The short shelf-life of Bollywood actresses

 Jai Ho! Slumdog is top dog at the Oscars. I'm very happy that the film did as well as it did and congratulations to everyone involved - including Adlabs' small contribution. So much has been written about it in Indian media, however, that there is nothing new or original that I can tell you about it - though ask me when you meet me what Danny Boyle told me when I met him at Mumbai airport, prior to the film's shoot, was the worst aspect about making a film in Mumbai. These days he is either to effusive or polite to discuss the one horror. And, no, it's not the stench of the slums. 

An article that may have escaped your attention was an opinion piece by Praveen Dass in Times of India (One for the times) that tracks the antecedents of the film extremely well and in the process dispels some of the myths and caricatures about the film:

So, is Slumdog superfluous? Is it guilty of caricature? In parts, perhaps, but not in sum. Besides, soft burlesque, as many parts of Slumdog surely are, is not without its uses. Indeed, three outlandish sequences in Slumdog should point us to its real nature as fabulist melodrama. One is the moment when Jamal, the plucky protagonist, cheerfully plunges into a pool of shit to get an autograph. Another is the surreal image of a child dolled up as a blue Rama in the middle of a riot. And, finally, the dance sequence at the end is the film-makers' paying back their Bollywood debt. All point to Slumdog's true nature as an over-the-top modern fable, best consumed with a pinch of masala. In fact, the film's premise should give that away. Surely randomness and chance never get this good in life, real or reel. Boyle has tried this formula before with his underappreciated Millions. Second time was better. And maybe it needed India.

It is worth reading the whole article. Not least, it made me think that Scotland should have rebelled against how the wannabe independent part of the UK was portrayed in Trainspotting (heroin use, filthy toilets, random pub violence), had they been as easily offended or prone to manufacture controversies as some of Slumdog's critics - admittedly a very small minority in these post-Oscar days. 

While honest self criticism of India is admirably widespread, the same cannot often be said about the Hindi film industry (aka 'Bollywood'), which is why I was all the more fascinated to come across an article this past weekend about how the industry's leading ladies are finding themselves having shorter and shorter careers on the silver screen with each 'generation' (actually 'season' by now). 

The article is called 'Tick Tick Three Your Time is Up' by Indu Mirani. The article is far from preachy but asks some penetrating questions:

So, why is it that heroes can play the lead role for decades while the girls have a shelf life of just four to five years? Earlier, before the multiplex generation came along and changed the way we perceived filmmaking, there was the notion that the minute a heroine entered her 30s or got married, whichever was sooner, she lost her allure. “Women were to be fantasised about” was the explanation and the only way she fitted the traditional Indian (Bombay to Bihar) fantasy was if she was seen to be young, curvaceous and virginal, with particular emphasis on the last virtue. And so any girl who wanted to last longer made sure she was all this.

This often lead to the ridiculous situation where a girl who had debuted at say 18 suddenly claimed that she made her first film at 15, which soon became 12. That that kept her poised at 26 for many years was the idea and in most cases it succeeded.

To keep the virginal image intact was slightly tougher but they managed that too by making statements like “I’ve never been on a date,” or “Love? Never felt it. I’m dying to fall in love.” Sridevi, it is rumoured, was so unaware of things that when she got pregnant and felt the first stirrings of the child she thought she had gas.

This sadly means that Freida Pinto, the female star of Slumdog, cannot look forward to a long career in Bollywood, should she get a break there thanks to the film (far from given). Her best hope is to keep straddling both worlds - these days Aishwarya Rai features largest in the poster for Pink Panther 2. 

Button or Slumdog at the Oscars - tough choice

I am split in my loyalties ahead of the Academy Awards. While I want 'Slumdog Millionaire' to do well for obvious reasons, I am equally happy if 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' walks away with an armful of statuettes, as this was a major project for our sister company Lowry Digital.

Film & Video has a very fact filled Q&A with Alan Silvers that is pre-faced thus:

Lowry Digital is well-known among videophiles as a company that enables cutting-edge digital restorations of significant films for DVD and Blu-ray — modulating grain, repairing damage, and returning important titles to show-print status. But as more and more production moves into the digital realm, Lowry is flexing new muscles. Lowry has worked on 3D features like Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, where fine image-matching between the left-eye and right-eye pictures becomes crucial to a comfortable viewing experience — Lowry Digital Director of Business Development Alan Silvers notes that founder John Lowry is nurturing a venture, Trioscopics, dedicated to improving digital 3D. But Silvers believes what's known as "the Lowry process" has applications in the traditional feature-film workflow, especially as directors work to incorporate multiple shooting formats into a single, nuanced vision. One of Lowry's most recent projects, director David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, has just been nominated for 13 Academy Awards — including, crucially, a nod for Claudio Miranda's work as cinematographer.

