From KGF2 to Prabhas' Salaar, Hombale Films to offer more pan-India releases

Hombale Films, makers of the newly released Yash-starrer KGF2, has more pan-India movies in its content pipeline.

Starting with Kannada language ventures, like its first release Ninnindale, in 2014, starring popular Kannada star Puneeth Rajkumar, and other ventures, including Masterpiece and  Raajakumara, the movie production house made its first pan-India film KGF: Chapter 1 in 2018.

The first instalment from the KGF franchise not only became the highest grossing Kannada film but also one of the most successful films at the Indian box office, collecting Rs 200 crore.

Next pan-India venture

Chaluve Gowda, partner and co-founder, Hombale Films, said that after the installments of KGF, the production house is working on its next pan-India venture, Salaar, which features Baahubali star Prabhas.

"We have completed 30 percent shooting of Salaar. We will restart shooting in May and we are planning to complete it by the end of 2022. The release is expected by March- April next year," Gowda told Moneycontrol.

He added that the production company will announce two pan-India ventures next month.

“We have two films in Kannada, ready to be released in May and June. We have a mix of big to medium-budgets films in the content pipeline. Every year, we will do 4-5 Kannada films and one pan-India film," he added.

Tapping dubbing opportunities

Gowda said they have big investment plans and will also be focusing on their partnership with The Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Under the joint venture, Hombale Films have plans to create content in sports and entertainment.

When it comes to dubbing content in regional languages, Gowda said they will continue releasing their big films in five languages. KGF2 was also released in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam.

"We will continue dubbing content in five languages as there will be no value-addition in dubbing films into other languages. In the north, the Hindi version works. Dubbing films in languages like Bengali or Bhojpuri will not be feasible," he said.

Analysts note that dubbing content helps drive box-office revenue for regional films. Gowda also said that, so far, Kannada films were made at a certain budget but if there is content that can reach a wider audience, filmmakers should invest in such films.

"We spent on marketing and distribution to reach a wider audience for both installments from the KGF franchise."

KGF2 is touted as one the biggest releases with a screen count of around 7,000 screens, less than only the highest grossing film in India, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, which played on 7,500 screens in India. The film is expected to do business worth Rs 650 crore at the Indian box offices.

In 2018, KGF: Chapter 1 became the first Kannada movie to mint over Rs 200 crore, pan-India, and was also the first to make Rs 100 crore in Karnataka alone.

Kannada film industry still behind Tamil, Telugu peers

However, the Kannada film industry's share in overall box-office revenue was five percent in 2019, lower than its other regional counterparts, like Tamil and Telugu, which both had a 13 percent share in box-office revenue.

Film trade analysts note that Kannada movies are only one-state-driven, while other regional cinemas have travelled to Mumbai, Delhi and other cities. There is a huge market for content in alternate languages – for instance, in Hyderabad, for Tamil films; and Malayalam cinema is now popular all over in multiplexes in Gujarat.

However, Kannada hasn’t grown like that. For the Kannada film industry, 95-98 percent revenue comes from within the state. This is different for Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, for which 70-80 percent revenue comes from within the state and the rest is from outside.

But with content like the KGF franchise, the Kannada film industry is looking to increase its share in box-office revenue, for which it is betting big on pan-India films as they believe that such movies will flourish the industry and will help the market grow even for small- and medium-size content.