Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Earning money from my movie is easy for me (2) !

The other major part will be to attract students. Well of course here I will have to use the tip which was given to me by Clive, a GURU of http://www.indietalk.com/. He told me that when ever you are planning a movie make a sketch of poster of your movie and look out does it attract people and does it tell the genre of your movie? So I will have to make a sketch of poster of my movie and I will have to ask my friends that’s are they able to guess what genre my movie belong too? I will also have to ask does they like the poster? Is it attractive? I know making and printing out poster will be little expensive but the good thing will be that all the sale department will be in my hand (with the co-ordination of university management). Though the marketing expenses will be my responsibility but still I should not forget that I will be directly involved in sales and all the figures will be open to me.
I will have to only print attractive posters for my movie and I will have to place them on the right places in the university. Me and the university management can decide Sunday for the projection of the movie. On the other hand, because all the universities (which are offering filmmaking) have good multimedia equipments so my movie (which can be on DVD) can easily get projected. The university Management in this way can earn too.

Now coming back toward the numerical figures in Pakistan there are universities like NCA, IQRA, PAFKIET, RIFAH BNU which are offering filmmaking. There are some more universities which are offering Mass communication too so (obviously filmmaking is a field of mass communication too) these universities can be added in the list too. The names which are coming in my mind right now are PUNJAB UNIVERSITY, KARACHI UNIVERSITY, SUPERIOR COLLEGE, GC UNIVERSITY etc. Few universities (from the above mentioned list) have campuses in more than 1 city so roughly there are (at-least) 15 universities which can be targeted (remember there are few more but I don’t have the list right now). If the total number of students studying in all these universities are even around 2000 (which is definitely a rough calculation of me, the actual number is much greater) and even if I get able to sell out 500 tickets so (500 X 200 price per ticket) it means that I will still recover my costs after giving half money to the universities.

These are rough calculations. I believe the only two important things which I will require a sellable movie and the convincing power to convince the universities. And after these two thing I can definitely recover the costs of my movie. And in bonus I will get name and fame in the market, because obviously showing my movie in so many universities will certainly attract press and media too.

What do you say? :=)

The End.

Earning money from my movie is easy for me !

Hello friends! Before reading this post remember one thing I am not a Film Marketing guru. Neither I am persuading you to apply this method. It is just an idea which I am sharing with you because this is the plan which I developed for my film’s marketing and promotion.

When I became the member of www.indietalk.com a senior filmmaker told me a very important thing. And that was when you start planning your movie, straight away start planning the distribution and promotion of your movie too.

Ok coming back towards the topic. As you people know I am a student so definitely I lack the resources to make movie on 35mm, I lack the contacts which are essential for distribution of my movie .I also lack the experience which is important to convince distributors that my movie is going to sell. More over there are many problems in Lolly-Wood too. Problems like limited number of cinema houses, lack of Digital Projection of the movies and many more.

So what to do? Well obviously the first thing I need is a movie, in-fact a good interesting movie. As I have mentioned that Pakistan do not have many cinemas with digital projection, and also considering the budget issue and considering me, being a student cant afford 35mm will obviously go for digital format. After completing my movie my target will not be cinemas. Yes, neither I will target and DVD sales. How can I be so foolish that while living in the world of piracy (Pakistan) I will go for DVD sales? I am going to target colleges and universities. Yes the name of colleges and universities came to my mind last year when my bro participated in 3D animation competition and I was over their to motivate him. The way the event took place it generated an idea why not to invite the universities and target the young generation for my movie? In Pakistan there are few major universities which are teaching Filmmaking (which has started in recent years and the first qualified batch of filmmakers of Pakistan’s Cinema History will pass out in 2011). So I still have chance to make something good and show it to others. No doubt those people might have more potential then me. After all they are all getting formal education. But I believe filmmaking is about natural talent not degrees. Even this is possible that universities might like to show their students the work of a young guy who has not even a diploma in filmmaking (well do remember i have put the condition of an interesting movies with my movie not a simple movie as there are plenty of young filmmakers)
The major part will be to convince the management of Universities. Well of course they will have a share in our earning. The ration can be anything from 50% 50% to 60% 40% or any other figures in total revenue. That will totally depend upon my negotiation and bargaining skills.


To be continued...

Monday, September 29, 2008

Is King Khan’s Empire Falling? (4)


King Khan and Female Stars!