So while I liked Anthony Dod Mantle's camerawork in Slumdog, my vote would go to Claudio Miranda - not least because we've been getting complaints from members of the audience here in our cinemas in Mumbai, objecting to the digital cinema projection because the image is (they say) dark, grainy and pixilated, not realizing that it is not the projection - which was checked by STAR-Fox staff ahead of the films gala screening, that we arranged in digital - but the artistic intention of the filmmakers.

And just so you don't think either I or Lowry have anything against our good friends at 20th Century Fox - Lowry just completed some stellar work on The Robe as well.

Adlabs/BIG pioneers digital cinema subtitles for Bollywood films

One of the great things about working with Adlabs/Reliance ADAG is that the company is always open, nay, hungry, for new ideas. So when we came to BIG Cinemas with the proposal that we could screen Hindi films that we had mastered with English subtitles, they immediately saw the potential in terms of widening access to new audiences.

From Indiantelevision.com:

In a bid to attract the hearing-impaired and non-Hindi speaking audience to its theaters pan India, Reliance ADAG’s theatre chain Big Cinemas is planning to screen the forthcoming movies with English subtitles.

To begin with, Big Cinemas will screen the Amir Khan-starrer Ghajini with English subtitles from its second week at digital screens in BIG Cinemas’ Wadala and Metro BIG Cinemas in Mumbai.

“We wanted to expand our audience reach and hence, decided to take up this new initiative. This will ensure that the cinema medium can be enjoyed by a larger number of the public - especially the hearing impaired who could not earlier understand the dialogues,” says Big Cinemas COO Tushar Dhingra.

"The release of Ghajini, being an eagerly awaited film, was an ideal way for us to start offering this facility and will set a trend for future releases,” Dhingra adds.

If this works out the hope is that all the major Hindi-language films released will have special screenings to benefit 'goras' like myself and non-Hindi speaking Indians, as well as hearing impaired.

Adlabs has been subtitling prints that get sent overseas (Ghajini went to no less than 23 countries, including unlikely locations like Norway and New Zealand, on 300+ prints) for many years and we have done some tests in the past, but now this will be an integral part of the Adlabs Digitla Cinema service offering.

Bollywood and Terrorists - File Under: 'In Questionable Taste' (and hope it never sees the light of day)

First there was Bollywood. Then came the terrorists. Then the Chief Minister of the state of Maharastra was forced to resign, partly because he provided a personal 'terror tourism' tour to famed Bollywood director Ram Gopal Verma. While RGV may not be planning any film on the terror attacks (yet), this incident did not put off others, far less scrupulous.

From the Irish Times:

It has emerged that Bollywood film-makers have been queuing up to register film titles based on last month’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, prompting suggestions of insensitivity and bad taste.

According to the Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association in India’s film capital, Mumbai, at least 18 titles associated with the November 26th attacks, in which the city’s Taj Mahal and Oberoi Trident hotels and a nearby Jewish centre were besieged by gunmen, have been registered so far.

These include: 26/11 Mumbai Under Terror; Operation Five-star Mumbai; Taj to Oberoi; 48 Hours at the Taj and Black Tornado.

According to Ujwala Londhe of the producers’ association, the first title was registered as early as November 28th, a day before the siege was lifted following firefights between national security guard commandos and the gunmen.

While there is of course a chance that one of these films, sorry, titles, may turn out to be as good as United 93, I highly doubt that the time is right yet for Bollywood to tackle recent events. This despite some very good pre-attack films that dealt with terrorism, such as A Wednesday and Mumbai Meri Jaan.

Mumbai terrorist attacks hurt box office

Perhaps not surprisingly, people getting shot and killed at the doorstep of cinemas (Metro BIG, to be precise) has had a dampening affect. I went and saw two films this past weekend, one older Bollywood release and one newer Hollywood, and both were playing in prime multiplexes to only about 20 per cent audiences. Not good.

These observations are backed up by the newspapers that surveys several cinema operators about people's refusals to go out for some out-of-home escapism. From the Times of India (Film theatres await fans' return):

A disappointed Manoj Desai, of G-7 multiplex, Bandra, said, "Nobody is going to cinema halls. The business is so bad that it is going to be difficult for businesses to recover the cost of air-conditioning a cinema hall. People are scared and don't want to venture out.''

The four films released on Friday were `Meerabai Not Out', `Maharathi', `O My God' and `Dil Kabbadi'. The paid previews and premieres for the releases were cancelled.

As they were medium-budget films, the real impact to the industry will be gauged only later this month, when bigger-budget films starring Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan are slated for release.

