Desicritics Author: Ashwinikumar Walde

The Vanishing Act - Female Abortion In South Asia

Ashwinikumar Walde — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 15:50:13 EST

Let me get this straight. There is something extremely perverted about the fascination South Asians have for the male child. And if statistics make any impact on you, here are the numbers, which every newspaper and current affairs magazine is throwing at us: approximately 5 lakh female fetuses are aborted, sorry, murdered every year. This means that we have lost 5 million females in a decade. Of course, the real number must be more frightening.

What has led to such a sorry state of affairs? Now don't look forward to a precise explanation about what has gone wrong with us. What's the point in talking about 'socio-economic' factors? It's disgusting really. Any 'dispassionate discussion' on this topic only seems to justify what is supposed to be opposed.

Is there a method to the madness? A pattern in the perversion? Well, there seems to be. Although generalization is dangerous, it can well be pointed out that the phenomenon is more prevalent in states that are economically well off. Also, the number of fetusus killed is directly proportional to the density of ultra sonography clinics. And both urban and rural India participate in the crime.

The role of the administration is not very encouraging either. The prosecution rate, by all accounts, is pathetic. For once, why can't they just stop talking and start acting? The will to act will go a long way in curbing this evil practice.

Movie Review: Rang De Basanti - Postmortem

Ashwinikumar Walde — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 00:32:48 EST

Rang De Basanti could easily have been a welcome relief from the present lot of bollywood films. However, the director Rakesh (or Rakyesh) Mehra and story writer Kamlesh Pande fall short of exploiting the full potential of the subject.

But to their credit, the treatment is refreshing. Instead of the usual lanes and alleys of Mumbai you see Delhi in all its grandeur. The North Indianness of the characters adds to the novelty factor. What a change from the almost homogenous mumbaiya characters!

The film makes an impressive beginning.. It depicts the story of an English girl who, inspired by her great grandfather's memoirs, comes to India to make a film on Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad. Using 'film within film' format to great effect, the film shifts between eras. Issues of patriotism and communal harmony are raised convincingly. Superbly shot, it once again reveals the director's technical finesse(after 'Aks'). The film moves from one sequence to the next smoothly and when the first half is over, you are pining for more.

Alas, the party doesn't last in the second half. The film takes a creepy turn. Those playing revolutionaries kill a Minister to avenge the death of their friend. The whole event runs parallel with the 'Kakori conspiracy'. And you can see that there is no connection between the contemporary and the historical. The juxtaposition, in fact, is jarring.

However, despite all its failings, the film is visible in a clutter of newly released films. If not for anything, it should be watched for the youthfulness and idealism it portrays .

Film Financing in India

Ashwinikumar Walde — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 00:38:30 EST

The business of filmmaking garnered industry status long back but banks are still shy of financing films. There are two main reasons for this - firstly,banks don't understand filmmaking very well. Filmmaking has always been considered an esoteric fusion of art and technology and very few privileged people have access to it. It is but natural that banker's are far removed from the whole activity of filmmaking. The second reason is that the risk perception of banks is very high. The fact that virtually no filmmaker can guarantee success of a film is not helping matters. Even then a prudent appraisal of a film project can enable a bank to make wise decisions. This will increase the bank's finance to film industry and will benefit both the sectors.

Almost every bank already has a broad guidelines set out for film financing. Apart from these guidelines and procedures, there are several aspects of film production and distribution which a bank should look into :

Configuration of Budget: In big and medium budget films the major portion of the budget is allocated to remuneration to main cast and technicians, shooting at foreign locations, erection of set pieces and special effects. These are therefore the areas where bank's will have to verify the actual expenses incurred by the producers. In small budget films, the main item of expense is the equipment hiring and raw stock cost and these areas need to be looked into. For example, bank can arrive at the stock ratio of a film by dividing total stock to be purchased as per the budget, by the final screen time of the film. For a low budget film, a stock ratio above 6 is alarming. But for medium and big budget films, stock ratio can be more than 10, because raw stock for them is one of cheapest item of expense. Similarly lighting and other equipment hiring cost for low budget films shoul

Budgeted and real value: Human resource is the biggest asset of any organisation and this is perhaps more true for film industry than any other industry. Personal relations play a big role in this sector. Friends (and relatives), many a times, work for far less than their market price. Bank's need to factor in these concessions and discounts to arrive at the true value of a film project. On the other hand, high remuneration to actors or main technicians need to be justified by the producer.

Funding Risk: If producers get the balance payment from distributors at the time of release of film, they make a 'table profit' and can square off accounts with bank even before the film is released. However, the bank's risk increases if the producers themselves are releasing the film in some/ all territories. Also, not all films make a table profit. Big budget films depend on the collections of the film to recover investment and generate profits.

Distribution Strategy: The distribution of films is no longer the simple affair which it was earlier. The rising income of middle classes, rapidly changing value systems and multiplexing of theatres has made it pertinent for film distribution business to go in for segmentation of market. New distribution medium like internet are increasingly becoming important and cannot be overlooked any more. And then there are films which are directly released on DVD, without going in for the traditional theatrical release. A banker will have to use his discretion to find out if the distribution strategy suits the films profile.