(21 February 2009 9:30 pm)

MUMBAI: Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire has finally set the pace. The rags to riches story has reintroduced Indian cinema onto the global platform, which is now ready to endorse Indian content with an absolute local tinge.

It all began with Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Lagaan. The film, with an untrimmed localized content, not only ventured India into a global spot, but also helped Bollywood discover a new set of universal audience outside the Indian diaspora (read NRI) through the route of “globalisation”.

Slumdog has done the same. But this time its an International studio's understanding and crafsmanship in marketing and distribution that has pushed the Indian story onto the international forum.The film was marketed and distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures through a "non-push" strategy.

Addressing the audience at the session on “Globalisation of Indian cinema”, Fox Searchlight Pictures senior VP –finance and operations Jill Gwen explained, "Initially, we released the film across very selective theatres and waited for the audience to respond. Once the audience started connecting with the Slumdog theme and word of mouth began to spread, we expanded the theatrical release of the film in a few more territories."

"This was a "non-push" strategy we adopted, which meant that we would not force audience to watch the film by capturing all screens across all theatres but wait for audiences to compel us to release the film through word of mouth," Gwen added.

According to industry experts, not many Bollywood films could create the same marketing space that Lagaan and now Slumdog could create due to existing flaws in the marketing and distribution strategy that Bollywood sanctions.

Gwen noted that the three most important components in a film building process are production, marketing and distribution. And, for any film to succeed at the box office there has to be a perfect amalgamation of all these three vital components.

“It is very important for Indian distributors and marketers to get involved in the film development process from the very nascent stage. They also need to partner with international film sellers who can give them insights into marketing the film better and thereby widening the film’s audience base."

According to Gwen, the involvement of marketers and distributors can help creatives understand the market space better helping them create a product that is a perfect mix of the right content and marketing attributes that can easily reach out to the international space.

Gwen also believes that to become part of the global cinema landscape, Indian cinema will have to choose “provocative subjects” that would have the power to cut across all borders.

"A story based in Mumbai, Slumdog had the touch of escapism and that's what made it a global subject", Gwen quipped.

The correct positioning of content is also a very important aspect to reach out to the overseas stadium, Gwen pointed out. “Festivals are the best way to position your content rightly as once a film receives recognition at a particular international festival, marketing and distributing the film becomes easier,” Gwen explained.

For actor Rahul Bose, the strategy to push Indian cinema onto the global platform lay in exhibiting a universal theme through local stories. Bose noted that there were a few unexplored ideas in India which if worked upon could definitely hit the universal mass without any cultural barriers. “Themes based on martial arts and children tend to surpass all cultural barricades and hence, have a better chance of expanding to reach out to the global target group.”