Kingfishing Smokes (Whatever that means)
WARNING: INCOHESIVE RANT ALERT
For PFC newbies, let me enlighten you about a revolutionary indicator formulated by your’s truly and my buddy Oz. It’s called the Kingfisher Litmus Test and is perhaps one of the most reliable indicators of good cinema versus bad cinema. No critiques here, and sure as hell no intellectual readings into the filmmaker’s mind. This revolutionary indicator (Thank you Mr. Mallya) simply helps us place a movie into one of two categories - good or bakwaas.
The process is simple. Go to a place you are comfortable in. For Oz and myself, that place has been the ever so reliable Ambala Dhaba in Artesia, California. We got there this evening (well, technically last evening) at around 6.45 pm and began downing large bottles of Kingfisher. The ever-so-reliable Sardarji in the kitchen kept sending out the plates of Ludhiana chicken, which is worth dying for, but more on that another day. So as we hogged like pigs and drank like fish till about 10:45, we finally decided to pay the bill, both of us coming to a mutual agreement that by now we were fucking drunk.
Now that the prep work was done, it was time to put Mr. Kashyap’s film through the Kingfisher Litmus Test.
It’s amazing what several bottles of Kingfisher do to your tolerance. And I don’t mean alcoholic tolerance. I’m talking about tolerance for shitty cinema. It fucks it.
I have lost count of the number of movies Oz and I together, or by ourselves have walked out of, or turned off once in the jaal of the King. We were both nervous in a way, for we really did not want Kashyap’s film to fail our foolproof test. Heck, the test was so fucking scary even RGV failed it. TWICE! But what the fuck. We had to do it right? So we did.
We got to the Naz8 multiplex, and there was a pretty significant crowd waiting to get into the facility. I was like…yeah! I can’t believe these people actually came to watch “No Smoking”. Oz said, yeah right. And he was right. They were waiting for Jab We Met and the usher almost feeling sorry for us, let us in through the other door so we could go take our seats in the No Smoking screen. The film started, and by now the crowd in the 200-seater theatre was up to a whopping 7 people!
A wasted Oz cheered the opening credits. He cheered “Jeeyo Anurag bhai!” as Kashyap’s writer-director credit faded in and smoked out. The crowd turned their eyes on us as I sank deeper into my seat, almost as if to say, I don’t fucking know who this bald bewda sitting next to me is. And then the eyes turned back to the screen as John stood there, shirtless. Oz cheered again, “Wooohooo!” By now, I was just like…whatever.
We laughed at the quirky humor, the sheer wit of some of the dialogs, and weird situations. The rest of the 7 people didn’t really get what we were enjoying. We just behaved like we were the only people there, eating samosas and drinking chai, not to mention enjoying this arresting piece of work. And that got me thinking.
As the windshield and sunglasses shattered and the interval sign came up, a few of this daring crowd decided to go home. And at that point, I realized that this isn’t the filmmaker’s fault. It’s the idiocy of an overrated producer, and a clueless, arrogant distributor.
Well, we sat through the film, had fun, and are happy to say it passed the Kingfisher Litmus Test. It’s not a film to be analyzed or understood. It’s an experience to be absorbed. At the end of it, either you get it, or you don’t.
Crucify me for saying this, but the fact is that the mass Indian audience, local and NRI alike, will not get it. They are not ready for a film like No Smoking. Why? Because when we walk into a movie, we are trained to expect entertainment conventions we are used to, or a didactic director/writer’s voice…something that is spelled out for us…something that we can instantly understand and gratify ourselves with. We at large are not used to the concept of a film being an experience. We want a film to be something we can wrap our hands around.
But the fact is that there is an audience out there that firmly believes that filmmaking does not have to be black or white, chalk or cheese. I believe I am part of that bunch who are willing to absorb and be absorbed. Experience first, think later. Heck look at the following David Lynch has. Compared to his cinema, No Smoking is as easily comprehensible as a goddamn Panchatantra story. Lynch works because the people who him, his producers, and his distributors reach out to are specifically THAT audience.
It makes my blood boil that Mr. Mangat would market the film to the wrong people. It’s like selling Orwell to Stardust subscribers. It makes my blood boil that the people so passionately involved with the film did not sell it to the audience truthfully. It makes my blood boil that Mr. Abraham would go on TV and print media to say that this film will make you quit smoking. And dont tell me you didnt realize this film was never one about quitting smoking to begin with.
It makes my blood boil that after decades, when we Indians truly had our first film that showed GENUINE potential to cross over to an international audience, the distributors never even bothered selling it to them. Why would you take a film like this to the Naz8 cinemas? This is a film that belongs in the Nuarts, the Laemmles, the fucking ArcLight. Why is it that the massive indie followers of Hollywood were never even made aware of this film, which is right up their alley?
