Foreign shoots spread Bollywood's
reach By Priyanka Bhardwaj
NEW DELHI - Sixty percent of Bollywood's
upcoming release Krrish, starring top actor
Hritik Roshan, was shot in Singapore, and overseas
shoots like that one are increasingly becoming the
rule, not the exception.
More and more
Bollywood films, which number more than a thousand
every year, are being shot abroad - Salaam
Namaste (Australia), Kal Ho Na Ho
(United States), Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gam
(United Kingdom), Shaadi Se Pehle
(Malaysia), and Kaho Na Pyar Hai (New
Zealand), to name just a few recent examples. New
countries and locations are being constantly added
to the list
-
such as Gangster, a recent hit, which was
shot in South Korea, one of the first mainstream
Bollywood films to feature that country.
One important reason for the new trend is
to cater to the more than 20-million-strong Indian
diaspora, with an estimated combined wealth of
more than US$300 billion. Koi Mil Gaya made
$10 million in India, $1.9 million from the US
market and 1.6 million pounds in Britain; Kal
Ho Na Ho made $8 million domestically,
$700,000 in the US and 600,000 pounds in the UK;
while Chalte-Chalte earned $4.5 million at
home, $900,000 in America and 700,000 pounds in
Britain. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge made
$5 million abroad. And Rang de Basanti, a
recent Bollywood release, has collected $6 million
abroad in just six weeks.
A key benefit of
overseas exhibitions is that the income earned
abroad is tax-free, since export earnings of
cinema and television programs are tax-exempt.
Last year, India exported films worth $15 million,
an increase of about 40% over the previous year.
In the early 1990s, the figure was $125,000 per
annum. This year the figure is expected to cross
$25 million. Thirty percent of the overseas
revenue of Indian films comes from North America.
There are other benefits of moving
overseas. Movie producers do not have to grapple
with the endless bureaucracy that is the staple in
India, and can ensure the stars' presence for an
extended period at the shooting location; travel
and production costs are sometimes cheaper given
the tight schedules at international locations;
and governments in foreign countries make sure
that the guests are well taken care of given the
revenues earned.
"I captured [previously
unused] locations in Singapore for Krrish,"
said director Rakesh Roshan. "It is tough to get
permission to shoot in India. But the Singapore
government was very supportive. Asian countries
are very Bollywood-friendly."
The trend
has a benefit for other nations as well: the
locations used tend to become popular tourist
destinations for Indian travelers. Switzerland was
one of the first countries to experience an
increased flow of Indian tourist traffic due to
exposure in Hindi movies, the Swiss Alps being a
popular film location. Following Switzerland's
experience, other countries such as Singapore,
Thailand, the United Arab Emirates (Dubai),
Austria, South Africa, Egypt and Canada have
joined the race to lure Bollywood by offering
incentives.
The Singapore Tourism Board
has invested S$10 million (US$6.3 million) under
the Film in Singapore! scheme that subsidizes
international film productions by up to 50%.
Krrish was the first mega-Bollywood film to
make use of this fund. A spokesperson for the
board has said that Bollywood is the best way to
"showcase Singapore to Indians", given Indians'
passion for films. Singapore expects 700,000
visitors from India in 2006, compared with just
under 600,000 last year.
The
Asian-dominated city of Leicester in the East
Midlands region of England has drawn up elaborate
plans to boost film production. Bollywood
blockbusters such as Mohabbatein,
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and Kuch
Kuch Hota Hai have been shot in England,
Scotland and Wales. The Yorkshire Tourist Board
has submitted a bid to the International Indian
Film Academy (IIFA) to host its 2007 awards in
Yorkshire. The awards have been held in Singapore,
South Africa and Amsterdam in the past. This year
the venue is Dubai, with one of Bollywood's
greatest actors, Amitabh Bachchan, acting as
IIFA's brand ambassador.
While speaking at
an IIFA forum recently, Bachchan said: "It's a
very interesting phase [for Bollywood], with the
younger generation very keen to prove themselves
and aggressively match [the] qualities of
world-class cinema, and many of our films this
year are so progressive. We used to be criticized
for our song-and-dance routine, but have you seen
how the world has been lapping it up? It's due to
the opening-up of the economy. Once a country
progresses, people like everything it does."
Kim Jong-min, chief executive officer of
the Korea Tourism Organization, said, "South Korea
has just got a taste of Bollywood with
Gangster being shot almost exclusively
there, and is setting the wheels in motion to
promote itself as a destination for Indian film
[productions]."
Poland is the latest
entrant, with a major Bollywood film,
Fanaa, featuring top stars Kajol and Amir
Khan, being filmed in that country. The Polish
Tourist Organization has used the movie to launch
its latest campaign to attract tourists. Emilia
Engler of the Polish Tourist Organization said in
an interview with the Mumbai-based newspaper Daily
News & Analysis: "We started with Fanaa
and now are on the process of taking some
Bollywood producers to Poland for a
familiarization trip. Until now, Poland has not
been on the itinerary of the Indian going to
Europe. But now we want to attract Indians to our
country. And what better [way is there] than
showing them the country through Bollywood? We
have taken the first step with Fanaa."
Although Bollywood's budgets and
box-office takes still do not compare to
Hollywood's, the scale of the business is not
trivial. According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers
report, India's film business earned $1.12 billion
in 2004, up from $617 million in 2001, though that
would not cover the takings from one Harry
Potter film. In 2003, the industry earned more
than $703 million. Much of this success is driven
by global popularity. An average Indian movie's
budget is $500,000 (though the major titles can
budget more than $10 million), far below the
average $14 million spent in the US.
PricewaterhouseCoopers believes that
Bollywood will double its turnover by 2009. Since
2001, the government has allowed financial
institutions to finance up to $1 million of a
picture's budget or up to about 40% of the total
production cost. A Rabo India study indicates that
the number of films financed through organized
sources last year went up 200% against 2002,
though the total corporate finance into films is
still quite low and was a little more than $150
million in 2004.
According to a study by
KPMG, although India produces more films than any
other country, its share of global cinema revenue
is a lowly 1%. The US leads with 60%, and India is
far behind Japan, the UK and France as well.
However, KPMG projects that the revenue of the
Indian film industry will cross $2 billion next
year and $3.5 billion by 2010.
Priyanka Bhardwaj is a New
Delhi-based writer.
(Copyright 2006
Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact us about sales, syndication and republishing
.)
