Exclusive | Selecting scripts through testing protocols: Ajit Andhare

There were times were films in India, particularly Hindi cinema were made on shoe-string budgets. The quintessential Hindi film producer was the one who financed, supervised and made arrangements for the film to be rationally and adequately distributed. It may not be wrong to say that the entire ball game of movie marketing, film publicity etc did not find place in these producer’s dictionary of work. Cut to present, where following the footsteps of our western counterparts, the Hindi film fraternity has seen the birth and surge in the number of studio model based motion picture businesses with operations that involves production, acquisition, syndication, marketing and worldwide distribution of feature films.

Viacom18 Motion Pictures, a Viacom and Network18 joint venture, is one of the first studio styled motion pictures business that has, in a span of less than a decade has managed to make a mark in the movie business. Having a strong and balanced track record of commercial success and critical acclaims, the studio, as believed by many film-makers is the place to go to! With plans to tap regional markets alongside strengthening Hindi market share, the studio is rearing to grow.

Adgully caught up with Ajit Andhare, COO, Viacom18 Motion Pictures to know about their latest offering Manjunath, key trends in the movie business, projects for the studio in 2014 and more. Edited excerpts below:    

Ajit Andhare (AA): Manjunath is essentially a collaboration of Viacom with Integrated Communications and Media Operations - ICOMO and National Film Development Corporation - NFDC. ‘Manjunath’ is the story of a 27 year old guy, Manjunath Shanmugam, an IIM graduate who had life going as he had thought of. The eldest son of a mine-worker, Manjunath had been employed with a top-notch petroleum company. Friends and family had noticed changes in his behaviour for some days; however, none took any action on it. Life changes tracks as he goes missing one day, but is found by a friend some days later. The reason for his change in behaviour was his disagreement to petroleum adulteration that a lot of companies were following. His struggle ended with his untimely death, which then raises questions as to whether is he a failure or a success? Cinema has many responsibilities and when we see a story like this we are compelled to do our bit for it. Hence we believe that Manjunath is story that needs to be told and heard by one and all. For us every film is important, because every film is an standalone project and we want it to meet certain outcomes. So Manjunath is important as any other film is. Apart from providing entertainment, cinema is also a social medium. Hence, as we believe that the film suffices our needs, we need to give it that push to be heard.

AG: Share with us you’re marketing and distribution plans for Manjunath? The release, as we know is pushed to May 2014. Why so?

AA: For Manjunath, the marketing plans are very straight forward as we are saying that here was a man ‘Manjunath’, who did something unusual and made a different choice in life to walk to the difficult path. The whole idea is to build campaign organically to spread the inspiring life of Manjunath. Our focus right now is to create more awareness and buzz; distribution will take place near to launch. The film plans to launch on May 9th 2014, but still its bit dynamic as its tough period as we have IPL and elections at the same time which will consume national attention. So it is a challenging task for us to release film at that time.

AG: If we given the liberty we can say that 2013 was a very interesting and satisfying year for VMP. However, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag took VMP to another level in compare to other films with good content. Do you think there's need of ‘magnum opus’ to push good content to the top?

AA: I think Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (BMB) has contributed a lot not only to VMP but Hindi cinema on the whole. I think what we have proven with BMB film is that we always had strong track record of doing content based films. People used to look at content film as small and niche film; but what BMB received in terms of recognition as a ‘hit film’ happened only after the film achieved what it has! The film was never a big film at all; it wasn't conceived as one, but yes when film achieve 100 crore plus collection at box office, which is when we proved that good content can also be a good business. That's a departure point that we managed to establish lead. But when we speak of VMP on the whole, it's about collection of films. What makes a story of a studio is a collective thought that what we managed to do over a period of time consistently. While we have in the past done films like Son of Sardar and Boss, but it is films like BMB, Madras cafe which is what we are closer to what we want to achieve as a studio.

AG: VMP has seen unparalleled releases in the past with projects across genres and talents like Shaitan, Gangs of Waseeypur’ (2 parts), Buddah, Players, Chashme Baddoor, Jab We Met, Kahani, Tanu Weds Manu and others. So, what according to you is the thought process that goes in right from the concept to the execution of a film?

AA: We have established a process here which we have put in a series of internal and external testing’s. My belief is that great script which becomes great cinema they tend to unify people and not so great script, good script they tend to divide people; and this for us is a crucial learning. If a script is not good then it will not sail through multiple levels of testing’s. The challenge is to select great script through testing protocols that we have. Films like Queen, Chak De India and Lagaan would unite people. Second, I think the process itself takes care of it, as scripts which are not good don’t usually go ahead. Third, we look for directors who can bring that script to life. The journey from screenplay to screen is a director's journey and we give all space to director to bring his vision to life. We believe that the directors contribute majorly to the success of a film; script, subject, process, how it runs through the scoring protocol, casts etc. are some aspects which goes in selection at Viacom 18 Motion Pictures. However, I must say that, we are focused on consumers as well and at present we are making films for today's youth. We've made films like Pyaar Ka Punchama, Chashme Baddoor and Shaitan as we understand this segment better. With these films what matters is that reliability, dialogues, connection with youth and not the casts.