A vice-president of Cinemax Cinemas said, "We expect a weak period after 26/11.'' He hopefully added that business was also usually slow before a "King Khan coming''. "People are waiting for a major banner to go for a movie,'' he said.

So all eyes (and hopes) are pinned to YRF's big release this Friday Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, followed by Studio 18's and Warner Bros. India's Chandni Chowk to China, two and four weeks later respectively (not to mention big Hollywood releases like STAR-Fox's The Day The Earth Stood Still).

It is not just cinemas but restaurants that are also suffering, with another article informing us that 'Post-terror, eateries lose 35% business', again not surprising given what happened at Leopold Cafe. I didn't go to any five star hotel this week, but I'm sure that they were emptier for Sunday brunches than usual. Not that we are all afraid of terrorists striking at any moment, but there's just not the mood.

At least I did my bit for the cinemas this weekend, but more is needed. Let's make it the patriotic duty of all Indians to go to the cinema this coming weekend. I will be leading from the front - of the line at the box office.

(Photo credit: Maciej Dakowicz)

Update from Mumbai and Bollywood

Mumbai has been too much in the news for a rather unhappy reason lately. Fortunately our colleagues at Adlabs, as well as friends and families are unhurt, but killings were going on right outside our Metro BIG cinema and dozens of foreigners and Indians were killer and injured. The terror attacks have hit the box office, though hopefully people will find their way back to the cinemas to dream themselves away for a few hours.

This and other things mean that I will sadly have to give CineAsia a miss this year, which is a particular shame given that BIG Cinemas is honoured as International Exhibitor of the Year. But there is plenty of updates from Film Journal International on the film and cinema industry in India. Nyay Bhushan reports on how Bollywood billions: Indian distribution and production change with the times, while Kevin Lally report on how D vs. E: E-Cinema keeps foothold in India as 2K digital grows. Both articles are well worth reading.

Thank you, lastly, to all the friends and colleagues who have contacted me to make sure that we are all OK. Your kind thoughts and well wishes were much appreciated. These are unhappy times, but they do not weaken our resolve to stay on and make digital cinema happen in India.

What I did in New Zealand, Or, Why Peter Jackson has the grooviest post-production outfit in the whole world

I spent several productive and interesting day in Wellington, New Zealand as a speaker and guest of AnimfxNZ. Having been to many conferences it is easy to get jaded about these things, but the sheer brainpower of the assembled crowd (from afar and local) made it exceptional.

Carolyn Giardina was there and in addition to moderating the opening panel that set the tone for the two day conference she found time to do an excellent write up in THR.com. Read the whole article. Here is just the opening:

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Underscoring the growing global interest in 3-D, both for theatrical release and in the home, 3Ality Digital CEO Steve Schklair told attendees at the 3rd annual AnimfxNZ Symposium held at the Wellington Convention Center how his company recently lensed an episode of NBC's "Chuck" in the 3-D format.

3Ality Digital -- the company behind the musical documentary film "U2 3D" -- handled the special episode of the spy comedy series, set to air Feb. 2, the Monday following the Super Bowl. Plans to distribute glasses to consumers are under way.

The exec offered his perspective on the prospects of 3-D in the home. "The good new is there are at least two million 'stereo-ready' sets in the U.S. market waiting for stereo content," he said. "The bad news is the market has moved away from rear projection TVs, so that will eventually go away."

But he added that new options for 3-D TV are on the way. "The home market is moving forward because there is starting to be content in the market."

In addition to the two-day conference we got a tour of Wellington and visited Peter Jackson's Weta and Park Road Post. As Guillermo Del Toro said, "This is Hollywood - the way God intended it to be." I could not agree more. There was also networking with all the great speakers, touring of the charming city of Wellington (Aberdeen crossed with San Francisco) and sampling of New Zealand wine and food. A big thanks to Kim Lavery who did such a great job of organizing it and all the people who helped out. Next year I will volunteer to go there just to run around and hold the microphone. It. Was. That. Good.

The President is coming...in 2K digital

One of the many exciting things about working in India is the chance to get to be part of many 'firsts' and to work with people who are passionate about driving change. One of these people is Rohan Sippy - of the legendary Bollywood Sippy family - who is behind India's first end-to-end feature release: shot on the Viper, released exclusively in 2K and in-between that - yes, you guessed it - mastered and encoded by Adlabs Digital Cinema.

The mockumentary 'The President Is Coming' is releasing next week and we are privileged to have worked with what is not only a first-of-its-kind films, but what also looks like a very funny comedy (judging by the trailer). From Entertainment One India:

The future of Indian cinema is finally here. In a futuristic move, Ramesh Sippy Entertainment (RSE) has decided to release their forthcoming movie The President is Coming, exclusively on the 2K Digital Platform.

