Posted:
My Name is Khan has a lot riding on me: Karan Johar
30 Jan 2010, 0134 hrs IST, Nandini Raghavendra, ET Bureau
Marketing, structuring and pitching a films' release has to be done with creativity and intelligence. In fact, we are still gaining ground in the world of marketing and many movies are still marketed in a wrong manner. There are two important factors: one is structure the film to demographics and secondly, understand the various tools to be used to leverage that demographic. You have to know where you core audience is, where it lies and how to achieve it. Evolutionary changes like social networking sites must also be understood and leveraged for certain urban-content films.
Critically, there is still a huge audience in the heart of the country that gives single screens a tremendous amount of business, a fact we had started denying, for no particular reason, believing that multiplexes are everything.
Multiplex is just a glamorous term. There is still a large India whose thinking and sensibilities have not changed dramatically and we should not deny its existence.
In colloquial film parlance, audience is divided into A, B and C class. But we have a limited understanding of how to reach these markets. I think we did a better job a decade ago, catering to them. Today, we have stopped visiting single screens because we have stopped caring about them.
Because of the strong Islamic content in My Name is Khan, there is a connect for a large Muslim audience which, I feel, must watch this film and it is up to us to reach out to reach out to them effectively. It is about goodness and humanity, both universal concepts. And though, the story is based in the US and may have an international texture, its core and gut is Indian, which is why the pan-Indian audience.
Take a film like 3 Idiots, which is a pan-India film and can reach out to every home and audience. I think what Aamir did was clever... in that he connected to the core root of the country because the tonality of the film is far more pan-India then even the content. Its tone and texture was fantastically universal and it needed that kind of connect. Something Aamir did so with Ghajini as well.
The indulgence I have been accused of over the years has a reason: I was riding on my own money. From Kuch Kuch to Kal Ho Naa Ho, Kabhi Kushi, Kabhi Gham and KANK, were all funded internally and were given to Yashraj on commission basis. None of these films were sold. There were no minimum guarantee (MG) deals. Times were different then. I could have a flamboyant length, spend say a crore on clothes, for example, because I wanted to. Then two things happened — I lost my father and I gained perspective. Two very big changes in my life.
Over the years, the film industry has changed the way they operate business-wise, which led me to take the decision not to self-fund my films. In a sense, I inhabit a strange place, I am not a studio and neither a one-off producer who is making one film in two years. I could not make films only for myself, there are too many energies involved. I realised I needed to be funded by a corporate to who I was willing to be responsible.
THE CRAFT BEHIND MNIK
I knew MNIK has a lot riding on me. There is an international studio and there is our own reputation at stake as much as everyone involved must make money. Because isn't cinema a balance of art and commerce? It is not just one (it is both). Yes, I have grown pragmatic to the extent that at 2:40 minutes, this is the shortest Karan Johar film to date. A feat, I could not have done without the superstar — my editor Deepa Bhatia. She taught me that a film can communicate a lot with brevity. Remember the age-old expression that you can change a movie on an editing table... I saw that.
HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
For sure, Fox Star has been kind, generous and approachable. And yes, it is an expensive film. But MNIK has not been sold for some astronomical figures which are not recoverable, specially if it performs well. There is much more riding in terms of reputation than money. Money has many verticals to make its way back. Reputation is something which you cannot buy or sell.
In fact, I am possibly this industry's worst businessman! My CEO and childhood friend, Aproova (Mehta) I think, wants to kill me. My chartered accountants are confused as to why I make what I make. I think Brand Karan Johar has made more money for Dharma that its films has for Dharma by way of hosting award ceremonies, TV shows and endorsements. How do I explain this to anybody? They think I have a gold-mine hidden somewhere!
I want to eventually reach a place where I am not accountable to anyone. This film was made only for passion. But that kind of honesty is only going to be met by cynicism, because no one is going to believe that. ET can only talk about money and all I can talk about is passion.
A BIT OF GREY, A BIT OF WHITE...
