Bollywood, based in Mumbai, India, represents the $2.5 billion Hindi film industry. The success of a large Bollywood studio film depends heavily on the audience in the theater, as they contribute most of the film's revenue. Fans say that Bollywood's song and dance films are generally about three hours long, and the most suitable way to watch movies is to watch them collectively — singing, laughing, clapping or crying with other audiences in the cinema.
Sukoto Mehta, author of the novel Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, wrote an article for the New York Times about his love of going to theaters to see Bollywood movies. "Why do I like Bollywood movies? For an Indian, it's like asking why we love our mother; we have no choice. We can talk to people on the screen directly, clap our hands, whistle or laugh, and when we are particularly happy, we can also throw coins to show our love for the movie. "Cinemas in India are different from the rest of the world because most other cinemas require audiences to be as quiet as possible.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, cinemas across India have been shut down and film production has had to be suspended. Fans are forced to stay at home and switch to entertainment consumption through the Internet. PVR Pictures has the largest cinema chain in India. Kamal Gyanchani, the group's chief executive, said that in 2020, the revenue of Indian cinema lines plummeted to $377 million, down 80% from $1.9 billion in 2019.
The past 18 months have sparked a debate about whether Indian movies and audiences will return to theaters, whether Bollywood's future will be relegated to personal devices and so on. Kunal Srivastava, co-founder of the Diorama Film Festival in New Delhi and founder of film and advertising production company India Shoots, noted that most industry analysts want audiences to return to theaters because the traditional Bollywood movie-going experience is "not possible on a mobile phone or home TV screen."
At the same time, the industry cannot stop the development of new digital consumption trends. Ajit Andere, COO of Viacom18 Studios, believes that the digital consumer trend "will continue to exist and evolve", meaning Bollywood will have to embrace both big and small screens.
Bollywood fights COVID-19
2020 has been a tough year for Bollywood. Cinemas are closed for most of the year. Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, the first Bollywood film of 2020, premiered in theaters in January and grossed $52 million and was the top box office hit in 2020 – a year when few movies were released in theaters. The 2019 Bollywood film box office champion was the action film War Bollywood by Yash Raj Films. The film starred superstar Hrinik Rohan and grossed $67 million. In March 2020, the Indian government implemented a two-month nationwide lockdown in response to the outbreak. But since then, the cinema has remained closed for another six months. The government first eased restrictions on basic services; the resumption of cinemas was a secondary priority.
On 15 October 2020, as part of a special screening for frontline workers and their families, a number of spectators watched Bollywood films in theaters. Image credit: Amarjeet Kumar Singh/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The pandemic has shut down the production of films and hit the profitability of the industry. The most commercially valuable stars, such as Aria Buhart, Deepika Padukoni and Katrina Kafu, have all contracted (and have recovered) from COVID-19. Daily-pay staff such as technicians, makeup artists, background dancers and junior actors on set were the most affected. With the government failing to provide aid, companies like Netflix and stars like Salman Khan have pledged to fund the group.
In all of 2020, Bollywood released only 441 films, compared to 1833 in 2019. Meanwhile, the number of cinema visitors in Bollywood fell by 73% in 2020 to just 39 million, compared to 1.46 billion the year before. A report by consultancy EY, India 2020 Media and Entertainment, found that as many as 1,500 single-screen theaters (theaters that show only one film at a time) have permanently closed, leaving only 8,000 large screens across the country. Multiplexes have also taken a hit, but it's easier for them to move to other businesses, such as hosting private screenings or live events, and implementing new measures such as scanning QR codes to order food.
Siddas Roy Kapur, founder of Roy Kapur Films and chairman of the Producers Guild of India, said: "Many (smaller) single-screen cinemas have to go out of business or sell to large corporations without funding from large companies. It's a zero-sum game because you're either open or not. Many single-screen theaters have gone out of business, he said, unable to afford rent, maintenance costs and workers' wages.
As the first wave of the epidemic subsided, the Indian government gave cinemas the green light last October, but only allowed 50% attendance. Srivastava said there was "a huge number of spectators returning to theaters" in India after the first round of lockdowns ended. This backlash has also aroused the confidence of the film industry that audiences will return to the theater to watch movies.
After the Indian government eased covid-19-related restrictions, staff worked on the filming site of Bollywood films. Image credit: Sujit Jaiswal/AFP/Getty Images
Move to streaming platforms
The months-long closure of movie theaters has led consumers to turn to online entertainment. Viacom18 Studios' Andere pointed out: "For streaming, this epidemic is undoubtedly a 'black swan event', and the volume of streaming media has increased significantly. ”
A total of about 40 million users in India now subscribe to one or more streaming platforms, a figure that has grown by 40% since the beginning of the pandemic. (And that's not counting consumers who get content subscription services through data bundles, a group of about 250 million people.) Ashish Ferwani, a media and entertainment partner at EY, said the number of users in this consumer group is comparable to the 100 million people who go to the theater to watch movies every year.
