The site says Dolby Digital 2.0 for audio. I thought this originally had 5.1 sound?
And the price is only $3.00 US? Is that to buy or just for rental?
Also, I found the
Japanese souvenir book on eBay.
How exactly did Muthu get to be popular in Japan?
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2004/0 ... 250100.htm
Scene UNSEEN
It's a marriage of marketing and a world selling dreams. And a successful one too, Kandaswamy Bharathan tells M. ALLIRAJAN in a tete-e-tete
LIKE HIS movies, legendary director K. Balachander's production house, Kavithalaya, has the magical "KB" touch to it.
Not of the ace filmmaker, but a man who bears the same initials as his illustrious father-in-law. A behind-the-scenes man, he is best known for making "Muthu" a household name in Japan. Here's introducing KB -- Kandaswamy Bharathan, Executive Director of Kavithalaya.
This genial looking KB is very down-to-earth and looks like the friendly uncle next door. Relishing his favourite baked vegetable prepared by student chefs of the PSG College of Arts and Science, where he is part of a workshop on creative writing, he is profuse with his praise. And, there goes the stereotypical image of a businessman without heart.
Bharathan, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, says films were always close to his heart.
"There is no business like showbiz. I was interested in films from the beginning and was an avid moviegoer. When I was provided with an opportunity I just utilised it," he observes.
Today, Bharathan wears different caps. He is Chief Executive Officer of DLM Digital Studios, which is into film and TV production, computer graphics and animation and an advisor and director of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.
How different was the change in professions? "Since I had a management background, I had to reinvent myself to fit into this profession. When I entered the industry, it was largely an unstructured one. In management terms, this offered a good scope."
One of the first things Bharathan did was to apply the concept of marketing research to the film business.
"We studied people's movie-going habits and profiled movie watchers under various categories. Say, like trying to understand the buying habits of people in a regular business."
To help manage operations, his team developed a software, `Hero 98', which went on to aid in production planning, scheduling, budgeting and inventory control.
"Cinema is an industry. All you need to do is to try and reach your target audience in the most cost-effective way," he states. He agrees that producing films is a risky proposition, but says "India can take a cue from the West to mitigate risks."
"In Hollywood, they have successfully developed a de-risking model. Different agencies share the risk there. Unfortunately, here (in India) the entire risk falls on the producers and distributors," he rues.
"Financial institutions are offering loans. But, we have to explain what this industry is all about. It can be compared to the software business where one has to take into account creativity and intellect."
Astronomical star salaries comprise a major portion of production costs. Will they ever come down to reasonable levels?
Says Bharathan: "A system of paying stars based on their market value can be a solution for the problems plaguing the industry. In Hollywood, they have evolved a point-based system where the stars are paid a fixed amount. Only when a film becomes a hit is the star paid extra money (premium). A hundred points are awarded to a successful film, with a share for all involved in its making. The hero gets a slightly higher share than the others. This way, filmmaking becomes real teamwork."
"If the point system is adopted it will be a win-win situation for everyone," he feels, adding that stars should also be reasonable and not overprice their market value.
As for the spiralling production costs in Tamil movies, he says that though costs can be brought down, it depends largely on the nature of the film. "A good director will bring in more value by spending extra. Roja's budget was less than a crore. But, it was a big hit and was spoken of as one of the most successful films, nationally," he points out.
Thanks to Muthu's Japanese foray, the media there dubbed him the `cultural ambassador of India'. Its success proved that Tamil films can be marketed in non-NRI destinations as well.
Ask him the reasons for the film clicking in a faraway land and he is forthright in his reply. "Frankly, I was pleasantly surprised with Muthu's success. I never expected the Japanese would like this movie."
Probe a little and he elaborates. "Period films are quite popular in Japan. The success of Samurai films indicates this trend. At that point of time, Japanese films were not well received and the viewers were tired of Hollywood movies. An Indian movie filled the gap."
Titling the film as "Dancing Maharaja' worked well as the audience instantly recognised it as Indian and related it to the period films genre.
But, success did not come overnight. "We promoted Rajnikant as India's Jackie Chan. We prepared the market nine months before the scheduled release and started our promos much earlier.
A lot of hype was built around the movie. We chose not to dub the film and subtitled it. This strategy worked well," he recalls.
"The Japanese audience enjoyed the dance and songs. It (the film) revived interest about Indian food and dress besides making the country an attractive tourist destination."
No other Tamil film has done well there since Muthu. Was the film an exception? "It is difficult to sustain in such markets. . You have to make a certain genre of films to be successful there," he opines.
However, he believes the marketing strategy for future films should be somewhat similar.
"The suitability of the film for the market, its saleability and promotional campaigns will be crucial," Bharathan says. The marketing whiz says film festivals offer a good chance to market movies overseas.
"But, you should screen the best movies from the country in these festivals.
Russia, China, South Africa, Latin America and Eastern European countries are potential markets for Tamil and Indian films, waiting to be tapped," he believes.
"Basically, I believe that films have started to cross borders. Movies with an Indian flavour and international appeal will become acceptable in foreign shores," he signs off with a smile.
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. Its pretty cheap ( 3$ US !) - i might end up getting this just for kicks
