showcase select films like One Fine Day.