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RAJIV M. VIJAYKAR finds out how Bollywood films are going global, not only because of their growing acceptability in international film festivals and mainstream european and american multiplexes, but through THE video and dvd market.

The Hindi film – and to an extent even the Indian film, whether regional or made by NRIs in the UK, U.S. and Canada – has gone global. Gone are the days when Indians outside of India (and also Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Nepalis and, for South Indian films, Sri Lankans) found it next to impossible to get to watch a popular film unless they took time out to watch the limited theatrical shows that would be held sporadically, often months after a film’s release in India.

Thanks to piracy, theatrical and home video (VHS and now VCD/DVD) releases of most Hindi films as well as the celebrated English/regional films helmed by Indians occur on the same day as the date of the Indian release, and sometimes even a day or two earlier. In India as well, most of the home videos today (except for the biggest hits which are held back for a while) are released within a few weeks of the big-screen release.

It is not just piracy but other reasons that dictate this: one, the high percentage of flops; and two, the fact that today most of the revenue generated has to come in within the first few weeks. This is because, except in small towns and villages or down-market movie halls in cities, re-runs of older movies are passé, and most of the recovery has to be immediate (as in the first two to three months) thanks to spiraling budgets and killer rates of interests.

On the overseas front, one more factor applies: the fact that India and things Indian have become a fashion statement. It’s no longer merely a case of non-resident ethnic audiences pulling in a couple of native friends for an Indian movie, but the general interest, curiosity and growing resonance with things Indian, which of course includes our cinematic recipes that are fast proving to be winsome delicacies for movie buffs from America and Europe to Australia and New Zealand, with Europe, the Middle-East and the Far East not far behind.

This capitalizing on Bollywood as a serious if nascent competition to Hollywood is happening at multiple levels – home video (with subtitles), television (with subtitles or dubbing), theatrical exhibition (subtitles or dubbing) and finally, and obviously, the international festivals that are mushrooming by the year. Most of the home video distributors overseas are making hay while the rising sun shines and will continue to do so increasingly in the absence of any possible sunset. The ambitious overseas distributors are coming up with subtitles in a once-unimagined array of languages other than the obvious English. French, Spanish, Hebrew, Dutch, Arabic, Russian and German are all now the norm for the Hindi/Indian film’s digital video disc or video compact disc.

Says Hiren Gada of Shemaroo, the leading home video players in India, “In the last few years there has been a definite increased interest in Indian films. Obviously, the primary market still consists of the ethnic audience and we are still experimenting with mainstream receptivity.”

Gada clarifies that though we are lagging hugely behind Hollywood in quality, budgets and resources, India is still the next biggest industry in terms of exposure, and the move towards competing with Hollywood has begun, however slowly.

“While the mainstream Hindi film is still basically the Indians’ or the ethnic audiences’ cinematic fodder, the parallel cinema has had examples that have been received very well by mainstream foreign markets,” Gada points out. He cites the example of the National Award 2003-winning Bengali film with its English title “A Tale of Naughty Girl,” which sold for a huge sum for international distribution. “A leading Canadian company bought it, dubbed the film, and employed its vast resources to really exploit it well,” he says. “They raked in about $ 1.75 million.”

While Shemaroo leads the Indian scenario, he concedes that such major tie-ups with top-line distributors is a must to secure all possible revenue and exposure streams in as many countries as possible, as happened with “Monsoon Wedding” and “Bend It Like Beckham.” Shemaroo has different arrangements in different films, depending on the kind of agreements they have with producers.

Gada reveals that while the home video discs are usually sub-titled to retain the audio-visual essence, dubbing is an option in countries like Russia, for example, or as the prerogative of localized distributors, who may even sell a film to TV stations after dubbing it. Spanish distribution networks also dub films on their own.

“In Singapore and Malaysia and to an extent in Indonesia and Thailand, there are a huge number of Indians or people of Indian origin and even subtitles are not needed. With other ethnic audiences, especially in the most profitable markets like USA and UK, and also Australia, obviously English is good enough.”

In view of the mainstream vs. parallel contents, does he think that it will be the arthouse/non-mainstream market that will really make a dent in mainstream cinema globally?

“It’s not so simple,” declares Gada. “You see, the overseas market is a big but fragmented one. What we need to do is to identify those segments, like ‘Mr & Mrs Iyer’, which was even language-wise an English film, which would have a lot of appeal to mainstream folks. Mythologicals and devotionals have an audience in ethnic populations in UK and USA, while fantasies work big-time in South Asia.”

