Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Bollywood Revenue in Sharp Decline: Down 12% in 2016

Bollywood movie revenue suffered 12% drop in 2016 to $338 million, the sharpest decline ever, according to Reuters news agency. Meanwhile, the global movie revenue rose just 1% to a record $38.6 billion last year, according to a report by Motion Pictures Association of America.

Box office sales hit a record $11.4 billion in the United States and Canada, up 2% from 2015, thanks to blockbusters such as “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “The Secret Life of Pets,” and “Captain America: Civil War”, according to a report in Los Angeles Times.

By contrast, the Bollywood revenue, a tiny fraction of the global film market,  has been in decline since 2014. It fell from $413 million in 2014 to $385 million in 2015 to $338 million in 2016, down 6.7% from 2014 to 2015 and then again dropping 12% from 2015 to 216.

While Bollywood business is in sharp decline, the Pakistani cinema, though small, is growing very rapidly with the explosive growth of multiplex theater screens. Pakistan's "The News Sunday" estimates that box office receipts in the country jumped 28 per cent in 2015 as compared to 2014 and this figure is only expected to grow in coming years.

Here's how Indian media and entertainment analyst Akar Patel describes Bollywood's business opportunity in Pakistan:

"In Pakistan, there is a big market for Indian movies in their multiplexes. For decades this revenue was lost to Bollywood because the movies were pirated. Under former president Pervez Musharraf, the official screening of movies was allowed, benefiting both nations. Today all Bollywood movies are shown there. Unfortunately, the current state of ties between the two countries has been allowed to deteriorate so much that we should not be surprised if Musharraf's wise decision is reversed."

It can be a win-win arrangement with Pakistani artists working with their Indian counterparts in Indian movies and increasing Bollywood revenue from the growing Pakistan market that is already the second largest market for Bollywood entertainment. However, the powerful Hindu Nationalists appear to be succeeding in thwarting this partnership.

If the anti-Pakistan rhetoric and the attacks on Pakistani artists in Mumbai continue, it is very likely that Pakistan will respond by reimposing the ban on showing of Indian films in a rapidly expanding market market for Bollywood entertainment. In addition to increasing estrangement between the two neighbors, stopping cooperation and collaboration will be a significant blow for the entertainment industries in both India and Pakistan.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Bollywood Eyes Pakistan Market

Peepli Live Destroys Indian Myths

Bollywood-Hollywood Combos

Indian Bollywood Seeks Cultural Dominance

US Mortgage Fraud Funded Bollywood Movie

13 comments:

Star said...

All over the world Indians keep saying that bollywood produces more movies than any other country. Yet they fail to realise that their global share of film revenue is negligible. The best movie in recent times Indians say bollywood has produced is PK. But very few people know that its a poorly copied version of an Eddie Murphy movie Holy Man with some Indian masala. So stop this BS about bollywood is important for Pakistani cinema industry. I hope people of this great country move on from Indian idiotic crap that they call movies and develop their own material and in the time being start enjoying the original content bollywood copies from called HOLLYWOOD.

Majumdar said...

Brof sb,

There is one more piece of good news about India which seems to have escaped your notice. Kindly read this and present a piece about this on your musings or on PDF. Here it is:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-too-poor-to-expand-snapchat/articleshow/58201636.cms

NEW DELHI: Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel said India is too poor a country to expand its business to, a former employee of the company has alleged in a lawsuit.

The former employee, Anthony Pompliano, alleges that the comment was made in a 2015 meeting discussing user growth, where Spiegel reportedly said, "This app is only for rich people. I don't want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain."

Variety magazine reported the comment earlier this week, when Pompliano's allegations were made public.


Regards

Anonymous said...

http://businessworld.in/article/Automakers-Toeing-Make-In-India-Initiative-With-Robust-Exports/19-04-2017-116657/

Anonymous said...

Star

Pls be informed that Bollywood is not the only industry in India. There are at least 3 other film industry of India, namely Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam which are big. Telugu and Tamil are both $250 million dollar industry, despite being restricted to mainly only one state.

In my stay at UAE, I can assure you that Pakistanis are as obsessed about Bollywood as Indians are. For the record I am a south indian and couldn't care less for bollywood.

Omar F. said...

