Bravedas
By: Mayank Shekhar

July 5,2002












Bharat Shah

When Devdas — a Rs 50 crore project — the most expensive film in the history of Indian cinema hits the marquee Friday next, the sheer size and scale of the finances involved are bound to invite nervous jitters from a cash-starved film industry, reeling under a string of loss-making ventures.

‘How will the producers recover the huge costs? How much is the film selling for? Will the distributors and exhibitors get a raw deal? Will the ticket prices go up?’

Such legitimate concerns expectedly rent Bollywood’s air, even as news of last minute changes introduced in the logistics of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer keep pouring in.

What the next week holds for the ‘industry’s make-or-break’ vehicle, whether the tragedy showcased on the reels will turn real for the film’s makers, is a $13 million question. However, as the countdown begins, we give a quick update on where exactly Devdas stands at present for the industry.

Is the film making table-profit?

Table-profit is the excess of revenue over expenses the producer receives, right at the outset, from the sale of the film’s music rights and territory sales to distributors. Which essentially means that discounting the loss of goodwill, the producer making table-profit laughs his way to the bank, never mind the film’s showing at the box-office.

This is not going to be the case with Devdas, according to Bharat Shah, the film’s producer, who admits that the film went over-budget and has turned out to be very expensive. “Devdas is however being sold at a reasonable price of Rs 3 crore per territory,” he informs. Reportedly, the music rights sold for Rs 12 crore. The arithmetic does not add up to over Rs 50 crore, confirming no-profits-before-release.

“There is a table-deficit of Rs 10 crore,” says Shah. So how will the producer recover his costs? “We’ve taken a business risk and plan to recover the investment through the overflows.” Overflow is the profit of the distributor (that he shares with the producer), akin to ‘royalties’ of a film.
















Madhuri Dixit in Devdas

The crucial question then is:

How long should Devdas run in the theatres for Shah to make money (for the film to be declared a hit)? “More than six weeks.”

Market innovations:

The makers of Devdas were initially meant to float a record number of 1000 prints in the market, which has been currently reduced to 600.

The reason for this slash, according to Shah, is the delay in the ongoing post-production of the film, initiated due to demands from foreign buyers - who want Devdas’s length shortened from its present 2 hrs 54 min to 2 hrs 30 min. Two different versions for two different markets: a sensible marketing strategy.

“More than a thousand prints will eventually be released in the market” — going by this claim of Shah’s, it must mean that-there are many-buyers — a good sign for the film’s initial response.

To further judge this response, a few theatres in the smaller centres where the trailers of the film are being screened, have introduced a concept of advance booking coupons and a questionnaire, which asks the respondents why they would like to see the film. “This exercise cannot be done in big cities and was done by theatre owners in small towns on their own,” laughs Shah.

“The feedback has been good,” he adds, enumerating the small-town theatres that have registered advances for the full coming week. In the A-centres (big towns) however, the verdict on the initials can only be gauged after next Monday, when the box-office opens for Devdas.

Where we stand:

As for a lay cinegoer, who couldn’t care less about who makes or loses money, having realised that Devdas would play in myriad theatres, the concern is, ‘Will the tickets become more expensive?’ Taran Adarsh from Trade Guide contends they would: “It happens with all eagerly-awaited films.”

Though Shah responds to the contrary, “There is no reason for the ticket prices to go up at all.” We take that as the bottomline.