Our so-called critics in India who talk and write simply because they like hear and read their own words will ensure that a film like this is never given a chance in its home. They are determined to complain about the predictability of our cinema, but are equally responsible as some of the stupid producers and distributors for preventing progress. These are the kind of people who will agree that milk is black in color if a man from the west says so.
So I say, use that! Make your films in India, sell them more boisterously outside. Don’t give me that age-old excuse that Americans and Europeans don’t want our cinema without song and dance. Find that audience, hire PR firms, hire street teams. Marketing is no easy job. It is today the last stage of filmmaking, after postproduction. So better get your shit straight and start selling hard, and sell hard to the right people, and for heaven’s sake, sell it right.
I have seen first-hand the kind of response Kashyap has recieved from indie patronizers in LA from screenings of Paanch and Black Friday. This is a man with the talent and potential to break into this market. Not just in LA, but in many parts of the globe, in many parts of India. More importantly, he is a mad man, and the madness of his filmmaking is what will endear him and help him find his audience, whether it be in India, America, Europe, or Tanzania for all I care. But even that madness needs to be marketed and sold right. And to take it to the right people, Kashyap needs an intelligent, knowledgeable producer who is as mad as he is. No easy feat.
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I keep barking about internet release before DVD and also taking it to film festivals like sundance where it can be marketed well. but this needs prior management and I dont think Kumar Mangat will agree to fork more after its all-round india debacle
Exactly…a perfect place to showcase the film is film festivals.Atleast the movie will get its deserved viewers. The actual audience.Its been wrongly promoted.
hell yeah vijay….
i hate those BASTARDS….
why oh god why would they sell this movie like this??
Nice read, enjoyed reading your views on NS and not targeting the movie to the right audience. Haven’t seen the movie yet but intend to tomorrow night.
@Sourav - I’m not sure film festivals alone will cut it. You wont make money out of that. Sure they gave that a shot, and decided to opt for a glamorous world premiere. I personally believe it benefits your film more to screen at 10 small festivals in 10 different countries than 1 big festival.
But my argument really was that if they spend the time, and plan accordingly, and enlist the right help, they can carefully evaluate the market and sell the film accordingly. But they dont.
I can compare NS and Gandhi My Father, both films with crossover potential, both distributed by Eros, and both times, completely ignored a fat indie market waiting to be tapped.
The thing is that, majority of people in the Industry are followers rather than a trendsetter. You will only see a change when someone meks a successful first step into that territory, then every Lalu will be following that. So who is likely to make that first step? You will hardly find a name of producer or distributor!
And yes, the distributors/producers in India, do not have a basic economic sense!
They never will cos they are yet to understand the beneficial sides of doing researches, etc.
But HG, it’s not that they are not alien to it. Heck look at the spectacular campaign UTV put together for RDB, despite the fact that the movie had Aamir Khan. Now do you really need to try to sell and Aamir film? Still they researched the market, conducted focus groups, went to college campuses. They created a movement before the film even came out.
I think, they are alien to it, that is why they target/promote a film to every single Indian! That is why majority of films we produce are masala i.e it has everything for everyone. They are not aware of different kind of audiences. If they were then we would have been producing range of genre…
I was not aware of that campaign, but do you think they would have gone to that length to promote the film if the film did not have Aamir Khan? I really do not think so. What did they do with Khosla Ka Ghosla? Nothing. What did they do with Swades? Nothing. I do not think they have done anything good with other films, have they? Yes, UTV’s are far better than other distributors and producers, but they sometimes can be also as bad as others.
It is a rare example, anyway. Bheja Fry or Vivah could be other examples, but it was more to do with word-of-mouth…
anyway, as i have said before.. do not have songs in the movie, so distributors and producers will be forced to market the film differently! That will make ‘em to do a bit of market research.
Vijay, is there any hope of recovering the costs, let alone make profit, if you sell it to a niche market?
If not, would that mean that the budget will have to go down? If yes, then would the final product be as good as it is right now?
I am sure, it is not all that simple, you surely have made a valid point. It hurts when people trash what they don’t understand. But, I am curious about how the economics would work out if you would select your target audience.
i know that the question is not for me… but…
As far as my understanding goes a producer is very likely to recover the money from TV rights and DVD sales. And regarding distributors/Cinema recovering the money.. I do not know. Cinema owners do not make money from films, they make money from selling the food and drinks. They only make a good profit from a big film.
no?