Sir the last year didn't include the biggest hit Dangal, with its domestic business it will touch 400M$.

Riaz Haq said...

Omar: "Sir the last year didn't include the biggest hit Dangal, with its domestic business it will touch 400M$."

#Dangal released Christmas 2016. Its first week receipts were $30 m, bringing total #Bollywood revenue to $368m, down from $385m in 2015.

Here's the data on #Dangal box office as published in TOI. 2016 total about 190 crores or about $30m. #Bollywood

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/box-office/dangal-box-office-collection-will-aamir-khans-2016-film-beat-pk-to-become-highest-bollywood-grosser/articleshow/56350224.cms

Riaz Haq said...

Beyond Bollywood: where India's biggest movie hits really come from

https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2017/may/13/bollywood-india-film-industry-baahubali-2-the-conclusion



The global success of SS Rajamouli’s fantasy epic sequel Baahubali 2: The Conclusion has once again brought Indian cinema to the attention of the world. Its forerunner, the $31m-budgeted Baahubali: The Beginning (2015), grossed $100m worldwide but caused little more than a ripple outside India. Within the country, it made waves because the film, made in the south Indian Telugu and Tamil languages, saw the Hindi-dubbed version alone gross more than $20m.

Baahubali 2: The Conclusion review – joyous action epic soars

The second part of India’s most expensive film ever is a jaw-dropping blockbuster that combines nimble action with genuine heart
Read more
It is a common misconception that the Hindi-language, Mumbai-based film industry – known as Bollywood – is India’s national cinema. The numbers tell a different story. India produces an astonishing 1,900 films a year on average, of which Hindi-language Bollywood accounts for about 340. The bulk of the rest comes from the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi and Gujarati languages. Domestic box office has remained stagnant at about $1.5bn and, while Bollywood might produce more films (Tamil had 291, Telugu 275, and Kannada 204 films in 2016), it contributes just a third of the box office gross. In short, Bollywood has the visibility, but not the profits, with the under-performers far outweighing the hits.

In this context, the numbers racked up by the “regional” Baahubali 2 – budgeted at $39m, made in Telugu and Tamil, with Hindi and Malayalam dubbed versions – are astonishing by Indian standards. The film opened on 28 April and grossed $194m in 13 days, making it the highest Indian grosser of all time and putting it on track to become the first Indian film to gross $200m. It easily outperformed the $123m collected by PK (2014), starring Bollywood icon Aamir Khan.

Riaz Haq said...

#India's #Bollywood has copied a shocking number of #songs from #Pakistan. See proof

https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/bollywood-copied-number-of-pakistani-songs-love-aaj-kal-1150750-2018-01-21

https://twitter.com/taimoorze/status/860888654759284737

Riaz Haq said...

Moviegoers should rejoice as the government is planning to increase the number of cinema screens from 127 to 1,000.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that more cinema screens will create 20,000 jobs and give a boost to the film industry.

Pakistan welcomes any joint venture in the arena of exchange of films and co-productions, he said.

Chaudhry met with the US Chargé d Affaires Paul Jones on Tuesday. The two agreed to boost cultural cooperation revival of Pakistani films. The revival of the cinema would not only provide entertainment to the people, but would also generate economic activity, he remarked.

He further added that media was enjoying unprecedented freedom in Pakistan, and the current government believes in freedom of expression.

https://www.samaa.tv/culture/2018/10/moviegoers-rejoice-pakistan-to-get-1000-cinema-screens/

Riaz Haq said...

#Bollywood and the politics of #hate: The #Indian film industry has displayed remarkable bias in favor of PM #Modi and the ruling #BJP ahead of #India's general elections. @AJEnglish https://aje.io/gr8tb

In the two-hour feature called Kesari, meaning saffron - a colour associated with the ruling party and the right wing in India - Kumar plays Havildar Ishar Singh, the commander of a Sikh regiment within the British imperial army which fought to death against rebelling Pashtun tribesmen from Afghanistan. Based on the historical battle of Saragarhi in 1897, the film portrays the Sikh soldiers as brave patriots and the Muslim Pashtun as fanatic jihadis, all as the context of colonial oppression is almost completely erased.