This means that no celluloid prints of this film will be distributed in Mumbai and will result in substantial savings on cost of release. The film will have prime show timings in all the screens and there will be no shuttling of prints. RSE is under contract with Scrabble Entertainment to use their wide Digital platform of 2K Digital Screens throughout India. Patrons will experience 2K Digital Image Quality which is the best in the world today.

The President is Coming is an English film and the first ever 'Mockumentary' about new India. It is a comedy about young India's ambitions and aspirations. With a style that is very tongue in cheek, the film takes a look at President George Bush' visit to India in 2006 where he wanted to shake hands with one young Indian under the age of 30.

Find out more about the movie itself from the MySpace page. I look forward to seeing it, not least because it is in English, and I hope you all get a chance to see it too. Maybe even in 2K.

Adlab's BIG Cinemas is Exhibitor of the Year at CineAsia 2008

No sooner had Adlabs' exhibition arm been re-branded BIG Cinemas then the news broke that it will be crowned Exhibitor of the Year at this year's CineAsia held in Macau on 9-11 December. We are thrilled on behalf of our colleagues at BIG Cinema who have worked tirelessly to not just make it India's largest cinema chain, but now also one of the most honoured. From THR.com:

Sunshine said that the 2008 edition at the Wynn Hotel and the Macau Tower, set for Dec. 9-11, will feature an advance 3-D screening of the Disney animated comedy "Bolt." The confab's Exhibitor of the Year award will go to Tusha Dhingra, the head of India's Big Cinemas, formerly known as Adlabs.

This comes not long after the cinema chain was named Retailer of the Year award and Best Retailer in Entertainment before that. But this definitely tops both of those achievements. I would like to think that being a digital cinema pioneer in India had a small part to play in the decision underpinning this award.

The global economy may be down but India just had a weekend box office bonanza with the twin hits Golmal Returns and Fashion both playing to full houses. This coming weekend Quantum of Solace will open here (a week before the US, no less) on the largest print release ever for a Hollywood film in India - 600 prints, beating Sony's previous record for Spider-Man 3 (597 prints), with Casino Royal (427 prints) in third place rounding off SPE's hat trick.

The coming weeks will see releases that were pushed back from their original Diwali release slots, so it should be a very happy Q4 for BIG Cinemas and other Indian exhibitors.

In praise of Bond - and Lowry Digital

I have not bothered to update you about the ins-and-outs of the Ambani-Speielberg-DreamWorks-Paramount deal because there is enough written about it everywhere else anyway. Instead I wanted to take the opportunity to highlight the good work done by our colleagues as Lowry Digital ahead of the latest James Bond release. "Quantum-what," are you saying? No, no, this is Blu-Ray release of the Bond film that launched the franchise, Dr. No.

Lowry Digital did the restoration of the Bond series four years ago and amazingly it is the same restoration that is being used for the BD release as was used for the DVD. The release was reviewed by Robert Harris, one of the hardest task masters when it comes to digital restoration (a much abused term if there ever was one) and rightly so, as he was in charge of the restoration of Lawrence of Arabia and Vertigo.

So when you submit a four year old restoration meant for DVD, it is a bit like submittng a freshman essay as your PhD thesis to the toughest professor in college. What does Mr Harris have to say on "A few words about...™ Dr. No - in Blu-ray":

M-G-M and Eon made a prudent move in permitting Lowry Digital to scan, digitize, and work their magic on the elements. A featurette produced several years ago describes the work performed as restoration, and while I'm not certain whether the actual work performed was restoration or digital cleanup, the final result on Blu-ray is nothing less than spectacular.
...
The correct post facility, using the correct (here Lowry's proprietary) techniques, can make a huge difference in the viewing pleasure of films from the last half of the twentieth century.
...
Dr. No, via the wizards at Lowry Digital, looks far better than it has any right to look. The overall viewing experience is superb. The disc arrives at a street price with a full list of extras of around $23.

The question that I raised earlier, as to whether this film is truly "restored" in the full sense of the word really doesn't come into play here. The single overriding fact is that the Blu-ray is as perfect as it can be.

High praise indeed from a man who really knows his trade and who has slammed many a lesser efforts of 'digital restoration'. Big congratulations to John and his team and I am looking forwards to getting my hands on a copy to see it for myself.

Adabs/Reliance - first to distribute films by fiber optic cable commercially

Distribution of digital cinema films to multiplexes by fibre optic cable has long been the (pipe) dream of the movie industry. Qwest and Fox tested it in 2000. Japan's NTT West tested it in 4K with WB, Paramount and Sony in 005-2006. But as of May this year, Adlabs together with Reliance Communication are doing it on a weekly commercial basis - week in, week out. From Indiantelevision.com:

Adlabs Digital Cinema adds that it has also established a world first by becoming the first and only operator in the world to-date to commercially distribute digital cinema films over the optic fiber cable (OFC). Using the network of Reliance Communications, over 2000 digital cinema shows to-date have come from digital copies delivered via OFC on a weekly commercial basis.