Today, I find much more restraint in my existence. I am no longer eager to please, not waiting for the pat on my back. From dying for everyone's love, I now love myself a little more today.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/business-of-bollywood/My-Name-is-Khan-has-a-lot-riding-on-me-Karan-Johar/articleshow/5515201.cms
30 Jan 2010, 0134 hrs IST, Nandini Raghavendra, ET Bureau
Marketing, structuring and pitching a films' release has to be done with creativity and intelligence. In fact, we are still gaining ground in the world of marketing and many movies are still marketed in a wrong manner. There are two important factors: one is structure the film to demographics and secondly, understand the various tools to be used to leverage that demographic. You have to know where you core audience is, where it lies and how to achieve it. Evolutionary changes like social networking sites must also be understood and leveraged for certain urban-content films.
Critically, there is still a huge audience in the heart of the country that gives single screens a tremendous amount of business, a fact we had started denying, for no particular reason, believing that multiplexes are everything.
Multiplex is just a glamorous term. There is still a large India whose thinking and sensibilities have not changed dramatically and we should not deny its existence.
In colloquial film parlance, audience is divided into A, B and C class. But we have a limited understanding of how to reach these markets. I think we did a better job a decade ago, catering to them. Today, we have stopped visiting single screens because we have stopped caring about them.
Because of the strong Islamic content in My Name is Khan, there is a connect for a large Muslim audience which, I feel, must watch this film and it is up to us to reach out to reach out to them effectively. It is about goodness and humanity, both universal concepts. And though, the story is based in the US and may have an international texture, its core and gut is Indian, which is why the pan-Indian audience.
Take a film like 3 Idiots, which is a pan-India film and can reach out to every home and audience. I think what Aamir did was clever... in that he connected to the core root of the country because the tonality of the film is far more pan-India then even the content. Its tone and texture was fantastically universal and it needed that kind of connect. Something Aamir did so with Ghajini as well.
The indulgence I have been accused of over the years has a reason: I was riding on my own money. From Kuch Kuch to Kal Ho Naa Ho, Kabhi Kushi, Kabhi Gham and KANK, were all funded internally and were given to Yashraj on commission basis. None of these films were sold. There were no minimum guarantee (MG) deals. Times were different then. I could have a flamboyant length, spend say a crore on clothes, for example, because I wanted to. Then two things happened — I lost my father and I gained perspective. Two very big changes in my life.
Over the years, the film industry has changed the way they operate business-wise, which led me to take the decision not to self-fund my films. In a sense, I inhabit a strange place, I am not a studio and neither a one-off producer who is making one film in two years. I could not make films only for myself, there are too many energies involved. I realised I needed to be funded by a corporate to who I was willing to be responsible.
THE CRAFT BEHIND MNIK
I knew MNIK has a lot riding on me. There is an international studio and there is our own reputation at stake as much as everyone involved must make money. Because isn't cinema a balance of art and commerce? It is not just one (it is both). Yes, I have grown pragmatic to the extent that at 2:40 minutes, this is the shortest Karan Johar film to date. A feat, I could not have done without the superstar — my editor Deepa Bhatia. She taught me that a film can communicate a lot with brevity. Remember the age-old expression that you can change a movie on an editing table... I saw that.
HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
For sure, Fox Star has been kind, generous and approachable. And yes, it is an expensive film. But MNIK has not been sold for some astronomical figures which are not recoverable, specially if it performs well. There is much more riding in terms of reputation than money. Money has many verticals to make its way back. Reputation is something which you cannot buy or sell.
In fact, I am possibly this industry's worst businessman! My CEO and childhood friend, Aproova (Mehta) I think, wants to kill me. My chartered accountants are confused as to why I make what I make. I think Brand Karan Johar has made more money for Dharma that its films has for Dharma by way of hosting award ceremonies, TV shows and endorsements. How do I explain this to anybody? They think I have a gold-mine hidden somewhere!
I want to eventually reach a place where I am not accountable to anyone. This film was made only for passion. But that kind of honesty is only going to be met by cynicism, because no one is going to believe that. ET can only talk about money and all I can talk about is passion.
A BIT OF GREY, A BIT OF WHITE...
Today, I find much more restraint in my existence. I am no longer eager to please, not waiting for the pat on my back. From dying for everyone's love, I now love myself a little more today.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/business-of-bollywood/My-Name-is-Khan-has-a-lot-riding-on-me-Karan-Johar/articleshow/5515201.cms
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