Marketing matters in Bollywood and beyond

Indian cinema’s niche movies look beyond the box to market and even produce their films

BY HASNAIN ZAHEER

Many people associate Bollywood with song and dance, colour, glamour, stars, fantastic locales – everything about it is larger than life. But there is another side to Indian cinema where characters and locales are steeped in reality, depicting a living and breathing India with all its joys and challenges, that tells the story of its people in a way that touches one’s soul. Variously called alternative, niche, new wave and art cinema, this cinema has counter-balanced the so-called Bollywood arm of the industry.

On October 26, UNSW’s Australia School of Business (ASB) hosted a presentation and panel discussion on marketing the new wave of Indian cinema, as part of its Marketing in AsiaSpeaker Series. The event was called ‘Beyond Bollywood: Marketing the new wave of Indian cinema’, and was well attended. The context was set by senior marketing academic Ashish Sinha, who delivered a well-researched view on cinema and its economics; whereas new wave cinema director and producer Partho Sen-Gupta provided his practical insights while actually producing films.

Ashish Sinha, producer and head, School of Marketing at ASB spoke on the concept of vital few and trivial many, and how the advent of alternative channels of distribution is radically changing the nature of Bollywood.

The central tenet of Ashish’s thesis rested on the argument that the creative act does not happen in a vacuum, and focusing on the creative work or the creative person is only half the story. The other, perhaps more important half is the system in which the creative person exists. The creative work is a product and sometimes a by-product of the system in which the creator is operating. Cinema is no different, and the systems in place can enhance or hinder creativity. In this talk, Ashish focused on the connection between the economics of doing business, in common parlance referred to as the ‘revenue model’, and the creativity in both Hollywood and Bollywood. He looked at the role that different channels of distribution – digital and online, play in fostering an environment in which creativity can flourish. Ashish made the point that Hollywood is getting disrupted as theatrical releases are often no longer a requirement for movies to become successful. This is because of the advent of services such as Netflix, which boasts of having more than 75,000 movies and 16 million subscribers; and iTunes that in theory or principle has virtually no cost of carrying inventory. Most of these movies being made available are independent movies.

Traditionally, Hollywood (the big studios) have had a stranglehold on the motion picture industry through absolute control of the theatrical channel, thereby literally pushing out content that it felt threatened its power – independent movie producers are a good example of the same. But these independent movie producers have now the ability to earn revenue distributing their movies through alternate channels of distribution. This is the very reason why the independent movie movement is becoming a force to reckon with, and one that is disrupting Hollywood. This is because niche content is now becoming available to the masses.

However, the lack of such channels in India has led to independent movies becoming a fringe movement. This is not because of the lack of talent, ability or expertise; rather an outcome of the lack of the channels of distribution that are available in Hollywood. Piracy pretty much kills auxiliary channels in India and does not provide the opportunity for both, Bollywood and independent movie producers, to garner revenues from this channel. This stifles creativity in the sense that the niche content that is being made widely available in the US is not available to the same extent in India.

Partho Sen-Gupta, writer and director of the award winning feature film Hava Aane Dey (Let the wind blow) spoke about his experience with the Indian as well as international film industry. He focused on financing and marketing the film, and the many lessons that he learnt.

Partho is preparing to direct and produce his newest venture, Arunoday (Sunrise). He explained the unique financing method of ‘crowd funding’ that he has deployed in his latest project. Crowd funding means that money for creative projects is raised collectively from a lot of interested people who are keen in seeing that project succeed. These hundreds or even thousands of investors share in the success of the project as they are given shares or other benefits in return for the extent of their financial support.

Partho informed the audience that Sunrise has already been crowd funded to the extent of $71,000. The funders receive a title that ranges from co-producer, associate producer, lover, patron all the way to buddy, fan or friend, depending upon the extent of their contribution – from $15,000 of a co-producer to $10 of a friend. While a co-producer receives equity in the project, a friend receives a thank-you card from the film crew. An ally, who has paid $200, receives a DVD, poster, name on the film credits and a thank you card.

Besides financing, the upcoming director and producer discussed new ways of marketing employed in the Indian film industry. These revolve around an improved distribution brought about by digital prints, the role of the internet and social networks, and targeting of smaller niche audiences as opposed to mainstream films meant for everyone.

Overall, it was an interesting evening when the audience, many of who comprised students and teachers of marketing and cinema, learned the highly evolved marketing and distribution of Indian cinema, especially the cash-starved genre alternative cinema and how it is changing.

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It was a very special day for Resourceful Australian Indian Network (RAIN) seniors as they gathered at Club Central in Hurstville on October 4. They were present at the St George Community Awards and were pleased and excited to receive the award for Community Group of the Year in the St George area.

Sixty awards were presented to community groups and individual volunteers, recognising their services to the community. Over 400 people attended the awards ceremony and applauded the winners.

The award to RAIN was presented by special guest Andrew Scipione, NSW Commissioner of Police, along with Mark Coure, State MP for Oatley. Dr Sudha Natarajan accepted the award on behalf of RAIN, in her capacity as the organisation’s public officer.

“The awards are a way of saying thank you to the many volunteers and community organisations that work to make our area a better place,” said Mr Coure, in a press release. “I believe that it is very important that we recognise the services that our volunteers provide, they are truly the glue that holds our community together”.

“Needless to say, the RAIN seniors are undoubtedly highly excited at receiving this important felicitation and being recognised for their efforts,” said Dr Natarajan.

“We are grateful to Mr Mark Coure for recognising our services to the community. RAIN will continue its services with extra vigour and enthusiasm in the coming year,” she added.

It is a particular honour for RAIN to be felicitated for all their good work in the St George area. Established in 2006, RAIN has been pioneering ethnospecific senior care for the Indian subcontinent community in St George and Sutherland Shire,

The gentle sound of tinkling bells, soft bhajans and prayers of earnestness accompanied the nine-day celebration of the kolu or doll festival, crowned by Viyajadhasami on the tenth day. This was celebrated at the RAIN (Resourceful Australian Indian Network) senior care and community aid centre at Penshurst. Seniors unable to participate in vigorous garba activities gently swayed to the music with ease and experience, before sitting down with a smile to share refreshments and memories of past celebrations and younger days with friends. Some have been friends for over half a century now, and have shared happiness and sorrow along the pathway of life, with their experiences making them closer. The first three days of Navratri began with Durga pooja, presided over by Mr Amratlal Bhatt, with his wife Jayabehn assisting him. Dr Meenakshi Karthikeyan also attended as a special guest.

The group was treated to a talk on the concept and special significance of the South Indian Navratri kolu Kolu is a doll display arranged on odd-numbered tiers, often to a theme. In this particular case, the theme was the theory of evolution. This was depicted in stages through the arrangement of dolls, with the first steps occupied in response to the community’s needs. RAIN’s vision is to provide creative and knowledge-based and positive diversion in the lives of seniors within the Indian subcontinent community.

With values like positive attitude and self help, respect for old age, promoting dignity in old age, community networking and effective fieldwork, RAIN has proved to be not just supportive, but encouraging towards seniors from the Indian subcontinent.

With a strategic focus of continued organisational growth, better facilities for social inclusiveness of Indian subcontinent seniors, the introduction of a life long learning centre activity room and the aim of building a stronger community network, RAIN looks forward to the years ahead with enthusiasm and passion. Thanks to the total commitment of the management team as well as effective teamwork by efficient partners and most importantly, the support of the community, RAIN acknowledges the award and is grateful to all those who have contributed to its success.