Films are encoded at Adlabs Digital Cinema Mastering Facility at Film City in Mumbai and sent over a 200Mbps connection to its Content Distribution and Logistics (CDL) Hub at Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) in Navi Mumbai, from where they are sent further via dedicated 100Mbps OFC to cinemas as far as Ahmedabad. OFC allows for transportation of digital cinema films that is faster, more reliable and more secure than any other form of delivery.

With Reliance Communication having laid down 80,000 kilometers of fiber all across India, we could not have asked for a better partner (and it helps having the same parent company in Reliance ADAG), though the 'last mile' to the multiplex we've had to install.

So forget hard drives or satellite. If you want to see the future of film distribution, book a ticket to Mumbai and come and visit us. We will treat you to a nice meal as well.

UPDATE: This news was covered by both Variety and THR.com.

Spielberg-Reliance deal signed - Paramount reaction is very gracefull

So at last the deal has been signed. Spielberg is officially exiting Paramount and setting up DreamWorks SKG as an independent entity with the backing of Anil Ambani's Reliance ADA Group. THR.com broke the news:

Steven Spielberg has finalized a deal to secure at least $500 million in funding from Mumbai-based Reliance Big Entertainment.

In a related transaction, JPMorgan Securities will lead a bank loan syndication giving Spielberg another $500 million or more for a total $1 billion-plus to re-create DreamWorks as a private company, allowing it to sever its current ties with Paramount. Documents were finalized Friday after representatives of the various parties reached a handshake agreement on deal terms Thursday night.

The pleasant surprise was how gracious Paramount was about Spielberg's exit:

In a surprise move, Paramount issued a statement saying that the departing DreamWorks principals were also free to take their employees with them. While the DreamWorks brass had exit clauses in their current contracts, they needed permission to bring other execs or staff along to a reconstituted DreamWorks.

"To facilitate a timely and smooth transition, Paramount has waived certain provisions from the original deal to clear the way for the DreamWorks principals and their employees to join their new company without delay," the studio said.

Spielberg, DreamWorks partner David Geffen and CEO Stacey Snider are expected to quickly tender their resignations from Paramount. A DreamWorks spokesman declined comment on the developments.

Paramount even issued a letter wishing the exiting team well. The studio has had time to prepare for this departure and plan its reaction. It may also be angling for a future distribution pact with the new DreamWorks. But I would like to believe that the good people at Paramount are sincere. However, others are already busy wooing Spielberg to distribute through them:

Next comes a distribution deal, which is why GE's Jeffrey Immelt and Universal's Ron Meyer were dining with Spielberg and Snider last Thursday and why NBC Universal boss Jeff Zucker spent the better part of that afternoon with Steven planning out the rebuild of the fire-ravaged Uni backlot. Given how Spielberg sees Universal as his professional home (he never moved his offices even after Paramount bought DreamWorks), I've always assumed he'd land there. Now, with Immelt and Zucker paying homage, it looks like another done deal no matter how much Geffen would dearly love to play one studio off of the other and mastermind a bidding war for Spielberg/Snider. And David himself? He keeps telling everyone that all he wants is to say goodbye to the movie biz.

The effectively reveres acquisition of DremWorks in 2005 - which infused new talent and vigor into the seemingly moribund Paramount - was what the studio needed and it is under Brad Gray's leadership much stronger as a result today. So much so that they can afford to see Spielberg leave.

Now the interesting thing will be to see what the Reliance and JP Morgan-backed DreamWorks does. Just don't expect Spielberg to start shooting a masala film with SRK next.

Adlabs awarded FACT's anti-piracy certification

I am very chuffed to announce that Adlabs has been awarded certification by UK's Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT). This makes us not just the only film services company in India receive this recognition, but the the first one in all of Asia. This demonstrates our absolute seriousness about protecting our clients films and that we do not benchmark ourselves against India but against the best in the world. The certificate was only awarded after a rigorous on-site two day inspection, audit and a series of interviews by a FACT officer who flew in from London especially for this purpose.

Bollywood or Hollywood, the same high standards of security and quality are what I push for in digital cinema and my colleagues at Adlabs insist on for DI and for the print lab. From The Hollywood Reporter:

NEW DELHI -- Adlabs Films, India's largest film processing facility, said Monday that it is the first such facility in Asia to be certified by U.K.-based industry body Federation Against Copyright Theft.

A large number of film service companies in the U.K. and Europe are now accredited by FACT, making it easier for studios and filmmakers to know they are dealing with a secure facility.

