Hollywood shouldn’t give up on Bollywood

Back in August, Passport looked at Hollywood’s growing obsession with Bollywood and decided that the U.S. film industry was betting on a safe horse in trying to join Bollywood rather than beat it. But with the early results from the first major Hollywood Hindi film co-produced by Sony Pictures out, it appears that it may not be so easy for Hollywood to crack the Indian film market.

The Financial Times declared that “Sony’s first foray into Bollywood flops.” Mumbai-based producer and director Mahesh Bhatt gave this take on what went wrong:

I hope it will function as a wake-up call to investors in Hollywood…. You may have your marketing network, you may have your inexhaustible financial resources, but you need to get a sense of the palate of the Bollywood consumer.”

Analysts believe that Saawariya, the Sony film, primarily failed because it performed poorly against Om Shanti Om, a conventional Bollywood blockbuster starring the omnipresent Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan. Both movies were released in November during the Indian holiday of Diwali, and according to an Indian box office tracking site, Saawariya has grossed just Rs24,81,00,000 ($6.27 million) compared to Om Shanti Om‘s Rs83,63,00,000 ($21.15 million). Film buffs were also deeply disappointed with the entertainment value of Saawariya, as a number of Bollywood blogs and gossip websites revealed.

I think it’s too early to sound the death knells for Hollywood in Bollywood, however, just because Sony took a risk that didn’t pay off. Saawariya was an unconventional and dark Bollywood film, adapted from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel White Nights. It didn’t showcase an all-star cast in that it featured two debut actors, and was directed by acclaimed but alternative film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Plus, the film still made a decent profit, which will increase further through DVD sales and TV rights.

Upcoming Hollywood/Bollywood films such as Roadside Romeo and Made in China are also risky, non-traditional Bollywood films in their own right. But it’s important to remember that these films are being produced in collaboration with Indian writers, producers, and film studios. Rather than “failing to get a sense of the palate of the Bollywood consumer,” they are more likely just attempting to broaden it. And they may yet have more success than Saawariya. Investors around the world seem to agree that Indian films may still turn out to be a cash cow, with preparations for “an unprecedented onslaught on Bollywood this year” in full swing.