Kumar is not the only Bollywood star to have so ardently supported Modi and the BJP. Over the past five years, the Indian film industry has grown increasingly compliant with the political agenda of the ruling party, while many of its best-known actors have come out in full support of its members. Those few who have dared speak out against the threat that Hindu nationalism poses to the cohesion of Indian society have faced severe public harassment and little support within the industry.

Making films the BJP likes
Another recent blockbuster which served BJP's nationalism-themed electoral campaign quite well was Uri: The Surgical Strike released in mid-January this year. The film is based on events that took place in 2016, when India launched a "surgical strike" against Pakistan in response to a deadly attack on the Indian army base in Jammu and Kashmir state the same year.

The motion picture of course portrayed Modi in a positive light, as a patriotic strongman bound on pursing revenge against the enemy state (Pakistan) for harbouring anti-Indian terror groups. With its nationalistic narrative and feel-good revenge theme, it became so popular that it topped the box office with spectacular earnings of 2.4 billion rupees ($34m). Cinemas across the country reverberated with chants like "Bharat mata ki jai!" (Glory to the motherland!) during screenings.

A short exchange between a commander and a soldier in one of the scenes even coined a now widely used patriotic phrase - "How's the josh [energy/enthusiasm for defending the country]?" In the weeks following the release of the film, the prime minister, the defence minister and almost every other member of the Indian cabinet used the popular phrase in official tweets and government events to boost its image of a resolute leadership.

A month after the film was released, the public josh for revenge was re-ignited once again after a rebel group attacked an Indian military convoy killing dozens of soldiers. Staying true to his cinematic image, Modi immediately ordered another "surgical strike" against Pakistan, targeting a military camp allegedly belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) armed group. "How's the josh" filled Indian social media yet again, as Indians celebrated the valour of their prime minister who "saved" the country and its pride.

Apart from Uri, a number of other recent films have pandered to BJP's political agenda, particularly its smearing of the opposition. Both The Tashkent Files and The Accidental Prime Minister, released just ahead of the elections, portrayed the Congress party as weak and divisive and unable to lead the country in the right direction.

But Bollywood's increasingly noticeable political bias is not limited to writing scripts that propagate certain political ideologies. In January, just three months before the elections, the BJP released a photo of Modi surrounded by leading lights from the film industry including Karan Johar, Ranbir Kapoor, and Ranveer Singh, which, according to the Huffington Post, was an image-building exercise for the prime minister ahead of the vote and was widely shared by BJP-controlled social media accounts.

Riaz Haq said...

Can #India's #Bollywood Survive #Modi? #Muslims have always had a disproportionate influence in Bollywood. Actors such as Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Aamir Khan have towered over the landscape of #Indian #cinema for the past 30 years. #BJP hates it. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/07/can-bollywood-survive-modi/619008/

“Everybody is just shit-scared and wanting to lie low,” a woman who is closely involved with the industry told me recently. “This is such a vindictive government.” The day before we spoke, tax authorities had raided the home and offices of one of the country’s finest directors, along with those of an actor he worked with. Both are outspoken government critics, and the raid was widely seen as politically motivated.

As we talked, a director friend sent me a vanishing message on Signal, the encrypted-communications platform, about a case before India’s Supreme Court. A senior Amazon executive in India was facing arrest, along with others, for a nine-part political drama called Tandav, which includes a portrayal of the Hindu god Shiva that some found objectionable. The director of the series had apologized, and removed the offending scene. And according to the message I received, the court had declined to offer protection (a decision it later revised). “The problem,” one senior executive for a major streaming service told me later, “is that the director is Muslim and the actor is Muslim.”



-------------------

Bollywood has been central to the creation of India’s national myth. Its movies are full of dance and song, but their genius lies in the ability to weave serious issues—social justice, women’s rights, gay rights, interreligious marriage—into entertainment. Bollywood films are at once commercial and political. They epitomize the pluralism of India.

And in today’s political climate, that makes them a target. In ways reminiscent of the old Hollywood blacklist, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is using powerful tools to curtail the creative freedom of Bollywood—in particular the influence of Muslims, who have an outsize presence in the industry. The measures pushed by the Modi government include indiscriminate tax investigations, trumped-up accusations against actors and directors, intimidation and harassment in response to certain movies and TV shows, and the chilling rap of law enforcement at the door. Fearing worse to come, Bollywood has remained mostly silent in the face of the government’s catastrophic response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Riaz Haq said...