The Adlabs deal marks the first time in FACT's 25-year history that a company has been accredited outside the U.K. or Europe.

The certification applies to Adlabs' film processing and print lab, digital lab and digital cinema mastering facility along with Adlabs' preview theater, all housed within its Film City premises in Mumbai.

More details on the international implicatins of this deal from Indiantelevision.com:

Adlabs Films, the entertainment arm of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, is stepping up to tap the international film processing markets, specifically the US, UK and Europe.

Already one of the biggest end-to-end digital post-production services provider in India, Adlabs feels there is potential to have a strong outsourcing model for Hollywood studios due to a low-cost advantage.

As a first step towards achieving this ambition, Adlabs has got "International Anti-Piracy Certification" by the UK body - FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft). With the accreditation in place, Adlabs is hopeful of getting the foreign projects outsourced to its Film City premises in Mumbai.

"In the US, UK and other European countries, studios do not outsource processing because of piracy. Now after getting a certificate from an international body like FACT, studios and film-makers will know that they are dealing with a secure facility and we will be able to market ourselves better," Adlabs motion picture processing and allied services president Shankar Dutta tells Indiantelevision.com.

Already one Hollywood studio is doing its release prints in India with us and we are in discussions with others for print, DI and digital cinema work. You can now find us under the list of accredited members (screen shot above from sub-section of accredited digital cinema members).

And as the press release says, this is not the end but the tart of our efforts to ensure and demonstrate our commitment to copyright protection. Watch this space for more developments and announcements in the future.

Middle East woes Hollywood with financing

Now the petro-dollars are flowing back to the US, with Middle Eastern states taking an interest in Hollywood. It seems like $1bn is the minimum starting sum these days. The government owned Abu Dhabi Media (ADM) will spend that amount on making movies and theme parks in partnership with the likes of Warner Bros. From THR.com:

ADM unit Imagenation Abu Dhabi aims to partner on international film projects and invest in regional talent to create Arabic- and mixed-language content with crossover appeal.

The deal adds to ADM's growing global portfolio, which includes a previously announced film and video deal with Warner Bros. as well as plans for theme park and movie theater projects. ADM's first film under its Warner deal -- the Robert Rodriguez-helmed "Shorts" -- recently went into postproduction.

Based in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi, Imagenation will assume oversight of the Warners deal, launched last year with twin $500 million funds covering film and video productions. The latest ADM funding is expected to cover 40 projects toting budgets of up to $50 million.

I am now waiting for one of the two US presidential candidates to take a swipe at Hollywood's dependence of foreign oil financing for its all-American entertainment.

Meanwhile the wait for the announcement about the signing of the Ambani-Spielberg/Reliance ADAG-DreamWorks deal continues. It is imminent, I am reliably told.

Who lost Spielberg, UTV cracks US Top 20 and Snoop goes Bollywood

An assortment of news with an Indian flavour in the last few days.

It is talked about as if the ink is dry on the paper, but this article from the New York Times gives a bit more context to the Ambani-Spielberg/Reliance-Dreamworks deal under negotiation, particularly the financial climate in which an Indian conglomerate trumped Hollywood studios and traditional investment banks to the world's most commercially successful director:

But there was still an element of shock [following the announcement of the Reliance negotiations]: Hollywood could not come up with a rich enough deal for Mr. Spielberg, the most bankable director in the business and a “national treasure”? His last movie alone, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” has sold $743 million in tickets and is still playing in theaters around the world.

For that matter, there wasn’t anybody on Wall Street willing to write a blank check for the guy with “Jaws” and “Jurassic Park” on his résumé?

The pending deal with Reliance underscores some realities about Mr. Spielberg — mainly that he has become so expensive that few public companies can afford him. Mr. Spielberg’s standard deal, on par with other blue-chip talent, is 20 percent of a movie’s gross from the first ticket sold, although he agreed to a somewhat less aggressive paycheck on the latest “Indiana Jones” installment to offset its high budget.

And:

Hollywood’s seeming inability to close a deal with Mr. Spielberg highlights the shift toward a more corporate, buttoned-down movie business. Just a few years ago, bragging rights often drove business decisions. Steven Spielberg is available? Back up the money truck. We want that jewel in our crown no matter what the cost. And studio bosses could justify such ego-driven loss leaders: In the entertainment business, talent draws talent.

And:

As for Wall Street, the firm belief in Hollywood is that the arrival of Reliance marks the end of the private equity and hedge fund boom that has propped up the industry. With the capital markets in turmoil, terms have tightened substantially for movie deals. Investors are demanding faster payback schedules, better guarantees and even a say in how movies are made and marketed.

So out with the Germans and in with the Indians, confirming once again that Hollywood is colour blind when it comes to foreign investment, as long as it is dollar-green.

