Juggling books

Sidney Sheldon is one of those authors that you just don’t miss out on during your growing year if you are into reading. Well I didn’t miss out either. So when I suddenly spotted this book on the stands “Mistress of the Game” sequel to “Master of the Game”. I couldn’t help but grab it. On closer look I discovered that it was written by Tilly Bagshawe. Well Duh-huh, after all its been 2 years since Mr. Sheldon said good bye to the world.

Well after polishing off a 100 odd pages, I have goose bumps all over, coz it’s so creepy. I forgot how Sheldon novels used to be, crime, manipulations, sex, enmity, child rape, psychiatric depression ……well everything that’s wrong in this world and you have it in the novel. However I find my appetite for the evil is far lesser than what it used to be in my college days. I find that after 10 something atrocities I need to keep the book down and take a breather. So shall I stop reading it altogether? What you saying ….. Impossible!! How will I ever rest without knowing how it ended?

So that’s when I discovered why people end up reading more than one book at a time.

Me, I love reading one book at a time, for I am in that one make believe world and those characters are people I live with at that particular time. Can’t have too many worlds or too many characters going on at the same time. But with this book it feels like I am choking if I stay too long in this world, so I chose a safe book on L K Advani – “My life my country”. Reality and fiction, two different worlds and easier to exist in both at the same time.

You know I remember a time when I first realised that people juggle multiple books at the same time and I was totally astonished as to how they managed it. My first boss, a very nice, well respected and eminent person, used to juggle 3 to 4 books at a time. I was already in awe of him by the time I discovered that fact. Slowly it started registering how in interviews of CEO’s, CIO’s….heck all CXO’s, on the question of what are you reading now? It’s never a simple one book answer, it’s always multiple.

I do recollect how my boss had said that he enjoyed reading 3 -4 books at the same time, for it gave him an opportunity to relate content of different authors and draw his own conclusions and parallels. Whoa!!! Its one step at a time for me, I am now managing to juggle two books. Perhaps when and if I reach the advanced stages of book reading I too will be able to lay claim to what my boss has.

Bollywood AAJ KAL

After a dry spell of no movie watching I decided that my life was missing something and I had to get some spectacular visuals, good songs, happy endings and funny lines come my way. After a solid 3 movie watch I sat down with the satisfaction of an overfed obese. New York, Love Aaj Kal and Kurbaan – not bad at all!!! :) Lovely time spent hugging popcorn and peeping into the make believe world of other peoples’ lives….

And then my brain cells got ticking, quite a rare phenomenon but it did…..and I realised that all the movies I had watched was based out of foreign locations, not just a song or two in Switzerland but the characters were staying there in FOREIGN lands…….no way could these movies be hit after all the Indian masses could never identify with these guys. Well the movies were kinda nice but then I guess that’s how the chips fall. Whoooaaaa wait a min let me check the trade pundits’ reactions before I declare these movies a flop and then get to be the butt of jokes “in case I was wrong(!!)”

New York – Hit!!!

Love Aaj Kal – Mega Hit!!!

Kurbaan – Flop!!!

Okay so at least one of them was a flop. So there! But hey the other two are hits and did quite well too. So does that mean the average movie goer Indian masses are now okay with the hero – heroine being based abroad? Are we able to identify with these characters? Well intellectually speaking people are the same everywhere and the needs are the same – Roti, Kapda, aur Makaan! Just that some have white skin, others brown and yet others black and then of course there are coconuts. Whatever!!!

Okay let’s dig a little deeper shall we? There were 100 odd movies released in 2009, 114 approx if websites are to be believed. I chose out of the total, 10 movies, all of which had the entire plot based in foreign locations, the movies being –

• Aa Dekhen Zara                                           • Blue

• Chandni Chowk To China                             • De Dana Dan

• Kurbaan                                                       • Life Partner

• London Dreams                                            • Love Aaj Kal

• Main aur Mrs. Khanna                                  • New York

Offhand I already knew Aa Dekhen Zara, Chandini Chowk to China, Life Partner and Main aur Mrs Khanna were flops. They just didn’t fly…..or did they? Okay so back to the research board.

AAAANNNDDD the findings are – out of the 10 films 5 were flops (Predictable) and the rest 5 were a mix of hit, blockbuster hit (no guesses on that one!), above average and average performers. So that’s a mixed result we have there – it gives no conclusive idea as to whether its worth making a movie based at foreign locations or not. Shall we dig a bit deeper then?

Main aur Mrs.Khanna (MAMK) admittedly one of the most poorly done movies of 2009 and justifiably declared a flop. Right? Well a 22 crore budget movie which didn’t do well at the Box office but one of the most well performed movies on DTH, it grossed 21 crores from this source alone and went on to make a tidy profit when combined with the traditional sources ,i.e, theatres, music sales, etc. Chandni Chowk to China, this movie judged to be not an ordinary flop but a MAJOR flop made with a budget of 51 crores and said to have done a business of 75 crores. Guess the producers aren’t complaining are they?

Guess that sort of tips the scales doesn’t it? After all, of the 10 movies we listed, while 5 were box office declared successes, two more although declared failures were actually financial successes, which makes it a decent 7 out of 10. Which means to say that the acceptance level of films that are based in foreign locations are high. As a country we have, I guess for quite some time now enjoyed seeing lovely foreign locations, after all weren’t all Yash Raj movies of yore applauded for the lovely songs and the locations they were shot in? But to a large extent we were as an audience still not ready to identify with the majority of Indians who were living abroad and with their lives. They were after all foreign and hence a little alien to us.

With movies like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge, K3G, Bend it like Beckham the tide started changing slowly but surely. For not only were we enthusiastic to see their (Read NRI) lives but more importantly they were interested in seeing those movies. Overseas turnover was nothing to be sneezed at, with gross revenues ranging from 44 crores to 10 crores across different movies. This of course translates to a major impetus for producers and directors to make such movies.

At home our Indian Television owning homes grew from 88 million homes in 2000 to 105 million homes in 2007 to 134 million in 2009. More importantly the number of CABLE homes in India is set to cross the 100 million mark in 2010 from 90 million existing in 2009!!! As per studies conducted by TAM media, the number of cable homes has doubled in the last 6 years. Translated, we are now as a country more exposed to the world outside than ever before, which could be one of the reasons why we now have movies based abroad clicking with the Indian masses.

Also, as per the WTO projections, if current trends continue 50 million Indians will travel overseas annually come 2020. More and more Indians are today travelling abroad on business yes but also on personal vacations. Airfare to Malaysia, Singapore is far more economical than to travel within India from South to North or vice versa. As a society our aspirations and our exposure has truly enhanced.

While a Lagaan evokes an emotional response from us beyond measure a “Love aaj kal” doesn’t turn us off at all, does it? Bollywood bring on all the overseas based movies you can, for we, the Indian masses are today a truly glocalized society.

Sources – Nytimes, Business Standard, http://www.boxofficeindia.com, http://www.planetbollywood.com, http://www.wikipedia.org, http://www.pranaygupte.com

Disclaimer – Figures used in this article have been collected through secondary research and should be taken as only approximations not actuals.