Is Bollywood giving regional cinema the extra push it needs?

While regional cinema faces tough competition from Hindi films, Bollywood is doing its bit to give the former the extra push it needs. Not only are actors from Bollywood looking at their regional cousin with great interest, producers too are training their eyes on fresh content.

Madhuri Dixit’s Marathi debut film Bucket List, which is garnering a lot of audience interest at theatres, got Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions as its producer. The production house was also part of the Baahubali franchise.

While the success story of the war drama is not unknown, Dharma Production’s latest foray is not going unnoticed at the box office either. Bucket List has earned Rs 3.66 crore in three days with release on 409 screens.

It is this success of regional cinema that is attracting more production and distribution companies to invest in this lucrative segment.

In 2017, online ticketing platform BookMyShow reported average occupancy of 45-46 percent for regional films last year as compared to 39-40 percent in 2016.

Last year, Gujarati films registered a 44 percent increase over 2016 in terms of transactions on the site, followed by Malayalam films registering a 38 percent rise, according to an EY report.

Regional markets grew in 2016 as well with increasing reach of Marathi, Punjabi and Gujarati markets starting to demonstrate greater depth in addition to major south Indian language markets.

While Hindi films struggled to perform well at the box office that year, some of the south Indian films pushed the envelope and registered revenues to be categorized as blockbusters, thus opening up new possibilities for the regional film industry.

In 2015, one of the most important themes that emerged was the increasing share of Hollywood and regional content in the total domestic revenues. Regional films which are normally the mainstay of single screens, contributed up to 30 percent in revenues at some national multiplexes during the second and the third quarter, indicating wide acceptance of good regional content, according to a KPMG report.

These achievements have resulted in regional films collaborating with big Bollywood production houses. Sony Pictures Entertainment India will enter the regional space with a Malayalam project to be co-produced by and featuring Malayali superstar Prithviraj Sukumaran.

Following suit is Viacom18 Motion Pictures that is into distribution of two regional ventures — a light-hearted post-Independence Marathi tale Cycle and Punjabi film Nanak Shah Fakir. The move comes after the success of Marathi suspense thriller Aapla Manus that released this February and earned Rs 20 crore in first 50 days of its release.

Another player that has already tried its hand in the regional segment is ZEE Studios. The company has superhit film Sairat to its credit, which crossed the Rs 100 crore benchmark with a budget of just Rs 4 crore.

Another example of Bollywood’s interest in regional cinema is actor Priyanka Chopra’s company Purple Pebble Pictures, which produced 2016 Marathi release Ventilator. The film was not only critically acclaimed but also well received at the box office. It was invited to the 55th New York Film Festival. Back home, the film, which was made at a budget of Rs 3.5 crore, had earned over Rs 25 crore.

Chopra’s production house is now working on another Marathi film, Firebrand, which went on the floors in January this year.

Director Rohit Shetty too has been involved with regional films. He will be producing a Marathi film, School College Aani Life, which will go on floors soon.

According to industry experts, great content is emerging from regional cinema and that is setting the films from this segment apart from Bollywood. In addition, foraying into regional space is giving production houses and studios to venture into new markets. And then there is this other lucrative option of Hindi remakes as the demand for the rights are huge.

While big names in Bollywood are giving regional cinema a strong backing, the latter has not been a disappointment as more and more regional films are turning out to be profitable ventures.