Elsewhere follow Indian company UTV has just cracked the Top 20 US distributors list on the strength of several Bollywood hits. From THR.com:

UTV Motion Pictures said Monday that it earned $5.48 million from ticket sales in North America in the first half of the year, becoming the first foreign-language distributor to rise into the ranks of the top 20 distributors in the territory. North America's growing South Asian population flocked to see such UTV releases as the historical epic "Jodhaa Akbar," which earned $3.44 million in ticket sales; action-thriller "Race," which earned $1.37 million; and recent musical release "Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na," which has earned $539,857 so far.

Not bad, but I am sure that the likes of UTV and Eros can and will climb even higher than this, possibly all the way up to the Top 10.

An unlikely convert to all things Bollywood is bad dog rapper Snoop Doggy Dog. But soon he will be seen duetting on the big screen with Bollywood's comedy star du jour Akshay Kumar. Sayz the Snoopster himself in IHT.com:

"I really dig how much music is infused with the movies" in Bollywood, Snoop Dogg said in an e-mailed response to questions. "Lots of hip-hop tracks sample Indian music, and a lot of their music sounds like it was influenced by hip-hop," he said. "We're putting together something real big" in India, that will include collaborations, live shows and "more movies with some of my Bollywood homies."

"I'm coming to take over Bollywood," Snoop Dogg promised during the video shoot. "I've never been able to come over there and do shows for you all, but now I'm going to come and do shows," he said in a clip that the video's promoters put on YouTube. "This is just the beginning."

I for one can't wait.

Getting digital wrong in Mumbai from a distance

Never let facts get in the way of a good story, or better, of a daring piece of analysis. That is the only conclusion I can draw from the following breathless pronouncement by my colleague Nick Dagger over at Digital Cinema Report:

July 15, 2008 | Issue #131

A recent press release from Digital Projection International highlighted the news that the company is supplying the projectors for all of the 1,000 digital screens in UFO Moviez’s digital cinema network in Mumbai, India. While that is admittedly a significant announcement for DPI, I think it represents an even more significant development for the global digital cinema marketplace. My reasoning? The projectors are all 720P HD, which means that – for now, and by choice – the largest digital theatre chain in the largest city in the world will not be showing first run Hollywood movies digitally.

Interesting if it was true, but it is not. Simple research would have thrown up two glaring errors in this claim. The first is that Mumbai is the largest city on earth. It is not. From Wikipedia:

It is not the biggest, it just feels like the most crowded.

Secondly, there are not 1,000 UFO screens using DPI projectors in Mumbai. There aren't even 1,000 digital screens by any and all operators combined. In fact, there aren't 1,000 cinema screens in Mumbai full stop.

A quick visit to UFO Moviez's website would have confirmed it, as they helpfully provide a list of all their screens everywhere in India by state:


According to this list Maharastra (the state in which Mumbai is located) had a total of 257 screens installed. Of these I counted 46 screens in Mumbai (if we include Navi Mumbai). So well short of the 1,000 claimed.

You do not need to live in Mumbai to know this - an Internet connection and a healthy dose of skepticism about outlandish digital claims is all that is required. But he is right that UFO will not be showing Hollywood films on the e-cinema screens. However, a little bird tells me that they have a surprise in store.

Bollywood's BO takings slump in 1st half of 2008

Half way through the box office year in Bollywood the industry is feeling distinctly glum at the lack of a significant number of hits so far. Just three to four films have genuinely done gang buster business, if THR.com is the be believed:

Bollywood lost about $37.5 million in the first half of 2008, as most films released here sold fewer tickets than expected, a leading business daily reported here Monday.

A survey published by the Economic Times of India also showed ticket receipts of only $75 million for the 47 Hindi-language films released from January through June, well below industry expectations.

Bollywood, the most famous segment of India's vast movie industry, does not have an independent source for boxoffice data.

"It's been a bad year (in that) major films have just tanked," film critic and industry analyst Rajeev Masand told The Hollywood Reporter.

The few successes in the first half of the year included UTV's historical epic "Jodhaa Akbar," which collected $30 million worldwide on the way to recovering its $10 million budget; the action-packed "Race" from the Abbas-Mastan directing duo; and "Jannat" (Heaven), Kunal Deshmukh's look at illegal betting in cricket.

The second half of the year got off to a so-so start, with the Aamir Khan Productions/PVR film Jaane Tu... doing well, while the Adlabs-backed Love Story 2050 did less well.

Unlike Hollywood, which has a box office summer stretching from May until Labour Day, the Indian box office summer is usually in May before the monsoon, though the IPL cricket stole away the viewers this year and will have a dampening effect next year. Hopes are instead high for Diwali and the releases tied to the other Indian national and religious holidays.

