KOLKATA, INDIA—A nerdy father struggling to connect with his son makes a computer game that pits a superhero against his arch nemesis.
The universe somehow goes off kilter for a moment and, voila, hero and villain come to life, taking their battle to the streets of India.
Add Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan and some state-of-the-art special effects to Ra.One, the Indian film industry’s most anticipated scheduled release this year, and you have the recipe for a box-office winner in the subcontinent.
But as Bollywood glitterati prepare to descend on Toronto for the International Indian Film Academy awards from June 23 to 25 — Khan is expected to be among them — Khan’s colleagues at Red Chillies Entertainment, his Mumbai production company, say they hope a series of tweaks will turn Ra.One into a rare overseas winner.
Bollywood sure could use one.
Even though the number of multiplexes across India has surged, the country’s film business has been in a tailspin the past two years thanks to a string of high-profile flops. The industry, which produces about 1,100 films a year, generated $1.85 billion last year, down 20 per cent from 2008.
This spring, India and its South Asian neighbours shifted their gaze to sports as India hosted the Cricket World Cup. That carved a further $11 million out of the pockets of cinema owners.
“It hasn’t been a good few years, and no one can predict when it will turn around,” says Rajesh Jain, head of the media and entertainment group at consultancy KPMG, which produced a recent study about Bollywood’s decline.
But Khan’s colleagues say Ra.One, due for release this fall, has a chance to become a watershed.
Traditionally, Bollywood features have sandwiched a plot around a string of song-and-dance numbers. For instance, the popular film Hum Aapke Hain Koun! (Who am I to you?), a movie about two weddings and a funeral, had no fewer than 14 songs. Ra.One will have just two.
Khan’s coworkers are also trying to coax him to cut the movie from two and a half hours to 90 minutes. Even though the movie will be shown in Hindi with English subtitles, a shorter length would give it a better chance of being accepted by North American theatre owners.
Also in the works are plans for a set of Shah Rukh Khan action figures that may be sold at Target and Toys R Us stores and on Amazon.com.
The toys would similarly bolster Khan’s image in Canada and the U.S., where even as one of the world’s most famous movie stars, he could still walk down most streets in comfortable anonymity.
Then there’s Ra.One’s budget, an estimated $30 million. That makes it one of Bollywood’s most expensive movies ever. Much of that cash has been pumped into Hollywood-quality post-production work, although it’s still a modest amount compared to the nine-figure sum spent on the superhero films Hollywood is presently churning out, including Thor, Green Lantern and Captain America.
In an effort to create a buzz, Ra.One’s trailer started screening six months before its September release date, said Shailja Gupta, a Red Chillies marketing executive. Most Bollywood features are released two months after the trailer and one month after their soundtracks hit stores.
“We’re really trying to model this production after Hollywood,” Gupta says, adding Ra.One will probably be released in some 400 U.S. theatres, as well as locations in Toronto and Vancouver.
It all sounds great, but even Khan is skeptical western audiences will flock to Ra.One.
Last summer, Khan’s My Name is Khan, about a man with Asperger syndrome, was released after it was filmed mostly in the U.S. That movie sold $4 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada, but it featured a large amount of English dialogue. Now it’s up for the top prize at the IIFA awards, presented on June 25.
“I’m trying to convince Shah Rukh that westerners will come to see Ra.One, but he’s a skeptic,” Gupta says. “He asks me if I would go to see a Bangladeshi superhero film.”
There is a precedent for what Khan’s production company hopes to do.
In the summer of 2006, the Bollywood superhero feature Krrish was released both in India and overseas. Considered Bollywood’s first big-time science fiction release, it starred an extraterrestrial coming to earth and befriending a well-meaning but intellectually challenged man.
While Krrish sold $15.2 million worth of tickets in India, according to boxofficemojo.com, its performance in the U.S. and U.K. was more modest, with a combined $2.7 million in sales.
But Krrish didn’t have Khan. Slim with a shock of black spiky hair, Khan is considered semi-divine by some Indians, including at least some of the 20 million Indians living outside of India.
Having Khan as a star makes it easier for his colleagues to gamble on Ra.One. When you’ve got a god starring in your production, you can afford to lose a few dance numbers.