Seema Chishti
@seemay
“Bigotry is not easy to calibrate, as the PM is learning this week. Many interesting things emerge from the manner in which the BJP attempted to handle the fiasco created by its spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal”
@Aakar__Patel
in
@TheIndiaCable
today.

https://twitter.com/seemay/status/1534542973450346496?s=20&t=5G3CEwvNxsMpfesNRrsfMg


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Aakar Patel
@Aakar__Patel
bjp is a party of bigots. indeed the bjp is bigotry. it operates under a nehruvian carapace abroad. the secular aspirations of the indian state before modi give him the cover on days like today

https://twitter.com/Aakar__Patel/status/1533475176414752769?s=20&t=-Oe5u_fonDjbackwPd5HXw

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Aakar Patel:


"The government has not bulldozed properties of Muslims for resisting rioting; it has conducted civic acts related to unauthorized construction. India is not targeting its Muslims through CAA-NRC pincer; it is only showing solidarity with non-Muslims from neighboring nations. Allowing mobs to prevent congregational prayers in designated spaces is really to ensure traffic flows smoothly.

"There can not be many who are innocent of what is going on. Certainly, there are none among the votaries of Hindutva. The problem is having democratized violence against Muslims across the country, and having been electorally rewarded for this, Modi must consider what it means for India. He has been given a taste of that this week, and as the sequence of events shows, he has not found it appealing. Trouble on this front will return unless Hindutva retreats and returns India to its normative secular state its Constitution prescribes. This is not going to happen under Modi, of course. The next best thing is to backpedal Hindutva a bit and calibrate Hindutva to a level where it pleases its constituency but doesn't offend the world. This will not be easy as we are about to find out.

Riaz Haq said...

Affected by the inherently divisive nature of religious Hindu nationalism, the Indian diaspora is increasingly polarized in its view of India and the world. This September, communal violence broke out in the U.K. between Hindus and Muslims from the subcontinent. Meanwhile, anti-Muslim parades in New Jersey exposed fault lines in the U.S. Separatist sentiments are also more palpable amongst Sikhs in the West.

https://thediplomat.com/2022/12/india-is-squandering-its-two-big-advantages-over-china/

Bollywood too is beginning to suffer a crisis of credibility. For several years, Indian films were building a cult following abroad, unparalleled by most foreign cinema. Between 2015 and 2019, Indian movies more than doubled their box office revenue overseas, according to Statista. But since then, that growth has gone flat.

In recent years, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has actively promoted partisan movies in service of Hindu nationalist causes to devastating effect. Last month, things came to a head at the International Film Festival of India that was held in Goa. The head juror at the event, the renowned Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, singled out “The Kashmir Files” — a movie purported to depict communal violence against Kashmiri Hindus and promoted by the BJP — for a scathing assessment. “It felt to us like a propaganda and vulgar movie that was inappropriate for an artistic and competitive section of such a prestigious film festival,” Lapid said.

Lapid’s comments elicited an angry backlash from Hindu nationalists, who accused him of downplaying a historical atrocity. But as Lapid later pointed out, his criticism did not deal with historical facts but with the artistic quality of the film, which he said whimsically portrayed good and evil like a “cartoon for kids.”

“Doesn’t an event like this, a tragic event, deserve a serious movie?” he asked pointedly.

The growing global perception that Bollywood is being coopted for partisan political purposes by the BJP is immensely costly for Indian foreign policy. For one, it makes those movies less appealing to a global audience — especially if New Delhi hopes that Bollywood will help build India’s influence overseas. But more importantly, it risks killing Bollywood’s tradition of creative freedom in the long run. And lack of creative freedom is precisely what has ailed China’s own efforts to use its film industry for foreign influence.

Over the last couple of years, New Delhi has prided itself on a newly adopted muscularity in foreign policy rhetoric, which it hopes will make India more powerful and respected overseas. But in the absence of the hard power elements that have characterized China’s rise, India ought to be expanding its traditional soft power — not squandering it away over domestic politics. It takes far more time and effort for a nation to build up its global brand value than it does to break it all down.