This article is not for the faint of heart. Hindi Film Business: the words are enough to send shivers down many people’s spines. But, this blog post is about to clear up some misconceptions and give you a decent overview. Why jio net is slow these days?
Before I even get started, let me just make one thing clear here: I’m not saying that this will be easy reading or that it will be what you’re used to when it comes to consuming information online in English. I’m also not promising any roses, rainbows, and unicorns — in fact (and anyone who knows me will attest) there are plenty of challenges ahead.
1. Hindi Films Are A Dying Breed
The first thing that comes to mind is probably “Hindi films aren’t my cup of tea”. That’s fair enough, but if you’re in the film business (for example, you’re a distributor), it helps to stay abreast of what’s going on. Trends, movements and changes in the industry will trickle down to you as well.
Most people are familiar with the struggle that mainstream Hindi cinema faces today — ever dwindling audiences and declining collections. Crores have been spent on remaking movies, starting new franchises and trying different distribution channels.
And, it’s true that nobody has found the magic bullet yet. But for all it’s worth, the genre isn’t dead. And, if you have your heart set on working in the business, I would recommend reading this article written by Sreeju Sudhakaran , which focuses on the industry from a different perspective — that of an insider.
2. What Is ‘Hindi Film Business’?
So, what is Hindi film business? Well, at its most basic level, it’s an industry that produces and releases feature-length motion pictures in the Hindi language (and sometimes in other Indian languages) to large audiences around India and abroad.
They are produced for a box office (or gross) of at least ₹ 1 .5-2 crores.
3. What Is Hindi Film Industry?
More people are familiar with the Hindi Film Industry than they are with the Hindi Film business, which is why I would say that it’s much easier to access information about the industry rather than the business itself. But, Hindi film industry can be broken down into a few key components:
*A: Production House
Film production in India has been largely controlled by 5 major companies (produced in different regions) since 1975 – when the Government of India replaced licenses and quotas with a single national film release policy, operated centrally under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
*B: Studios
In the past few decades, there has been a consolidation of film studio holdings as studios gain more power to distribute and market their films. There are also a number of key players in the business who have built up their production capacities.
*C: Content
Better quality content is what acts as a magnet and helps to sustain the audience interest across multiple platforms. This can also be attributed to technological changes which have come in handy to create better quality content rather than fuelling audiences with ‘copycat’ content.
*D: Distribution
Hindi film distribution is a highly oligopolistic industry, dominated by a few key players in each region. In the past few years, there has been an increase in number of multiplex screens and digital screens across the country– but also a slowdown in overall box office numbers.
This makes distributing films even more challenging. And this is where theatrical (or multiplex) distributors come into the picture — they get the film screened at a number of theatres which can be further classified as local circuit, niche theatres and metro cities.
4. Getting In
The good news is that people who are in the film business still need people who are good with numbers.
This is not a zero-sum game. It’s not a case of working for free or for freebies — one doesn’t have to be professionally qualified to get into the industry. There are many entry points, ranging from understanding different aspects of things, selling stuff, writing (or co-writing/producing) scripts, marketing and distributing films — to managing social media and building up fan base.
It’s not impossible to do it all while pursuing another career — I do think that it’s more important that you just get your foot in the door (like any other kind of business).
5. The Magic Bullets
The thing about the Hindi film business is that there’s no ‘magic bullet’. The industry has seen a number of trends come and go over the past decade and a half. Some have had a lasting impact, others haven’t.
Some of the trends that have had a lasting impact include:
*Expanding content across multiple platforms *Increasing competition for eyeballs *Focusing on single screens rather than multiplexes
Technological change has also played it’s part in improving content quality and allowing movie makers to experiment with formats: from 3D movies, IMAX movies to etc. These changes also allowed regional cinemas like Malayalam cinema to expand at the national and international level.