The universe somehow goes off kilter for a moment and, voila, hero and villain come to life, taking their battle to the streets of India.
Add Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan and some state-of-the-art special effects to Ra.One, the Indian film industry’s most anticipated scheduled release this year, and you have the recipe for a box-office winner in the subcontinent.
But as Bollywood glitterati prepare to descend on Toronto for the International Indian Film Academy awards from June 23 to 25 — Khan is expected to be among them — Khan’s colleagues at Red Chillies Entertainment, his Mumbai production company, say they hope a series of tweaks will turn Ra.One into a rare overseas winner.
Bollywood sure could use one.
Even though the number of multiplexes across India has surged, the country’s film business has been in a tailspin the past two years thanks to a string of high-profile flops. The industry, which produces about 1,100 films a year, generated $1.85 billion last year, down 20 per cent from 2008.
This spring, India and its South Asian neighbours shifted their gaze to sports as India hosted the Cricket World Cup. That carved a further $11 million out of the pockets of cinema owners.
“It hasn’t been a good few years, and no one can predict when it will turn around,” says Rajesh Jain, head of the media and entertainment group at consultancy KPMG, which produced a recent study about Bollywood’s decline.
But Khan’s colleagues say Ra.One, due for release this fall, has a chance to become a watershed.
Traditionally, Bollywood features have sandwiched a plot around a string of song-and-dance numbers. For instance, the popular film Hum Aapke Hain Koun! (Who am I to you?), a movie about two weddings and a funeral, had no fewer than 14 songs. Ra.One will have just two.
Khan’s coworkers are also trying to coax him to cut the movie from two and a half hours to 90 minutes. Even though the movie will be shown in Hindi with English subtitles, a shorter length would give it a better chance of being accepted by North American theatre owners.
Also in the works are plans for a set of Shah Rukh Khan action figures that may be sold at Target and Toys R Us stores and on Amazon.com.
The toys would similarly bolster Khan’s image in Canada and the U.S., where even as one of the world’s most famous movie stars, he could still walk down most streets in comfortable anonymity.
Then there’s Ra.One’s budget, an estimated $30 million. That makes it one of Bollywood’s most expensive movies ever. Much of that cash has been pumped into Hollywood-quality post-production work, although it’s still a modest amount compared to the nine-figure sum spent on the superhero films Hollywood is presently churning out, including Thor, Green Lantern and Captain America.
In an effort to create a buzz, Ra.One’s trailer started screening six months before its September release date, said Shailja Gupta, a Red Chillies marketing executive. Most Bollywood features are released two months after the trailer and one month after their soundtracks hit stores.
“We’re really trying to model this production after Hollywood,” Gupta says, adding Ra.One will probably be released in some 400 U.S. theatres, as well as locations in Toronto and Vancouver.
It all sounds great, but even Khan is skeptical western audiences will flock to Ra.One.
Last summer, Khan’s My Name is Khan, about a man with Asperger syndrome, was released after it was filmed mostly in the U.S. That movie sold $4 million worth of tickets in the U.S. and Canada, but it featured a large amount of English dialogue. Now it’s up for the top prize at the IIFA awards, presented on June 25.
“I’m trying to convince Shah Rukh that westerners will come to see Ra.One, but he’s a skeptic,” Gupta says. “He asks me if I would go to see a Bangladeshi superhero film.”
There is a precedent for what Khan’s production company hopes to do.
In the summer of 2006, the Bollywood superhero feature Krrish was released both in India and overseas. Considered Bollywood’s first big-time science fiction release, it starred an extraterrestrial coming to earth and befriending a well-meaning but intellectually challenged man.
While Krrish sold $15.2 million worth of tickets in India, according to boxofficemojo.com, its performance in the U.S. and U.K. was more modest, with a combined $2.7 million in sales.
But Krrish didn’t have Khan. Slim with a shock of black spiky hair, Khan is considered semi-divine by some Indians, including at least some of the 20 million Indians living outside of India.
Having Khan as a star makes it easier for his colleagues to gamble on Ra.One. When you’ve got a god starring in your production, you can afford to lose a few dance numbers.
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