Battered Bollywood could take years to recover | |||
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Video Credit: Reuters Studio - Duration: 02:01s - Published
 Battered Bollywood could take years to recoverIndia's film industry, purveyor of song-and-dance spectacles to millions, will take at least two years to recover financially from the coronavirus pandemic, which is threatening big-ticket projects and tens of thousands of jobs, according to several producers. Lucy Fielder reports. |
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Shuttered Bollywood studios in Mumbai.
The Indian film industry -- purveyor of song-and-dance spectacles to millions -- could take at least two years to recover.
As lockdowns demolish box-office demand and jeopardise tens of thousands of jobs.
That was the assessment of top producers, distributors and actors at a video conference this week.
Here's film-maker Vikram Malhotra.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) BOLLYWOOD FILM MAKER AND FOUNDER AND CEO OF ABUNDANTIA ENTERTAINMENT, VIKRAM MALHOTRA, SAYING: "These are unprecedented times.
We have not seen anything of this scale or this intensity hit our business ever." Box-office takings make up about 60 percent of industry earnings.
About 9,500 cinemas are shut in a lockdown to last until at least mid-May.
But movie-goers are expected to shy away from crowded places until at least August.
In a typical year, India makes about 1,200 films, but many of this year's will be pushed back.
And producers say big-budget films and extravagant shoots in foreign locations will probably be shelved.
Vinod Bhanushali of T-Series productions -- which has 12 films stalled by the crisis -- says film-making takes time to crank up.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF MARKETING FOR INDIAN PRODUCTION HOUSE, T-SERIES, VINOD BHANUSHALI, SAYING: "Because of this lockdown, you can't shoot anything, so once this lockdown gets over, people will then again start regaining their… you know, things, (and say) 'okay, now we have to make a (film) set, we have to erect something, post-production, every facility takes time.
It's not that, you directly go, it's not a factory where machineries are there, the raw material is there and you just pull up a button and the raw material is converted into the finished good.
Filmmaking is not all about that." Big earners may ride out the downturn -- but tough times are ahead for the tens of thousands of extras, dancers, stagehands and technicians who power the Bollywood machine.