From the production of “OM SHANTI OM” King Khan has started a new plan for himself. And that is to work with those females which are completely new. After “OM SHANTI OM” the new movie under home production of King Khan again has signed a new female actress for the lead role in the movie. This act his become a threat for senior heroines of Bolly-Wood because the success of “OM SHANTI OM” brought depikea (the leading female actress of OM SHANTI OM) at the top list of Bolly-Wood female actresses. SO this act has some how created differences between King Khan and senior female actresses of Bolly-Wood

King Khan and Yash Chopra Camp!

Though there are no open news of any differences between King Khan and Yash camp. But people can notice one thing that’s King Khan is not getting the movies from Yash Camp the way he used to get. In last many years he only got only one movie under Yash camp which was “Chak de India”. And even this movie was given to King Khan after a long time.

NEW COMERS!

Bolly-Wood now days is giving chance to many new comers. On the other hand stars like Hritik Roshan, Shahid kapoor etc are also getting stability in Bolly-Wood by giving good films like “JODHA AKBAR” and “JAB WE MET” respectively. Films like these would definitely increase the fan’s list of other stars and would reduce the fan following of King Khan. Indirectly even this is also a reason for the falling empire of King Khan.


The End

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Is King Khan’s Empire Falling? (3)

KING KHAN VS SALMAN KHAN!







Salman Khan, The bad boy of Bolly-wood. He and king khan have shared a beautiful relationship of friendship. The first differences occurred while the home production of King Khan “Chalte Chalte”. The lead female role was being played by Aishwarya Rai (X girl friend of Salman Khan). Due to this Salman khan used to visit the shooting spot and interfere the production matters. Due to this King khan not only separated Miss Aish from the movie but even differences were created. Later on they again became friends on the wedding of FARAH KHAN(filmmaker of Bolly-Wood.)




But it was the recent times when they again had a fight on the birthday of Salman’s girl friend where they both were trying to prove that their TV show is better than of the other. Soon the silly joke turned into a fight and other Bolly-Wood stars had to interfere to cool down the matter. King Khan soon left the party with his wife.




Bolly-Wood believes that this fight will go longer as Salman Khan is famous for not forgiving his enemies. The proofs are of Vivek Oberoi and JOHN ABRAHEM. Where Vivek asked for forgiveness on the stage while performing but in result Salman Khan turned his face away.

Thought it is hard to say that who will win the battle but that’s for sure that King khan has increased the number of enemies by making one more.














King Khan VS Akshay Kumar !





Akshay is the man who is standing shoulder to shoulder with king khan. And is being considered the biggest threat to the number 1 position of King Khan. In last two years he has given many hits to Bolly-Wood. He is also famous for being the most expensive actor in the recent times.

Interestingly in an interview he indirectly taunted on King Khan by saying” I don’t know why people call them self King? There is only one king in the industry and he is Amitabh Bachan”.

Though generally he is not listed an enemy of King Khan but that’s for sure that he is the most important person who can ruin King Khan’s empire







To be Continued

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Is King Khan’s Empire Falling? (2)

SRK VS AMIR KHAN !

Amir Khan, the guy famous by the name "perfectionist" in Bolly-Wood is considered the toughest competitor of SRK. The reason is that they are not only of same age group but also because they compete each other in many other fields other than acting. They both are into production, and modeling too being the brand ambassadors of famous products. This is true that it is hard for Amir Khan to defeat the stardom of King Khan and he looks a step behind. But even this is true that being a perfectionist he clearly knocks out King Khan in acting, production and now he is one step a head by giving a debut super hit “Tare Zameen Par”.







I personally admire Amir Khan for being one of the few guys of Bolly-Wood who have change the minds of audience by producing movies like “LAGAAN” which was OSKAR nominated. His firs movie “TARE ZAMEEN PAR” was released against King Khans movie “OM SHANTI OM” and no doubt Amir Khan nearly flushed “OM SHANTI OM”. King Khans Fan might mind this but it is true that the movie made by Amir Khan was not only entertaining but at the same time it had a very important issue to discuss related to children’s problem. When “OM SHANTI OM” got released it made huge profits and records. People were praising King Khan and he was being ranked NUMBER 1 again. But Amir Khan very cleverly placed a small 8 years child (by giving him the lead role in his movie) in the battle of acting against King Khan and nearly paralyzed King Khan. The young boy Darsheel Safary was outstanding in acting. The oil on fire was put by Darsheel when he demanded to get nominated in the best actor’s category with people like King Khan(for OM SHANTI OM) rather the getting nominated in child stars category.

