Combating a Monster

As Published in MID DAY as a Guest for the Column 'The Director's Cut'

Strictly speaking it is not a Director’s domain but I must say this in a column called The Director’s Cut because I need to say this. I am talking about a new monster called P&A. In industry parlance it is ‘Print and Advertising’ cost incurred to release a film. This monster came in to being in the last ten years, or thereabouts. Not that this segment of investment did not exist earlier but never did it match Jurassic sizes.

So once you have finished making your beautiful film, it is time to take it to the consumer, the audience. You have to grab their attention.  You have to catch their fancy, you have to pull them out of their homes in to the theaters, no matter how. How do you do that? There are 300 TV channels, almost as many radio stations, may be more publications, fancy billboards and blah blah blah. The Producer and the Distributor write the cheques and buy as much as suits them. Sometimes even more than what suits them. But then that’s their choice. All good and fair thus far? No. Here is the BIG PROBLEM.

On an average films spend anywhere between Rs 5Cr to 20 Cr towards the P&A. Let me say this again, a little differently. You need a minimum of Rs 5Cr for P&A for your film to be barely noticed by the audience. So even if you have made a film for 2 Cr, you need an additional 5 to make sure people just about know it is releasing or you may get lost in a way more elaborate campaign of a way larger film. Nothing against large films, I am myself responsible for, or some may say guilty of, Directing one of the largest films ever. The question I am asking is different.

Should the smaller films be fighting the same battle? Yes they too are fighting to reach out to the same audience as the big ones? Yes they too need to be on the same platforms as the big ones shouting for attention. If they don’t, there is no way on earth they will be noticed. So, will the small film become redundant in times to come? Because even a 3 crore film will end up costing 8. 

So to just build an example what if there is this beautiful little film made for 2 Cr. This does not even aspire to make 20 at the Box Office it just aspires to make 2.25. But the tragedy is that it is forced to make 8 in order to survive or else no one will ever know if it ever released. The question is, if the Indie film is fighting a fair battle? The bigger question is how long before the real independent films lose courage. Of course there is that independent cinema coming out of the small films wing of the studios I call them the ‘Alternate Studios’. But I personally feel, films from those ‘Alternate studios’ end up speaking the same Studio language in a different accent. And I am not being qualitatively judgmental here. I only mean that the alternate studios end up fighting the 8 Cr battle instead of the 2.25 Cr battle with the only difference that they have that 5 Cr muscle others may not.

Of course giving ‘reservations’ to the indie films is no solution. I say ‘reservations’ because it is so relevant today and will be better comprehensible. I am not saying give better rates to Indie films for TV advertising. Then we will all be fighting a different battle. What I am probably asking is, do big films need to promote so much. Will an A list film have any less traction if they were to spend any less on their promotions? Can we bring the P&A scale down in a uniform manner? Then a big film will spend 7 Cr on P&A and an Indie film will spend 1.5. But then NO ONE should be spending 20. Because I do not see an end to how far one can go and the Indie Films must survive. It is important for all. All the makers and all the audience. Just a question.