Bollywood feels inflation heat, but takes it in stride

Mumbai, July 21 (IANS) Bollywood, India's Rs.96 billion ($ 2.3 billion) film industry, has taken a beating due to rising prices.

"The rise in petrol and diesel prices affects the industry. The making of a film involves lot of travelling and with the increased fuel price the budget shoots up. As a result the cost of production goes up," filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani told IANS.

Pointing out another adverse effect of inflation, Kiran Shantaram, owner of Rajkamal Studio, said: "When the inflation rate rises, the value of the rupee comes down and dollar goes up. Most of our raw stock like film rolls are imported and as a result the cost of the production goes up."

Then, the one aspect over which Bollywood producers have no control is the star remuneration. While the respective craft associations fix the wages of technicians and other workers, stars fix their own prices, which vary depending upon the box-office success of their previous releases.

Ravi Gupta, CEO Mukta Arts, said: "The skyrocketing fees of stars is the only problem that is affecting the film industry."

With regard to the current inflation, neither technicians nor cine workers are demanding a hike in their wages, nor has producers asked the associations to adjust the wages of their members in view of the inflationary trend.

Many in Bollywood believe that the corporate houses are so flush with funds they do not know where to spend them. While they do not think twice before paying the handful of reigning stars their fancy prices, in some cases, it is they who pay them the prices they least expected in order to have them on board.

Right now, shooting for about 10 Bollywood movies are in progress at different locations abroad. Producers, on the other hand, prefer to take their units to foreign locations.

"To tell the truth, if one does not count the travelling and lodging expenses, shooting abroad comes cheaper than shooting in India in terms of man days of work," said Pahlaj Nihalani.

Secondly, when abroad, they have the stars all to themselves and so they are in a position to extract more work from them.

As far as the consumers are concerned, the middle and lower middle class people may be complaining about the rising prices of essential commodities, but they are not equally vocal about the high cost of entertainment.

For instance, when Aamir Khan's production venture "Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na", made on a budget of Rs.300 million, opened July 4, it registered 100 percent revenue collections across India. It only meant that, for the movie clientele, any price is good for wholesome entertainment.

"The demand for entertainment in India is inflexible. It may sound ironical, but it is a fact that when the economy is down, the demand for entertainment grows and for a good reason," said chartered accountant Mehul Parekh.