Today, it costs just Rs 5 lakh to buy a good video camera, quality sound equipment and an effective editing system. So why does anyone require five crore to make a movie? The movie-making process might have become egalitarian and populist but its distribution is not. The most noticeable disadvantage faced by small-budget movies today is the big-publicity budget that’s needed to make a film bankable. And that’s where the prospect of a small-budget film becomes a suspect. Particularly in the eyes of a distributor whose staple reply to a small film would be, “Hero saleable nahi hai ji.”
The magic of small films is suddenly being questioned. Many producers are turning sceptical. Aspiring writers, actors and directors are confused, some sulk. Is a canard being spread against what’s called ‘chhoti picture’ (small film) in Bollywood? If so, then by whom?
The results shown by small films in the last five years have been tremendous. The year 2006 witnessed the box-office success of Pyar Ke Side Effects, Bheja Fry, Iqbal and Dor. The following year was the successful show of Black Friday, Life in a Metro, Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, Namesake and Dharm. And 2008 began with Aamir, A Wednesday and then went on to hit the box office with Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Sajjanpur, Mumbai Meri Jaan, Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye, Phoonk and Rock On. None of these films had a hero that’s “saleable”.
Filmmaker Sudipto Chattopadhyay, whose Pankh is due for release next month, said, “Traders in Bollywood put the success rate at a mere five per cent. Aren’t they referring to the big films? Individual producers who’ve made big money riding on the popularity of big stars are behind such a campaign,” he observed. “It’s a vicious media witch-hunt against the meaningful cinema, particularly by the trade guides because they get more ads from the promoters of big budget cinema.”
Filmmaker Hansal Mehta is tired of “this small film/big film classification”. He believes if good films are rightly budgeted and marketed well, they perform well. “Despite poor PR, we also see films like DevD that raked in the moolah. Is DevD a small film? Or a big film? I don’t know. But it’s a successful film.”
Today, thanks to multiplexes, small-budget films are given a theatrical release to an audience with a growing sensibility for such work. Small films have a longer shelf life compared to big budget films, because the latter’s performance depends on the opening weekend. You could release a few prints first and the perception created by running full house for the first few weeks is extremely effective. But why can’t the small and big coexist?
Shivam Nair has an interesting point to make: “In a big film, the hero brings his own aura and 60 per cent of the business is achieved in the first three days of the films release. People go to a theatre to watch Hrithik Roshan, Kareena and SRK dance and Akshay Kumar do his stunts. A big film also has music to back it. Whereas small films can score points only with story and structure. It requires SMSes and good reviews in newspapers.”
Small filmmakers find it difficult to get financers. Rupali Guha is waiting for her first release, Aamras. “With top production houses like UTV investing in films like Mumbai Meri Jaan and Aamir, it could never have been better for a parallel filmmaker,” she felt, adding “call it parallel or sensible, small cinema is alive and kicking b***.”
Aspiring films makers hate the condescension in the term “small films”. There are films with a big heart, there are those with a small heart and then there are those without a heart. There are big flops and small flops. There are smart films and silly films. The Indian film industry has been, for the past few years, witnessing a revolution of sorts where small budget films (also known as ‘meaningful cinema’) are increasingly making their marks in the minds of people. Looking at the figures, we can conclude that the success ratio of these movies among the audience — great stories with gripping presentation, click the most. Hence Rupali Guha puts it, “Jai ho parallel cinema!”
Mitra is a screenwriter working in Mumbai.
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