Despite this the investment in Indian films continues to grow, Hollywood studios are stepping up their local productions, more and more multiplexes are being opened and the expectations are for the industry as a whole to continue growing.

Interestingly websites that host pirated Bollywood content that is downloaded by NRIs (non-resident Indians) in UK, US and even Finland (!) are doing terrific business according to this article. For Bollywood, digital cinema and legit digital overseas distribution cannot come soon enough to help fill the coffers.

Reliance-Spielberg discussions "going well"

I have just returned to Mumbai - which is looking particularly lush and green after several weeks of rain - now that I have secured a permanent work visa. Lots of things have been going on while I attended SAWA and Cinema Expo, but over in the States the discussions to enable Spielberg to set up DreamWorks as a stand-alone studio with Reliance ADAG's support are apparently going well. From THR.com, which leads both the international and domestic daily with the news:

Representatives of Steven Spielberg and the Indian conglomerate Reliance continue to talk daily about terms of a $1.5 billion proposal to fund a privately owned DreamWorks that would produce more than 30 films over the next five years.

Reliance executives are expected to hold sit-down talks with Spielberg reps soon in New York or Los Angeles, though things are going so well they might hold off flying in until a meeting to close the deal later this summer. The business plan being discussed would see Spielberg and top DreamWorks execs create a new company financed with about $550 million in equity funding by Reliance, a senior debt facility and possible additional equity from whichever studio is chosen as a theatrical distributor.

"Things are going well, and God willing we'll get there," said Schuyler Moore, a Strook & Strook & Lavan attorney representing Reliance in the DreamWorks talks.

God willing, indeed. Who knows, perhaps Mr Spielberg will even be persuaded to come out to India at some point, though as you can see from the article above the deal would be signed in Hollywood.

Reliance partners Bollywood's Top Film Family

In India there is no greater or more popular actor than Amitabh Bachan (know simly as Big B) and he heads a family that includes his successful-in-his-own-right son Abhishek and his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai (Miss Universe 1994), as well as wife Jaya. We learn today that Reliance BIG Entertainment has struck a major deal with them. From THR.com:

Reliance Big Entertainment, the film arm of the Indian conglomerate courting Steven Spielberg and other top Hollywood names, strengthened its Bollywood roots Wednesday by forming a pact with India's "first family" of filmmaking. RBE, a division of Reliance ADA, will launch a production entity with Amitabh Bachchan and his family of actors to produce films and television content, president Rajesh Sawhney saidtold The Hollywood Reporter. "If we want to engage globally, we have to engage with Hollywood. And that means engaging with talent," Sawhney said.

And

The new unnamed RBE-Bachchan entity will see RBE handle finance, marketing, distribution and other management issues while "the Bachchans will focus on creative aspects," Sawhney said. Without providing investment figures, he termed the agreement "long-term and open-ended." The Times of India speculated that the deal could be worth about $300 million, but Sawhney dismissed the figure as "baseless," adding that the investments "really depend on the nature of projects, which are still to be finalized."

So it is Big B meets BIG Entertainment. Quite the suitable match really. Big B writes about it on his own blog:

Because of the announcement of the Reliance Entertainment and our tie up, there was media bombardment from all sections. The phone was filled with queries and requests for answers and talk ins and bites from the electronic community. They are all friends and i consider it common courtesy to respond to them even if I am completely unable to comply with their requests.

Though for all things Bachan, log on to TheBachans.com

Being back in London briefly after Cinema Expo, I was amazed by how many people had read about the Reliance-Spielberg-DreamWorks discussions. It really has put India and Reliance on the world map.

Future of cinema advertising in Cannes

For the fourth year in a row I had the fun and pleasure of moderating the SAWA (Screen Advertising World Association) seminar at the Cannel Lions Festival on advertising, this year called 'Cinema - the Medium where all ideal look big.'

This year we looked at interactive advertising, courtesy of the interactive 'human joystick' game created by Brand Experience Lab. We also looked at 3D advertising in cinemas, including Red Bull from UK and Superbock and Vodafone from Portugal.

All-in-all 470 people attended the session and we had to turn away some 150 unhappy late comers. Once again it was the single most well attended event of the Cannes Lions.



As an extra personal thrill for me the most prestigious award that evening went to an Indian agency in the Direct Marketing category:

The Direct Lions Grand Prix was awarded to JWT India, Mumbai, for the Times of India Newspaper entry 'Lead India'. Seven gold, 13 silver and 17 bronze trophies were given from a total of 1697 entries of which 183 were shortlisted.

We celebrated well into the evening, but still made it up for the meeting of the SAWA Digital Sub Committee (DSC) the following morning to tackle the many challenges digital screen advertising faces in being part of the DCI future.