The Bollywood Cables

Everybody has something to say about Bollywood, including the US State Department.

Everybody has something to say about Bollywood, including the US State Department. The appearance of two detailed diplomat-sent cables on Bollywood is not surprising—the industry represents India’s soft power. While much of what these WikiLeaks cables contain is known, the devil is in the details, as they say. Here are a few excerpts from two cables filed by the Mumbai consulate, made public on 22 April:

» ‘Interlocutors noted that other less risky and profitable opportunities for Hollywood-Bollywood partnerships include shooting and editing movies in India to reduce production costs. However, the numerous clearances (and bribes) needed for shooting a scene in India makes even Indian producers reluctant to shoot in the country.’

» ‘Partnering with established Indian production houses has been Hollywood’s main investment strategy to create visibility and gain a foothold in Indian cinema. However, U.S. studios have to still find a good working model for partnering with Bollywood.’

» ‘Jawahar Sharma, COO of Reliance Big Pictures, [said that the] greatest asset of U.S. studios are their script libraries, which they should use to attract the best available Indian talent to re-make movies in Hindi. Sharma believes that U.S. studios need to re-orient their strategies, rescind control and empower local people if they want to succeed in India.’

» ‘Aashish Singh, Vice President of Yash Raj Studios…pointed out that despite its fame, Indian films produce little fortune; the market for Indian films is highly fragmented, and only a few films make any money. According to film producer G.K. Desai, only one in every 10 Hindi movies is successful. Siddharth Roy Kapur, the CEO of UTV Motion Pictures, concurred … [and added that] people continue to make films because of the attraction and glamour of Indian cinema, and the long-term revenue potential of video and cable releases.’

» ‘Following the Hollywood model, many film and entertainment companies are moving away from an actor/star-based system to a system more reliant on the production company’s brand… says [Siddharth Roy] Kapur. In doing so, studios can lessen their dependence on actors—who often command fees for as much as 50 per cent of the film’s budget… and increase their chances of profitability.’

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