When people asked King Khan has he seen the movie and what are his remarks, he cheaply said (may be he was trying to act smart)”The joker was good”. In “TARE ZAMEEN PAR” Amir Khan had a getup of Joker before the interval when he gave entry. And even Darsheel in the first half acted like a naughty boy (nearly a small joker). So it was hard to know to whom King Khan called JOKER but it is true that who ever the joker was had really ruined King Khan. In the near past Amir already named his dog Shahrukh, of which there was no reply by King Khan.

Though they both have done some cheap acts but it is true that after the Immense HIT of “TARE ZAMEEN PAR” and due to several controversies linked with King Khan it is not Amir Khan but King Khan who is suffering severely.

King Khan’s also suffered from the controversy by this movie and the controversy was of insulting “Manoj Kumar”(the super star of Bolly-wood of 70s). In that movie there were few scenes, which according to Manoj Kumar hurt his feelings. Manoj Kumar filed cases against King Khan, his wife and against the director of the film. All in all the success of “Om Shanti Om” not only brought success to King Khan but also brought controversies for King khan

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Some More Mouthing Pictures (3)


Jimmy answer me !! Please







Lets go and destroy Usama and co !!



US Army vs Usama

You & Me (The Love Story)


Saturday, September 13, 2008

Is King Khan’s Empire Falling?

Who on earth will be the person, Involved in films in any form and doesn’t know the KING KHAN of Bolly-Wood. He is not only the heart throb of Bolly-Wood but also sitting in the hearts of many non Indians. Few years back I was reading a report which claimed that King Khan is even more than Tom Cruise of Hollywood. It might not be acceptable by US people, but the statement was clarified by the news paper. It said that King Khan is the most popular star in Bolly-Wood, which means that he is already favorite of a country of 100 million. Secondly it was mentioned that Bolly-Wood movies are most famous in Muslim Communities. If we look at the general audience of movies lovers in Muslims the majority film lovers are either females and youngster. And this is for sure that King Khan has special appeal towards these both categories. Not to forget that Muslims are around 1.5/5 of the whole population of the world, and India alone being a 1/5 of the whole world which makes 1.5 +1= 2.5/5. It was a rough idea presented by the news paper but still looks close to the reality. SO the numerical show that some how it is a Truth

King Khan is a lucky child of destiny. While reading his biography I was inspired when I read that when he came to Bombay (today’s Mumbai) and one day while standing near sea side he said “one day I will rule Bombay”. Interestingly that was the time when he had no money his pocket and he was staying at his friend‘s home. He was fortunate that his words were accepted by destiny and he really became the King of Bolly-wood. He was the un-crowned KING of Indian Cinema and every thing which was touched by him was turned into gold, plus he had very strong relation with the “BIGS” of Bolly-Wood. But as we all know every thing comes to end. Same is now happening with King Khan. And the gurus of Bolly-Wood believe that King Khan himself is the reason for it. He has started taunting on every other person of Bolly-Wood who is giving him a tough time in one way or the other. We will separately see his controversies with few “BIGS” of Bolly-wood which have taken place in the recent times.




KING KHAN VS BIG B

Big B, the first uncrowned king of Bolly-Wood and the angry young man. His relation was too close with SRK. They were so close to each other that MRs Jia Bachan used to say that she has never differentiated between Abhishek and SRK. The rivalry started from the point when SRK started trying to copy(not even follow) the foot steps of Big B. He wanted to show his feet are bigger then that of Amitabh Bachan. The first attempt for it was hosting KBC (3rd session). Big B had already set a land mark in KBC which was not easy to pass. But King Khan worked hard and nearly flushed Big B’s image. According to one of the most respectable Indian newspaper it was declared that KBC (3rd session) has gain more popularity then the first two sessions. The reason is simple. Big B has an image of a reserved and mature guy and people use to be a little scared from his personality. Where as King khan opted a different strategy by loving, kissing, hugging and giving his hand watches to people who use to win “0” money. He used to give massage to contestant to release their tension. All this made KBS 3 a huge success.

