“Dharmyuddh” threatens to paralyse Bollywood April 4th onwards

MUMBAI: The tussle between the producers and distributors on one side and the multiplex owners on the other side is not a tussle anymore – it has just become a battle for survival or as Mukesh Bhatt called it – a dharmyuddh.

In a pioneering initiative, etc had brought five biggest producers / distributors for a panel discussion on the issue, on its flagship trade show Bollywood Business - Siddharth Roy Kapur (UTV), Mukesh Bhatt (Vishesh Films), Vashu Bhagnani (Puja Films), Aman Gill (Studio 18) and Sunil Lula (Eros Entertainment).

The fight seems to be a culmination of a number of issues that the producers / distributors say are plaguing them for a number of years now, and allegedly all of it has been caused by the multiplex owners. At the heart of the disagreement lies the ticket sales’ revenue sharing model between the two. Whereas producers / distributors have demanded for a 50 % of the above, multiplex owners want to stick to their old system of sharing between 40 -48 %, depending on the movie. However there are other issues involved too.

As Mukesh Bhatt put it,” Yeh baat demands ki nahi hain; yeh ek dharamyuddh hai! Ticket revenue sharing is just one of the reasons. The multiplexes behave arbitrarily. They decide the number and timing of shows that a picture will be allotted. They change show timings without consulting us. Regardless of the demand for the movie, they reduce our percentages arbitrarily…the list goes on. They get tax exemptions from the government, we don’t get it and yet they cut into our justified share of revenue. But the worst is that they pre-judge a movie without seeing it even once.”

The producers and distributors are in no mood to relent and the level of their ire towards the multiplex owners was felt in Vashu Bhagnani’s comments, “Multiplexes are hardware. They have monetary value over a period of time. We, on the other hand, are software. We get money from the first 4 weeks only. Internationally, producers get more if not less money than the exhibitors. In USA it is 60 – 40 in favor of the producers, in UK it 50 – 50. Why should it be any different here?

If they think they can do dadagiri, we are bigger dadas. I won’t release my son’s launch film until this is solved.”

Interestingly the producers and distributors felt that they had ushered in the multiplex culture in the country and now their creation had turned into a Frankenstein. “We brought in the multiplex culture. We made films to suit the multiplexes and now they want to dictate terms to us,” said Mukesh Bhatt. Perhaps it is this feeling that led Vashu Bhagnani to claim “Agar hum than le toh 3 saal mein single screen ko multiplex ka baap bana denge (if we make up our minds then in 3 years we can make the single screen theatres the father of multiplexes).”

But won’t the producers and distributors lose money due to this strike and is this a wise move keeping the current global meltdown in mind? No, they claim. As Aman Gill explained, “Recession hit the economy in October and since then we’ve had Fashion, Golmaal, Dostana, Rab Ne… and Ghajni. We are recession proof! Muliplexes, on the other hand, will face physical loss to the tune of Rs. 450 cores. We will make money even if we release our films in the second quarter. But for them, how will they recover the physical loss arising out of non-screening of films?”

When quizzed if this united front would stand the test of time or would break as had happened umpteen times in the past, Mukesh Bhatt compared the present scenario to the other time that the industry had stood united – when the Maharashtra government had levied a sales tax. “We came together then…everyone from producers to technicians united and shut down the industry for 6 whole months. Ghutno pe le aaye the hum government ko…humaari baat maan ni hi paadi thi (we brought the government to its knees…it had to accede to our demands).”

Mukesh Bhatt, Chairman of the United Forum for Bollywood Producers and Distributers, had one last salvo to fire,” Time and again we’ve told multiplex owners to reduce ticket prices so that it stays within the reach of the common man. With their ridiculously inflated pricing, the multiplexes are encouraging piracy! A middle class family would rather buy a DVD and watch 5 movies at home than purchase tickets for Rs. 200 per person.”

With accusations flying fast, the stage looks set for a pitched battle. Who will ultimately come out tops of this dharmyuddh remains to be seen. etc, meanwhile will continue to bring to you the latest of this fight and hope this impasse clears as soon as possible.