Now the last edition – or so it is claimed — of the extravaganza, imagined on paper by J.K. Rowling, is upon us. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, releases in India this Friday, intensely publicised on street hoardings, television spots, and cyberspace. Lesson to be learnt: even the most widely adored Potter has to be marketed aggressively to capture eyeballs all over the world.
Rowling’s little big hero has a loyal fan base, among readers at least, although several high school teachers of English literature have contended that kids don’t read any more, no, not even the Potternamas. They’ve been abducted by video games, internet sites (of the sleazy kind too), and other pursuits related to virtual reality. As for the Potter films, adapted from the books, these continue to attract a sizeable number of audience. Usually, their dubbed versions in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, turn out to be big tickets.
Yet if the arrival of the new Potter special effects extavaganza hadn’t been bombarded into the public mind, it is doubtful whether it would click at our desi counters. Similarly a strong buzz has been consistently created for other international hotsellers — designed for the youth market — at our multiplexes, be it Kung Fu Panda 2 or the Batman and Spiderman series.
Taking a leaf from the Hollywood book, of late producers of some of our own kid-friendly flicks have paid a smidgen of attention towards the marketing angle. Examples: Amol Gupte’s Stanley ka Dabba which was backed by Karan Johar and Chillar Party which was supported by Salman Khan. Consequently, both the films did attract public curiosity. By contrast Kacha Nimbu directed by Sagar Bellary, opting for a merciful break from his Bheja fries, went through the cracks since it wasn’t promoted at all by its corporate production office.
This is not to suggest that spending big bucks for publicity for every film is defensible. It is not. Still, let’s face it, that extra expenditure for stoking viewership interest has become mandatory. The costs today have to be built into the budget. For the better or wose, the trend was set off by Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993) which cost more to promote than to produce.
On the other end of the spectrum, the government controlled Children’s Film Society of India and its output, appears to be lost in a time warp. It may organise a children’s film festival, it may come up with two-and-a-half films sporadically, but its products remain under-exposed. Perhaps that’s just as well, since many tend to be below standard given the budgetary constraints. Once Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha and Santosh Sivan directed flms for CFSI, which was initiated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru 56 years ago. The avowed purpose was to create a children’s film movement. Sorry to say, the movement is crippled today.
Curiously, a majority of the chairpersons have been drawn from the Bollywood film industry: some of them like Amol Palekar and Sai Paranjpye succeeded in making an iota of difference, at least, to the red-tape-ridden institute. Others like Raveena Tandon and Nandita Das have not been able to leave any mark, again because the budgets allocated are unrealistic, besides the chore of tackling bureacuratic procedures of the Kafkaesque kind.
And just in case, if one of the CFSI products becomes an international sensation, there’s no pride or celebration in the air. Case in point: Vinod Ganatra’s Heda Hoda (2004) which grabbed as many as nine awards globally, including those at Brazil, Cairo and Los Angeles.
Does the public at large know about this little jewel of a film dedicated to the theme of secularism? Does anyone know Mr Ganatra? Till there’s a rehaul, a rethink, Potter shall prevail.