The second Attempt was of the remake of DON. But un-luckily this time he failed to get over Big B. Though the film made earned huge revenue but due to the intentional or un-intentional comparison of old and new DON the re-make of DON was considered a flop.

I personally have seen King Khan taunting Big B in Koffe with Karan where King Khan and Big B , both were invited(this was the time when they were close friends). Karan Johar asked King khan to say one line for Big B and King Khan said”Rishtey main tou hum tumhare baap hite hain”. The famous film dialogue of Big B in a movie. Though at that moment there were smiles and all over but sentences like this can easily ruin the relation ship between a senior and junior. Not only a senior but a senior who is worshiped like god in his field.

So King Khan’s first controversy was with Big B.

To be continued.........

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Important fact about the Movie “ZIBAHKHANA”.

1. Zibahkhana is the first non 35mm Pakistani film. It was shot on HDV format


2. It was premiered at NAT FLM FESTIVAL, in DENMARK


3. The film was also screened in many festivals all over the world like TORONTO,NEWYOURK,LONDON,CAPETOWN AND AUSTIN


4. Won “Jury award for best film of 2008” at Riofan Film Festival, Brazil


5. Won “Jury’s special award for best GORE 2007” at Fantastic Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

Selecting the right Script for a Pakistani Movie.(3)



The next film of the 3 films which were examined by me was “Zibahkhana” or the English name “Hell’s Ground”. Talking honestly the film does not have anything special..…(surprised by my words?).Well yes the film does not have any charm for those Pakistani audience which have seen movies like Resident Evil, Dawn of the Dead, Wrong Turn etc. The movie is completely a mixture of all these things in the sense that it is a Zombie genre movie where a group of teenagers use a shortcut (just like in the movie Wrong Turn) and then they are standing against zombies. Then the question arises why the movies did well?





Well there are few reasons to it. The most important reason is that Pakistani audience generally do not watch Hollywood movies (or any other movie which is in English Language. Thanks to the low illiteracy rate). There are very few Holly wood films which get released in Pakistan and until now there hasn’t been a movie released of the Zombie genre. So it was something very new for the majority of the people. The filmmaker Omar Ali Khan intelligently mixed the creation of West (Zombie genre) with Pakistani culture and style. More over there was also an addition of a killer in the movie creating more suspense. A killer with a leather mask is a very common phenomena in West but it was something very new in Lolly-Wood. Creating lot of suspense too in the movie along with fear.Being a completely new thing in Pakistan the Zombie type movie “Zibahkhana” did well on box office. Though it didn’t got huge theatrical release in Pakistan due to the Digital format (Pakistan do not have many cinemas with digital projection) but still the movie ran on Rawalpindi Cinema for 10 weeks, which keeping in mind the situation of Lolly-Wood for last few years was a great success. It was also shown at places like LUMS (Lahore University of Management Sciences) which is not only considered the best university of Pakistan and also known as one of the good best universities of ASIA. And majority of the students in the university belong to elite class. Getting a chance to get screened at a place in university like LUMS was itself the answer that YES the movie has something good for Pakistani audience.







The last movie in my list was “Koi Tugh Sa kahan” which was the first attempt of Reema Khan. Well Reema Khan herself is the most popular female celebrity of Pakistan. You can judge her popularity by the fact that she was the first FEMAL FILM STAR of Pakistan’s history who did modeling for PEPSI AD FILM. Before her no FEMALE FILM STAR of Pakistan got a contract for AD Film with PEPSI CO. Her maiden attempt (till now) was near to best in every aspect. The story which is the most important aspect of a movie was good and different (not a typical love story). Special attention was given to music which is again considered important in Pakistani and Indian films. It had a star cast. The good and the most solid reason for the success of the movie was that the story was good, realistic, and different from the normal movies which we normally see in our cinemas and was written keeping in mind market of Pakistan
.

Though I believe that there are no formulas for making a successful film but I also believe that keeping in mind the important factors and regular analysis of flop films and hit films help us reducing the risk which is the only way to make a good and HIT film.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Selecting the right Script for a Pakistani Movie.(2)



So here is the second part of the article. In the previous article I talked and did analysis of few flop films. Now coming towards the hit films of the last few years. As I have already told that in the last few years there were only few movies which were highly rated before their release so I am doing their analysis only.

