IIFA , Lulla and Varma dominate international headlines

As the the 10th International Indian Film Academy Awards in Bangkok are announced Sunday, Bollywood has generated headlines in international papers- but mainly through wire agencies such as AFP and AP. To coincide with IIFA, UK's daily 'The Independent' has carried an informative interview with Kishore Lulla, owner of Bollywood film production and distribution company Eros. "Why are Hollywood films so successful? Because they gross $50m at the weekend and then suddenly every country wants to buy that. We can make a film at 10 per cent of the cost. If that happens, the powerhouse of the world will be a cross-pollination between Hollywood and Bollywood," says Lulla. Here's a selection:

AFP

That's much the plot of this weekend's "Bollywood Oscars," as the International Indian Film Academy holds its annual awards in Bangkok, hoping to bridge the cultural divide and expand its 2.3-billion-dollar industry.

With a population of about 1.1 billion and some of the world's lowest movie ticket prices, India already has the planet's largest film-going audience.

The Indian film industry grew 14 percent last year to 2.3 billion dollars, with international markets contributing nine percent. That's still a small fraction of what Hollywood earns, but PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates the Indian film industry's value will nearly double by 2012.

UTV Motion Pictures is shooting its first solo Hollywood film, "Ex-terminators," with stars Heather Graham and Jennifer Coolidge.
"It's seeing how far we can go. We don't really want to rush into it because we're still getting familiar with the mainstream audience," the company's CEO Siddharth Kapur said.

"What has maybe held us back is the length of our movies and our grammar -- the song and dance -- but if we change our style, we take away what makes us unique."

The Independent (UK)

Can Bollywood really be box office? The head of London-listed Eros International Kishore Lulla insists to James Moore that it can – with no moral compromises.

Before anyone starts thinking Lulla is some kind of latter-day hippy, there is a cool commercial logic to his plans. "I think the new powerhouse of entertainment is going to be from India," he says. "With a population of 1.1 billion, with 400 million in the middle class and 40 million joining every year, you have so much disposable income. In India we have 13,000 screens and 700 multiplexes. We sold four billion tickets last year, compared to 2.9 billion tickets in Hollywood.

"Every major corporate is going into India. There are townships being built, malls being built. Within the next five years you will have 25,000 screens coupled with the 400 million having much more disposable income. We can sell five billion tickets, or more.

"There was a survey in India recently which found that Indians spent most on entertainment. The average cost of a film ticket is a dollar today, but in a few years it could be $3 and one film will gross $50m every weekend. If that happens, you will get the world's attention."

He continues: "Why are Hollywood films so successful? Because they gross $50m at the weekend and then suddenly every country wants to buy that. We can make a film at 10 per cent of the cost. If that happens, the powerhouse of the world will be a cross-pollination between Hollywood and Bollywood.

"Bollywood has gone global outside the English-speaking world," he adds. "The growth in Hollywood has plateaued out but the growth in Bollywood is 18 per cent."

International Herald Tribune

(AP) Bollywood director Ram Gopal Varma (whose film 'Sarkar Raj' was premiered at IIFA) is not about to apologize for making movies about thugs and criminals. Doing anything more civilized, he said, would bore him to death.

Varma said his next film, "Contract," includes actors Prasad Purandare and newcomers Adhivk Mahajan and Sakshi Gulati. It is an effort to show how the criminal underground has changed in recent years to become what he calls a "conduit for terrorist networks."

"The reason why the terrorists would require this kind of support is because mostly the terrorists would be from outside and primarily motivated by ideology," he said.