He continues, “There are multiple factors involved, and our mainstream cinema is also getting there. The non-ethnic crowd has also begun to recognize Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai, in particular, on a worldwide basis. The maker profile is also important because after liking a specific film, like a ‘Pardes’, they also want to watch the other films of Subhash Ghai, and so his older and subsequent films have a better chance.

“For example, ‘Yaadein’, which was a disaster in India, did great business even among the non-ethnic audiences in UK thanks to ‘Pardes’.” Among the filmmakers in whom there is special interest among foreigners, says Gada, are Aparna Sen, Yash Chopra and Govind Nihalani.

But all this, at least as of now, does not deviate from the fact that the real recovery is still among the Indian and ethnic audiences. “It will be a slow even if sure process to make Indian films go mainstream,” believes Gada.

Gada also rattles off figures: Film exports have risen by a whopping 80 percent over the last two years alone. Four billion movie lovers overseas watch Hindi films every year, films made at a cost of $1.4 billion by over three million dream makers at all levels.

Jyoti Deshpande, CEO of Eros International, agrees with Gada about the slow but sure rise of the Indian film market abroad. “Normal DVDs are just the tip of the iceberg,” she feels. “We at Eros International, an organization that has been around for 25 years, have relentlessly worked for the promotion of the Hindi/Indian cinema at all levels – film festivals, trade shows, MIPCOM, MIPTV et al.”

With justifiable pride, Deshpande speaks of how Eros, the biggest player in the international Hindi film market, has steadfastly marketed and nurtured cinema from the subcontinent. “We took movies away from small corner cinema and were able to introduce Hindi films to multiplexes abroad. Today Indian movies screen alongside a ‘Star Wars’. We have elevated the standing of Bollywood in mainstream cinema.”

Elaborating on their strategy, Deshpande says that they believe in extracting the full potential of any film. “In Germany, Spain or Portugal, we have even used the local TV channels to introduce Hindi films in their main channels at reasonable prime-time. Of course we have an advantage today, because the excellent production values of Hindi films makes for good non-Indian consumption. The fact that in these countries, Hindi as a language is as alien as the English in a Hollywood film makes it easier,” she asserts.

Gada and Deshpande agree that the trend really mushroomed from around 2002. “‘Devdas’ was sold in more countries than any other Hindi film. And we really worked with special focus and in a very different way,” recalls Deshpande about their marketing triumph that heralded a new dawn for the acceptance of Hindi films in non-Indian markets. “We approached mainstream distribution channels, sales agencies and PR people, and highlighted the film, as with the Red Carpet at Cannes. Today it epitomizes Indian movies more than any other single film. It was really after this that Aishwarya Rai took off internationally as a movie star. On a small scale, this was our ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’.”

Deshpande also boasts about one more point. “Eros’s biggest advantages are twofold: one, that we are not India-centric.

“We have offices set up in various parts of the globe. Two, our core competence is distribution. We can extract the full strength of a film, as happened with the recent release and our co-production ‘Waqt - The Race Against Time’. If we look at the last few years, it would be unthinkable to imagine a non-Shah Rukh Khan film as the biggest grosser in recent times.”

Deshpande concedes, however, that the international floodgates for traditional Hindi films haven’t yet opened among non-ethnic audiences. “But we have introduced the non-ethnic audiences to their VCDs and DVDs (with subtitles) and to television channels apart from movie-halls. So we are doing this at every format level,” she adds.

As for the markets that are burgeoning, she reveals, “The biggest markets remain the USA and UK, followed by the European countries and the Middle-East. Germany today is in the place where France was about two years ago – it is opening up as a market. But Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Holland and, finally, the Scandinavian countries are already in place – and growing.”

A vital aspect, explains Deshpande, is ‘hand-holding’: “We need to make the local partners understand that Hindi films will be a very profitable business. We have to get them to believe in our films, and to understand them, so that they can do the best for them and also profit from their enterprise.”

Deshpande does not concur with Gada that only non-commercial films are breaking into the global mainstream. “I think that the appetite for mainstream cinema is strong, and the songs and dances are a powerful magnet, as also a strong star cast. I think that we will do even better with shorter running lengths, which I think is also happening,” she adds.

Off-the-cuff, Deshpande lists “Main Hoon Na,” “Baghban” and “Chalte Chalte” as the biggest grosser among their films after “Devdas” and “Waqt.” The latter film has grossed an awe-inspiring $500,000 in the U.S. alone.

Summing up, Deshpande believes that it is important to blend the pulse, formula and marketing into the right mix. “It’s trial and error still in many ways,” she says. “But someone is going to get there in the very near future,” she concludes optimistically.