The Big Brand Value

JAYA BACHCHAN HAS just filed her nomination papers to Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh and, as per media reports, the combined worth of assets held between her and her husband Amitabh Bachchan is ₹1,578 crore. That is the kind of number most Indians cannot even imagine having and yet there is nothing to begrudge the family because all of it came from hard work spanning decades. It is also an indication of just how much stars can earn, something that we usually don’t get any credible information about. This being an affidavit required by law to be filed by anyone contesting for such a public position, it is probably accurate. It leads to another inference: Amitabh Bachchan, all said and done, was a superstar of the 1980s and 1990s, and while he has great market value, it is still below what the current superstars, like the three Khans, are worth. Their net worth would be multiple times his. Getting into movies and making it to the top as an actor is almost on par with an industrialist when it comes to money. Cricketers at the top—the other pop culture gods of India— should similarly also be worth thousands of crores.

Amitabh’s story, however, is a little different because what we see now in that affidavit must be compared to 25 years ago when, in the wake of a disas­trous entertainment business venture, he was on the verge of bankruptcy. All that has been created now is minus all the takings from the high point of his career when he was the biggest draw of India. Money from the major half of his career was all swallowed by the failed business. How is it then possible for someone to rise again like a financial phoenix?

For that, you must appreciate the mind of moviegoers and how they allot that space. It is a limited arena that allows only for a few entrants and Amitabh, even at his lowest, has always remained there. Sure, his audience drifted away in the late-’90s but it only took a pivot for him to come right back, even if it was in an older avatar, often doing side roles. The number of mov­iegoers multiplied; they were also con­sumers and India was getting richer. So, consumers were getting richer and therefore brands, that invisible element making things stick to the minds of consumers, were becoming more valu­able, and therefore brand Bachchan started to reap the dividends of all the metamorphosis that Indian society and economy were going through. It is why his compatriots of the 1970s and 1980s aren’t in the same boat because their brand didn’t survive into the present.

But he is an anomaly. The rule is for value to diminish over time and that is what will happen to even the super­stars of today who look so formidable. They will all be much wealthier than Amitabh because their peak was just at a better time but when they turn 80, few will be able to match his sustainability.

About The Author

Madhavankutty Pillai

Madhavankutty Pillai has no specialisations whatsoever. He is among the last of the generalists. And also Open chief of bureau, Mumbai  

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