February 8: The sounds of clapboards at Mumbai's studios are growing fainter and fainter. An industry which has the reputation of kicking off films at the drop of a green buck has seen the launch of only five to six films (including Mehul Kumar's Kohram, Sanjay Gupta's Jung and Subhash Ghai's untitled project) this year.Studios like Filmistan, Mehboob Studios and Kamalistan, normally witness to the organised chaos of film shootings, are now silent. And locations where about 15 to 20 films used to be shot everyday on an average are workplaces to just about two to three film units. Most of this space has now been taken over by television serials.This month, for instance, exactly one film each is being shot at Film City, Mehboob Studios and Filmistan: the United Seven's Mela, David Dhawan's Biwi No 1 and Dharma Productions' untitled project respectively.This slump is being attributed to a financial squeeze and the burgeoning threat of the underworld. An industry that was already reeling under a severefinancial crunch in the beginning of 1997 almost came to a standstill by the end of it.Result? The number of shootings in Mumbai nosedived, as did the film launches. From around 500 films in 1995-96, the numbers shrunk to 300 in 1997. In turn, the actual releases too dropped from 150 (1995-96) to 119 (1997).For Bollywood, 1997 also saw the fine line between reel and real blurring to the extent that much of the filmi blood and gore spilt off the screen. The murders of producer Mukesh Duggal and music baron Gulshan Kumar, the alleged involvement of Nadeem and Tips Cassette Company owner Ramesh Taurani in Kumar's murder knocked quite a few skeletons out of the industry's closet.``The fear of the underworld is omnipresent. If the film's a hit, the extortionists begin to call. Besides, there's no money in the market,'' points out Murari, Filmistan's manager. Adds Taran Adarsh, editor of Trade Guide, an industry journal, ``If one earns money, there's trouble from the underworld. And if one doesn't, thereare debts. The producers lose both ways.''But as Adarsh points out, the drop in the number of film shootings cannot be attributed to underworld arm-twisting alone. ``Some years ago, one could produce a film within Rs 25 lakh. The cost of a film has now shot up to Rs 1.75 to 2 crore today,'' he says. Stars are also party to the bad shape of the industry's economy. Film budgets that would spare 30 per cent of the total cost for stars, are now marking out 70 per cent for them. Statistics indicate that 83 per cent of films released turn out to be turkeys.Also, the numbers thronging the cinema halls has reduced as ticket rates have skyrocketed. `No recovery' is a common refrain. ``Who would dare invest in an industry where there's no recovery?'' asks Adarsh.The ones who dare, do so with a corresponding degree of caution. For some, that implies heading towards more financially feasible places, like the current favourite Hyderabad. The floors of the city's Annapurna and Padmalaya studios are now buzzingwith Hindi film ventures. David Dhawan, whose Gharwali Baharwali was shot there, has two more films, both Govinda starrers, Rajaji and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, on the floors of studios there. Boney Kapoor's Judaai was also canned in Hyderabad.Harmesh Malhotra, director of Dulhe Raja Harmesh Malhotra, who's also hooked on to the Charminar city, puts it in a nut shell.``The studios there are well equipped, the labour better and, most important, the people there are very disciplined,'' he reasons. The producer of Pardesi Babu, Kulbhushan Gupta, agrees. Although the rent of the studios in both cities is the same between Rs 9,300 to Rs 17,000 per shift, in Hyderabad, filmmakers don't have to worry about basic amenities like light and workers, which are provided to them by the studios, he says.