Vijay, Do you reliaze that the film would not have been made without Mr Mangat? Its actually funny that you are blaming everyone : distributors, producers, viewers, actors but not the director.
@meetu - Budgets have to be reasonable, but not go down so much that it would compromise on the quality of the film, or its finish. The case I am making is to really do groundwork and push the film into markets as opposed to financing it, and then just selling it off to the first bidder who ensures you recover your cost. A niche market film can make money. The only thing is, you need to spend time and energy and try to sell it in MANY niche markets. A film like No Smoking crosses all cultural barriers. Take it to a niche market in Japan, take it to a niche market in Germany, take it to a niche market in US, UK, Australia. Don’t sell this film to mainstream audiences and complain that nobody is watching it. The film CLEARLY does NOT talk to a mainstream audience. But taking it to more niche markets takes time, takes planning, takes energy.
Case in point is Pan Nalin’s cinema. Pan Nalin makes only niche market films. But his films make tons and tons of money. Why? Because his producers go to every country and find that niche market there, and sell the film to them. They don’t stop with UK, they will take it to Japan, Australia, America, Europe, Asia. A film like Samsara, shot in India, made Rs. 80 crores worldwide being released ONLY in niche markets, before anyone in India even heard of it. This is the example we need to learn from.
@Pappu. A producer’s job does not end with just making the film possible. He needs to take it to the right audience too. Mr. Mangat may have done a great boon to Indian cinema by making No Smoking possible. But its not enough. That’s only half the job done there.
I was frustrated the same way with Anil Kapoor, who made a film like “Gandhi My Father” possible. It was not a great film, but had true crossover potential in niche markets. Instead he sold it to Eros, who totally ignored that niche market.
Our distributors and producers seem happy as long as they recover their cost plus a little profit. They need to start milking these products till they’re dry. That can be done by exploring other markets. And as this happens, the world will get exposed to more and more indie cinema coming out of India.
And no I am not biased in favor of the director. Yes I loved the movie. No doubt about that. But if Anurag too was hoping to sell this film to a mainstream crowd, well, in my opinion, for whatever its worth, I will say he was wrong, because the style of his film and its tone is simply not one that will find too many takers among a mainstream audience. The film simply does not talk to them.
Valid points about Samsara, etc. I hope this will be a learning experience instead of showing withdrawal syndromes.
Folks had written about the distribution plan which would make sense for niche films:-
http://passionforcinema.com/our-independent-cinema/
After how many years of film-making do we have a film in this genre made in India? Learning how to market these will come only if there are enough made, right?
Your examples bring me to my next question. What percentage of movies that are marketed this way are actually commercially successful? I am not sure we will have numbers, just wondering. I like the side-effect of such marketing though - fewer people to badmouth for the sake of badmouthing.
Also, this marketing strategy requires way too much professionalism. I don’t know about Vishal Bharadwaj and Kumar Mangat, but, my very limited experience with a couple people from Eros was very annoying. Unprofessional attitude - is an understatement. For now, I am just thankful, that someone took it up.
@meetu. I gave you the example of Samsara. Look at the way the Koreans made Chan Wook Park an indie star director in the US. If the Koreans can do it, why can’t we? How do you think Wong Kar Wai is a salable name today in the US, when he made movies in Chinese? Jim Jarmusch makes weird ass movies but never has trouble finding distributors. These are people born out of and thriving in niche markets. They are able to continue making movies because, and only because their movies keep making money. Smaller budgets, smaller profits, but it keeps them going, allowing them to do what they want to do.
Yes, it is significant that someone took up this film and released it. We have to appreciate it. But if we don’t ask for more, we will not get more.
@ Vijay, Meetu
For your ideas to happen, we need to have a proper discussion in the first place.When we are comming out with a movie like NS in first place, there are bound to be mistakes and goof ups? But for that we need to ask, where did we make the mistake, and what can be done better. Or as u said, how can this movie be marketed better?
But all i see, is either posts calling this a classic and calling those who did not like this movie as duffers and morons, or posts saying this movie sucks, and asking Anurag to retire or telling Anurag ur a fraud.
I am currently in Korea myself, and though they lack knowledge of English, they have a very good movie appreciation community. To make Anurag Kashyap well known in US or UK markets, there needs to be some kind of strategy, some kind of planning, but all we are doing is sitting and indulging in mud slingin and name throwing, which honestly does not serve any purpose at all.
@ Vijay
I guess thats the basic problem with us, either we go into a hero worshipping you are God, you can do no wrong mode or else we go into a you suck, you are hopeless kind of mode.
But rarely do we attempt a honest SWOT analysis, and its not just movies, its in almost every field.