There is no doubt that Bollywood is in the midst of a grave crisis. The current conflict between producers and distributors on the one hand, and the mafia stranglehold on the other, is threatening the very existence of the film industry. And, of course, the industry is still waiting for that one spectacular hit this year that will lift it out of the doldrums.
"We're looking at the worst scenario possible," says Suneel Darshan, whose film Andaaz (Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Priyanka Chopra) opens on May 23. "Nobody knows anything about next Friday, forget the future. At one end, we producers are being squeezed by avaricious distributors. At the other, there're the never-ending threats..." he trails off.
Now, there is talk that some persons within the film industry are mafia representatives. No one, however, wants to take any names.
Meanwhile, the producers-distributors deadlock is far from over. Yet, many producers are releasing their films despite a dictate to the contrary by the four major Mumbai-based film associations -- the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association, Western India Film Producers Association, Association of Motion Pictures and Television Programme Producers, and the Producers Guild. This has deepened the divide in the industry.
Last Friday, May 9, Tips and Arjun Hingorani went ahead and released Ishq Vishk (Shahid Kapoor, Amrita Rao, Shenaz Treasurywala) and Kaise Kahoon Ke... Pyaar Hai (Amit Hingorani, Sharbani Mukherji, Sunny Deol), respectively.
But an amicable resolution does not seem likely, particularly since no one in the film industry seems sure any longer of the issues involved.
Armaan and Apoorva Lakhia's Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost (Abhishek Bachchan, Lara) were scheduled to premiere at the International Indian Film Awards this week. Lakhia's film was withdrawn at the last moment.
According to reliable sources, the heavy backlog of releases precipitated by the strike has put Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost at the end of the queue. To have the film premiere at IIFA long before its all-India release was thought imprudent.
Also, the film's producer Vicky Nihalani's father, Pahlaj, is a member of one of the producers' associations. Vicky would therefore not like to go against the association's authority.
When questioned, producer Dinesh Gandhi said: "The price that I'm being offered by the Bihar distributors isn't enough to even cover the cost of the prints and delivery. They behave as though they're doing us a favour."
Distributors and exhibitors in Bihar complain about the insensitivity of film producers. Says Patna exhibitor Suman Sinha, "They expect distributors in Bihar to pay the same amount as Maharashtra and Delhi. But the entire cinema-going public, entertainment tax, and ticket price structure are different in Bihar. Until producers understand our problem, this deadlock will persist."
One solution film producers think could work, but may not sound like music to the distributors' ears, is to have their own distribution offices in troublesome exhibition sectors like Bihar. They also intend to form their own distribution network to render the existing distributors redundant.
While these ideas crystallise, the business of film marketing is facing a huge crisis. And though big films like Andaaz and Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot (Ajay Devgan, Urmila Matondkar) are lined up for the coming weeks, the acrimony between producers and distributors continues to grow.