Nepotism is just form of branding in Bollywood, says senior trade analyst

Mumbai: As nepotism in Bollywood gains huge negative traction post death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, senior film producer-distributor-trade analyst Yusuf Shaikh argued that nepotism in the industry was just another form of branding.

Speaking on Bollywood: Changing Lanes Post Covid-19, organised by India Business Group,  Yusuf Shaikh, Business Head Feature Films, Distribution, Acquisition and IPR management with Percept Pictures, argued that with both movie-making and movie-going becoming a costly proposition, investors and audiences tended to put their money only on familiar faces.  “Whether one likes it or not, people pay only for brands today. If you want to get audience to pay Rs 1000, they will not pay it for an unknown face” said Shaikh. 

The brain behind creative marketing campaigns of small-budget movies like Newton and Page 3, said that while the 20 % of the big names attracted investors very easily, investments for 80% small hero-movies continued to be a challenge in the industry. “There are 20 people willing to invest in big- hero movies, but investing in a small hero film becomes risky. The moment a big actor announces a movie, the money is already there,” he said. 

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All actors, Shaikh explained, brought in their own numbers on Returns on Investment (ROI) based on their past films, earnings, their body of work etc, which essentially determined their worth of investments on their movies. So, while a Rajkumar Rao film could be worth Rs 15-25 crores of investments, a Varun Dhawan movie could be worth Rs 70 crore of investment as per his ROI. Their numbers rise exponentially when teamed up with known directors, technicians, studios etc. 

“The ROI in Bollywood could be crazy if you get it right,” said the trade analyst citing how a 65-crore invested Dangal earned Rs 2000 crore at the box office, while a 3.5 cr Lunchbox churned close to Rs 900 crores.

Citing the examples of films like Dear Zindagi (where Shah Rukh Khan chose to recover his fee from film earnings) and Chhappak (where Deepika Padukone co-produced rather than seek her regular huge fees), he said that big stars knew their number games well and were willing to go in for a new model of co-financing movies for alternative cinema. “Bollywood was essentially about the Science and Commerce of numbers and not just about the creative Arts of it,” said Shaikh, also a film feasibility consultant.

“The collection reports for all territories in the world are available,” he pointed out and urged film makers and investors to research well on marketability of their concepts and get their numbers right for investments on their movies.  He put this in practice at Percept by introducing the concept of idea-driven, no-star cinema and managed to give nine hit movies in a row. 

According to him, getting the basic boxes ticked of actors, directors, their salability, marketing, content etc, could ensure basic ROI. People like David Dhawan and Rohit Shetty understood their audience tastes right and thus ensured huge earnings despite the regular plots in their movies. Citing the example of how Shetty’s Simbaa (it grossed Rs 284 crores) netted in double the earnings of a classy, creative Gully Boy (that grossed in Rs 140 crores), Shaikh, who distributed more than 100 films, pointed out to how it was important to know what the audience expected their favourite faces to do.