AG: Viacom 18 Motion Pictures has created ‘stars’ off mere ‘actors’ over a period of time. Share your thoughts on the same.

AA: (Laughs) It is a very deliberate thing! I think that if you want to cast a bigger star you land into a commercial jack, with a business where there are lots of questions with that approach and risks are perhaps very extraordinary. So, even if you take risks the rewards are not commensurate. We do take risks but I feel rewards should be in proportionate. If you make completely content lead cinema, it needs right cast as cinema is a medium of ‘stars’. So creating a character with the ace directors makes meaningful cinema. We are picking up subjects where characters are important! We are very clear that we do not want to go where there is no commercial or business sense. There is a difference in kind of products we end up doing!

AG: Give us a sense of Indian studios in compare to International studios? Also, share some learnings from international market as well.

AA: Indian studios are far more pronounced, so the balance of share is far more adverse for Indian studios than the overseas studios. Indian studios has heritage of only 5-7 years while international studios like Paramount and other have heritage of 100 years, so there is big difference as they've gone through the process of evolution and we are still doing that. They address a far bigger market than what we address which also impacts the ability to monetize a film. While we cater to two billion dollar market worldwide, a Hollywood player would cater to a 38 billion dollar market. That’s the gap that needs to be bridged! As far as learning’s is concerned, I feel that in India we don’t make universal stories, we are only focused on Indian market. So I feel there should be larger approach to look up to broader market. Also, there is a need for the industry to become far more corporate and organised that it is today; its seven years behind where television is today!  If too much of money will be made by few people it will be tough for industry to grow, I believe it is far more sorted in the west.

AG: Share some of the strategies you brought in to the company since joining Viacom 18 Motion Pictures last year?

AA: I think my primary attempt has been that I am essentially responsible for growth and prosperity of this business. The challenge today for anybody to run a studio is how do you make a business of movie making a profitable venture and that's a challenge am focusing on too! In India, bulk of the value is taken away by the ‘stars’ and the risks are all under-eaten by the studios. Addressing risk-reward ratio is the key focus for us. Also I have tried to make the studio more organic as we are in the content business inspired by content producers. For us, the vision is to become a complete studio, by producing and co - producing more films by ourselves, with right budget and right cost. We also want to distribute our films by our own. There are fundamental issues that need to be tackled externally and internally. Expanding distribution and also creating difference in hype and marketing is on the agenda. People feel that marketing is about putting out hoardings but it's more scientific than that, as it's about creating awareness and creating desire for a product!

AG: The journey of studio is not too old. So what is the kind of competition you feel in this space?

AA: I think there's lots of things need to be done here. People working proactively with each other is not the case anywhere! There's something to learn from broadcasting industry for all of us as collaborative effort is required. It will sort many problems in terms of external front in terms of taxation and also in terms of the trade we operate.

AG: If you have to cite certain trends in the cinema space, what would they be?

AA: Firstly, I believe its segmentation, the right marketing techniques with the help of social media and word of mouth. What happens today is that films which are content based films have started acquiring critical mass. Multiplexes today have 5-7 screens, where there is segmentation of exhibition which is providing segmentation of content. While content is king today, distribution is god as its allowing the king to express itself! Secondly, the other trend which I’ve noticed is that Bollywood is very cluby! There is a big influx of new talent which is in the form of ad-film makers who entered in Bollywood with crafted skills. So, there is lot of new talent to work with in terms of actors, directors and team. Lastly, television has become the biggest screen today! We see penetration of television today in households, where movies are being watched more on television then theatres, as very limited loyal audience consume cinema in theatres today.

AG: What’s on the planning and execution chart of 2014?

AA: Before Manjunath we have a few south releases like the Tamil and Telegu remake of Kahani starring with Naintara in the lead. Next we are doing Dharam Sankat Mein with Paresh Rawal which is an adaption of British comedy film Infidel, following which we have MaryKom and Gabbar. Then we have Transformer-age of Extension, Herculeus and Ninja Turtles. This shows that we have a strong English, regional and Hindi film slate for 2014. We are also planning a sequel of Pyaar Ka Punchama, which is a franchise we want to grow. We also are planning to do remakes of few films of ours as our stories have ability to travel in different languages.

Prior to Viacom18, Andhare was CEO of Colosceum Media Pvt. Ltd. since 2007, a venture that he founded, along with Capital18. He has experience of over 17 years in FMCG & Media. Prior to setting up Colosceum, Andhare worked with Unilever Plc. in India and Asia Pacific region for over 12 years across Sales, General Management and Marketing roles. He holds an MBA from the Indian School of Business & B Tech from REC Rourkela.