FILM-MAKER DILIP GULATI:  On Modest Budget Films Like MAFIA BIGG BOSS

” It Is very safe to  make modest budgetted films as distributers have to earn  back their Minimum Guarantee amounts they have paid to the producers . These days the P and A teams have also added their baggage which means that the producer has to look out for a P and A partner who will invest above the cost of the film and he will recover his investment and only then he will  pay the producer the money which has to be covered for the cost of production of the film. Now this is very tricky thing for a new producer to understand and he easily gets trapped in this viscious circle. How many filmmakers have managed to earn their investment of the film after allowing the P and A partners to earn their money ?

Dilip Gulati continues:  ” I think, most of the filmmakers end up losing the box-office battle in spite of getting a P and A partner whose investments are in crores today. The reasons being  that most of the big-budget ,star-studded films get the maximum playing time in the multiplexes as well as the single theatres and the left out shows which are very minimum are usually shared by the small budgetted filmmakers whose film has to earn from Rs. One crore to say Rs. Five crore. As MAFIA BIGG BOSS, my latest release is budgetted at Rs.1.5 crore, I think I will target the single screens mainly in the B and C centres only as I think the distributers and exhibitors will prefer to play safe by giving me the proper playing time in mass area cinema halls  only like Imperial, Mumbai which has admission rates of Rs.30 and Rs.40 only and the best managed single screens of Star-Mazgaon,  New Shirin-Saat Raasta-Mahalaxmi, Sharda-Dadar, Paradise- Mahim, Bhiwandi,Kurla, Bhandup, Mulund, Thane,  Ulhasnagar, etc in Mumbai city and suburbs and Thane district where I have my own distribution network. Like this, I will also opt for the cinemas with cheapest rates of admission as I always think that the masses of our country are deprived of their share of entertainment  nowadays as most of  the filmmakers are opting to make costly films which are supposed to be made for  the multiplex tastes and in most of the cases, the films do not enter the 4th day with healthy collections in these multiplexes and the shows are given to the star-studded films without the approval of the poor producer who does not get any chance to even complain in his association to safeguard his rights to show his film even for the minimum seven days of the entire week which is indeed a very sad story for the film can never again see the light of the cinema screen ever again.

Dilip Gulati continues:” But, on the other hand , I still have a chance to see my film entering the 2nd week in the same area like Bhiwandi where the mass audiences are the maximum and the exhibitors of Bhiwandi cinemas will rotate my film in every theatre for minimum five weeks at least. I am also hopeful of MAFIA BIGG BOSS running to very good houses in the Northern territories like Delhi U.P., East Punjab, CP,Cl and Rajasthan and even in Bihar-Jharkhand belt which will easily cover my cost of the film and also the publicity expenses. Since I am the sole distributer of MAFIA BIGG BOSS, I would like to take the minimum risks  of P and A and take the maximum advantage from the cinegoers who are the real Janata Janardhan and will come to enjoy the film ,in spite of the film being made on a shoe-string budget. I think it is better  for producers like me, the exhibitors-distributers to Live And Let Live so that the Bollywood Film Industry will survive for a long time.”