From Amitabh Bachchan’s Jhund to Ranveer Singh’s 83, moviemakers tap NFT frenzy

India’s love for cinema is translating into the growing non-fungible token (NFT) market in the country where moviemakers, stars and singers are launching digital collectibles to connect with fans.

Makers of recently released film Jhund (March 4) starring Amitabh Bachchan in association with US-headquartered NFT platform Superstar Xchange, have launched two so-called gold edition NFTs representing two movie posters of the film price at $2,824.26 each.

Superstar Xchange has partnered with blockchain adoption entities Tezos India and TZ APAC.

Savita Raj Hiremath, co-founder of Superstar Xchange and who is also a film producer with movies like Khosla ka Ghosla to her credit, plans to launch more NFTs of Jhund.

She said that the company has bought rights to more Bollywood ventures and is also looking to expand to other film industries.

“We have over 50 films of which we have acquired the rights and we are working on 50 more. We are negotiating for more rights for south and other films. In the first half of 2022, will be launching NFTs of 15 to 20 movies. The number of NFTs will be determined by popularity and age of the movies,” Hiremath told Moneycontrol.

Movie mania in NFT market

According to Pranav Panpalia who closely tracks the NFT space and is the founder of OpraahFx, an influencer marketing platform, while the share of movie NFTs is small at the moment as the segment itself is quite new, film-based digital collectibles is a very rapidly growing market.

“In India, Bollywood is the biggest industry. With takers from across demographics, movie NFTs will certainly be in high demand in the coming future. Pre-theatrical NFT release would be the new trend that movie marketers may adapt. Movie NFTs will certainly have takers, especially crypto and NFT enthusiasts who will jump on the bandwagon. Movies of larger production houses with massively anticipated audience responses may take the larger share,” he added.

Ramkumar Subramaniam, co-founder and CEO at Guardianlink.io, which launched the Bachchan’s NFTs that were sold for more than Rs 7 crore, noted in an earlier interview to Moneycontrol that India is big on NFTs, especially movie-based ones.

The digital collectibles of Ranveer Singh-starrer 83 launched by NFT marketplace Social Swag saw sales worth Rs 10 lakh within an hour of the NFT drop that included cricket memorabilia, video moments, digital avatars, and unseen posters and images.

More players explore film NFTs

Along with Superstar Xchange and Social Swag, many other NFT platforms are betting big on movie-based NFTs.

In January this year, NFT marketplace Fantico launched Bollywood digital assets paired with physical assets like Javed Akhtar’s handwritten lyrics of the song Hawa Hawai from the movie Mr India, Akshay Kumar’s Versace jacket worn in the movie Dhadkan and the platinum jubilee trophy received by the movie Namak Halaal for completing 75 weeks in theatres, among others.

Fantico had started its journey with cinema-based NFTs and had offered digital collectibles from Indian cinema including the original theatrical artwork of Mughal-E-Azam and showcards of the 1972 classic Sholay with the signature of C Mohan, who designed the movie’s logo.

Another NFT marketplace, Diginoor.io, which has partnered with AVM Studios, Sivaji Productions and V Creations, last year offered digital assets from three blockbuster Rajinikanth movies including Sivaji, Chandramukhi and Kabali, offering 60 different NFTs.

Launched on the actor’s birthday on December 12, the film-based NFTs included deleted scenes and metaverse accessories, behind the scenes (BTS) footage of the three movies, and digital Kabali suit or props, among others.

The platform’s first NFT collection in July last year included digital assets from Rajinikanth’s film Sivaji: The Boss. In the first drop on Diginoor.io, around 17 NFTs of Sivaji: The Boss were sold in the price range of $99-1,500. The platform sold 30-40 percent of the Sivaji content in the first NFT drop and launched the remaining on December 12.

When it comes to the NFT segment in India, movies are making a mark and NFT players say digital assets of films are a great way to introduce a concept like NFT in the market as the country has a strong movie fan base.

Banking on this, Shaamil Karim and Yash Rathod, co-founders of Diginoor, have added 5,000-6,000 movie titles to the content pipeline and also partnered with production houses like Reliance Entertainment to offer digital collectibles of Bollywood ventures.

Movie-based NFTs set to grow

Ashwin Singh Takiar, a bitcoin investor and crypto trader, thinks that NFTs, which are widely explored by millennials and the tech-savvy currently, could see its target demographics change as Bollywood has a very large fandom. “There are possibilities that NFTs of movies from the 1980s-2000s may also emerge, which will be a breakthrough,” he said.

He added, “NFT response can also be a preliminary test to understand how movies will sell at cinemas. Fans can also resell their purchased NFT at a higher price and earn a profit. The potential of NFTs will further expand in the next two to three years. Movie NFTs as gifts will emerge as a great sector.”