Film production companies that lose their theatrical revenue can recover some revenue by selling content to TV and streaming platforms such as Disney + Hotstar, Amazon, and Netflix. The aforementioned EY report notes that Bollywood Film Productions' digital rights revenue doubled to $471.8 million in 2020. Komar Nata, a film trade analyst and editor-in-chief of Bollywood film magazine Film Information, said the production company "has been distributing movies around theaters over the past 18 months, (directly) selling about 30 to 40 films to streaming platforms." This is the only way to monetize their investments. ”
Large studio Sony Pictures India has also made the leap to streaming. The company launched the feature film Gulabo Sitabo on Amazon Prime Video in July 2020. Bollywood idol Amitba Bakyan played a miserly old landlord in the film. Vivick Krishnani, managing director of Sony Pictures India, said the company also sold the rights to Dial 100 to Indian streaming platform Zee 5 and plans to launch the film "Helmet" on another platform in early September.
Before the pandemic, this kind of distribution strategy was unthinkable for most large film companies. At that time, large film companies would first distribute theatrical lines, and then sell the digital rights to online platforms after the films were screened in theaters for about 8 to 10 weeks. Nata said that even if studios resume theatrical premieres as the pandemic eases, they may still speed up the release of movies on online platforms, perhaps digitally within 6 weeks of their premiere.
Industry experts say big studios have recovered some of their losses through digital distribution, but in the long run, small and medium-sized studios are more likely to benefit from the streaming boom. Anderhall said many "small and medium-budget films will get more attention on these platforms." Because in theaters, such films are usually overshadowed by the huge budgets and star effects of big-budget films. In addition, digital platforms spend relatively little on marketing and advertising, which is an added advantage for small film companies.
Audience demand for digital content will only grow. Netflix announced in March that the platform will release 41 films, TV series, documentaries, comedies and reality shows in India this year. A spokesperson for the company said in an interview with Fortune magazine that about 80 percent of Indian subscribers watch at least one movie a week.
Irreplaceable cinema
Despite the boom in digital streaming, well-known filmmakers and large production companies are determined to resume theatrical distribution. Because compared to digital distribution, the revenue generated by cinema distribution is still very impressive. In 2019, theatrical distribution revenue of domestic and international films in India reached $1.9 billion. Of this, television and digital copyright revenue was $554 million. Natta also said that the production of high-cost films will also take into account the viewing experience on the big screen.
Workers hang posters for the Bollywood movie Radhe, which will be released on May 13, 2020. Image credit: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images
While theaters in India have reopened, many studios have chosen to postpone the film's schedule, waiting for the government to allow theater attendance to return to 100 percent. Viacom18 Studios was originally scheduled for the 2020 Christmas slot with WrestleMania! Dangal and Amir Khan, the star of "3 Idiots," collaborated to release Laal Singh Chaddha. The film is now scheduled for release in December this year.
The next blockbuster to hit Indian theaters will be the highly anticipated spy thriller BellBottom. Set for August 19, "Flared Pants," starring veteran star Aksha Kumar, tests Indian audiences' attitude towards returning to theaters. The film's producer, Deepika Dehimook, said: "We hope that the release [of this film] will bring optimism to everyone, not only for us, but also for the industry as a whole. ”
If "Flared Pants" is a success at the box office, more movies could be released in the next one to two months. Dehimuk said: "This is a (critical) step to bring the audience back to the cinema. ”
Industry executives see Diwali in November as a sign of a return to normal life in Indian society. Srivastava said Diwali would be "a big confidence pusher for [the Indian public] going out and entertaining.". Anderhale also pointed out: "People are already tired of consuming content on tablets or mobile phones. Gianchani is optimistic that cinema revenue will rebound in November or December.
Ferwani agrees. But he added that much depends on the possibility of a third wave of outbreaks, their severity and India's vaccination rates. As of August 12, nearly 30 percent of India's population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. This means that India is unlikely to meet its goal of vaccinating all adults by the end of this year. Affected by the speed of vaccination, Bollywood is also unlikely to fully recover before the spring. Srivastava said: "The big production companies are all working hard to achieve this goal. ”
With multiple blockbusters still waiting to be released, EY predicts that India's domestic film distribution revenue will rebound to $1.8 billion in 2023, up from $1.5 billion in 2019 (before the pandemic). But the recovery of the Indian film industry is inseparable from the joint promotion of cinema and streaming services.
As Nata put it: "The show must go on... Until the next blockade. (Fortune Chinese Network)
By Yvonne Lau, Biman Mukherji
Translator: Zhang Fei
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