Aim to retain dominant spot in TV, movies: Balaji Telefilms

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Aim to retain dominant spot in TV, movies: Balaji Telefilms

Balaji Telefilms intends to continue retaining it's dominance in the television space while continuing it's aggression in the motion picture space, said CEO Tanuj Garg to CNBC-TV18.

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Just like the theatres in the movie kept filling up, the major success of 'The Dirty Picture' has added over Rs 80 crore to Balaji Telefilms ' kitty. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, chief executive of the production house, Tanuj Garg says that they are very happy with the money they have made from this movie.

Going ahead, the company has an extremely robust slate of releases lined up for the year, not only in motion pictures but TV production as well. "Balaji intends to continue retaining it's dominance in the television space while continuing it's aggression in the motion picture space," said Garg.

Below is an edited transcript of his interview with Ekta Batra and Sumaira Abidi. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: The Dirty Picture has turned out to be a huge success. What are you seeing in terms of profits, if you can give us some numbers?

A: We are extremely excited by the kind of business that the film has done. Currently as things stand, the domestic net box office is within the range of about Rs 80 crore. The international net box office is around Rs 7-8 crore at the moment, and this excludes monetization from other incremental non-theatrical revenue streams like music, home video, digital and satellite. So revenues from those streams are additional to the theatrical revenues. So we are quite happy with what we have achieved in the money we have made on The Dirty Picture.

Q: When exactly did you break even on The Dirty Picture? Also, how much are you estimating in terms of total profitability along with the additional sources of revenue that you spoke about in terms of monetization?

A: We had broken even pre-release, which is always a great situation to be in, for the simple reason that we priced our product very correctly. The danger arises when your product is over priced and therefore you have to over sell it. We sold it at extremely correct market visible rates and we broken even before the release because the film is very moderately priced. It was budgeted very correctly, which is one of the things Balaji believes in.

Q: So what about the upcoming projects now? How do you better The Dirty Picture?

A: We have an extremely creatively compelling slate going forward. We have about five releases confirmed for the FY12-13. Our first film will be the sequel of 'Kya kool hai hum,' which is 'Kya super kool hai hum.' We have 'Rock the Shaadi' with Abhay and Genelia and we are doing a film which is a co-production with Phantom called Lutera with Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha.

We also have a co-production with Sanjay Gupta called 'Shootout at Wadala,' which is a sequel to Shootout at Lokhandwala which is kicking off in February-March. We have our own sequel to 'Once upon a time in Mumbai Part II,' which is also likely to take off in March or April. So an extremely robust slate and extremely excited about the next year.

Q: How have you monetized these five releases already?

A: We have gradually started monetizing them, but it's a little premature to monetize them entirely at this stage. But as the films near completion and as we start building up the marketing buzz and the entire aura around the film, we will continue the monetization process.

Q: One, can you comment on the land deal which you struck a couple of days ago. Two, what do you expect to do in terms of the remaining half of FY12 in terms of TV production?

A: I look after the Motion Picture division, but yes the television production division is just as active at the moment. It's a separate business vertical taken care of by a separate team, but given that we all are in one building, we are pretty aware of what the other division is doing. I can tell you that television is extremely aggressive at the moment. We have almost 45 shows that are planned across various GEC's. So Balaji intends to continue retaining it's dominance in the television space while continuing it's aggression in the Motion Picture space.

As far as land deal is concerned, yes there has been some talk about it in the building but it's handled by a separate team altogether.

Q: Can you tell us decisively when could we see some green on the bottom line for Balaji?

A: It should be soon, but I wouldn't be able to comment because the corporate and the finance aspects of the company are very separately and distinctly handled.