The first movie which I will mention about is “MAJAJN” which was directed by Lolly-wood’s most creative filmmaker SYED NOOR. He is also known as the box office king for his super hit movies.Though he has more then 70% of flops on his credit but the reason for it that the investors generally belong to the category of BLACK MONEY MAKERS. I hope you have read the article by the title “vulgarity in Lolly wood movie” on my blog. But the good thing is when ever he gets a chance to make a movie with a sensible producer (which rarely happens) he definitely gives a good film. Coming back to the topic. His film “MAJAJAN” has made the record in Lolly wood by running for 254 weeks in Pakistani Cinema, which is really surprising when we see that we have neighbour like Bolly wood, and the piracy is simply like getting a cup of tea from kitchen. The movie is still on cinemas. The story is a love story but not a typical Pakistani story where a rich guy fells in love with a poor girl. Though the story is like that but it has huge difference because the main theme of the movie was not adopted by any ordinary Pakistani love story but by a SUFI POET of Pakistan “Baba Bhulleh Shah”. And after that from his poetry the complete script was developed by Rukhsana Noor(Syed Noor’s Wife).



The story also has appeal for general public because the movie is made in Punjabi Language (a provincial or regional language of Pakistan). So due to this there was no competition between “MAJAJAN” and Bolly-wood movies. The movie had great performances of superstars like SHAAN and SAIMA and there was a come back of MADIHA SHAH (old female Films Star who was out of industry for a long time).

Generally movies made in URDU language have more competition in Pakistani Cinema Industry as these movies directly compete with Bolly wood (due to the same language. Though there is a little difference but generally URDU and HINDI are nearly same and the people living in both countries understand each other’s language very easily) and it is really hard to survive against them. One thing to remember is that 99 % of the movies pirated from INDIA are in HINDI language not PUNJABI. This is also a major reason due to which the majority films made in Lolly wood are in Punjabi these days, as it reduces the factor of competition. We can also say that PUNJABI MOVIES are made under the rule of “Targeting NICHE MARKET”.


To be continued….

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Selecting the right Script for a Pakistani Movie(1)

Before starting this article I want to tell you I am not a professional script writer till now. Neither I have I discovered any shocking secrets about how to get a good (the better word should be sellable) script. I am over here just sharing my views which are based on my analysis which I have developed after watching few newly released movies in recent times and by the result of some other movies which were released couple of years back. Though you might think that why I did the analysis of recent time movies with the movies of past years. Well the answer is simple and that is they all were the only movie which had attraction for viewers (at-least before the release).

One more thing which I want to say is that I feel happy the general Pakistani audience has developed the taste for a good movie which was not present in past.

Coming back towards the topic what is the right type of script for Pakistani audience? The answer is simple. They want something new instead of that old love stories or family drama which had the quarrel between either two families or within the family to marry the person of their own choice. But looks like Pakistani filmmakers are still living in fool’s paradise. The recent example of it is Javed Shekh (who though is an intelligent person but still failed to get a sparking script). His movie Khulay Asmaan Ke Neechay was one of the biggest flops of the Pakistan history despite of the fact that it was the most expensive movie of Lolly wood and even the marketing budget was the biggest. But the story was completely an old one where a boy wanted to marry the girl of his own choice and the family was against it. The movie with this old and boring story was a big flop. Though it has good melodious songs which are considered a very important ingredient of Lolly wood movies and along with it, it had It had best equipments hired (which is like a blessing for Pakistani filmmakers). I am mentioning about equipments because generally Pakistani filmmakers think that latest equipments are the most important factor in success of films which is completely wrong.

The other movie which is “RAMCHAND PAKISTANI” was a mixture of one of the best HD-CAMS and equipments (again) and highly creative script selected by Mehreen Jabbar. No doubt Mehreen is one of the best filmmakers of Pakistan and has the potential to even stand in the list of good filmmakers in international list. But even her movie failed at the box office which is little shocking. The only reason which I could find was that though the topic was but had no appeal for general audience. The movie was more like an artistic film rather then a commercial film. The simple question was that why general audience will be interested in a Hindu boy of Pakistan living near the borders and crossing the border by mistake? In the modern era where Pakistani audience is already tired of the real life hardships they will not be interested in wasting their money by going to cinema and to see the hardship of any other Pakistani. So the Pakistani filmmakers should remember the present state of Pakistani audience and should choose any interesting script which can give relief to the audience instead of creating more tensions……..

To be Continued…….