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BOI: How did DAR Motion Pictures come into being? And who are the people behind the company?
Arun Rangachari (AR): We were involved in the film industry in a very peripheral manner as anchor investors in a group of companies called Valuable Group, which has promoted UFO Moviez. Both Vivek and I have always had a passion for cinema and hail from quasi-cinema families. So we thought it would be a great idea to leverage those investments and get into content because we felt the M&E space in India was set for exponential growth and we wanted to be part of that growth. So we began in a very modest way in 2009.
BOI: What was the first film your studio produced?
AR: We started with a bilingual film called Lalbaug Parel, which was directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. It was made in two languages. Then we did a Marathi film and a couple of Hindi films. And, of course, the current slate of Hindi films which began with D-Day. We have The Lunchbox releasing this week, Mickey Virus in October and Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly after that. Also, we have already begun work on our next slate.
BOI: Why start with a regional film? Did you want to first understand the business in that space?
AR: We wanted to get our hands dirty but one of the films we are really proud of is Lalbaug Parel, our first film. I think cinema transcends language and it was a great subject. It also did very well in the Marathi market. But speaking from a practical point of view, regional cinema has a limited budget, so we functioned in that manner, and, yes, we wanted to understand the business of cinema first.
Vivek Rangachari (VR): Also. Mahesh had just finished Mee Shivajiraje Bhosle Boltoy. So we had that in the backdrop and that’s why we decided to make Lalbaug Parel.
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diverse bunch of films. What goes into finalising a project?
AR: We have focused on four styles. I believe any production house that wants to make a name in the industry has to have those big tentpole films supported by smaller ones. We will do at least one or two big films a year along with youth-focused cinema. That’s the niche we want to focus on. And in the past few years you must have seen the kind of success that these films have had. India is a very young country so we need to make films that are skewed towards that demographic. It could be a rom-com, a comedy film, a serious film, social dramas whatever, but focused squarely on the youth.
BOI: And you recently partnered with iRock Films too?
AR: Yes, we have bought a stake in iRock films. And that, again, is our focus. The third style is films made in India, with Indian talent but focused as much on an Indian audience as on a global audience.
BOI: Like The Lunchbox?
AR: Yes, The Lunchbox is one of them and also Monsoon Shootout, Peddlers and Ugly. So films made in India, for India but which also have an effect on the Indian diaspora in international markets. I mean, the kind of business that The Lunchbox has done internationally, pre-sales, is awesome. We have gone into markets that no Hindi film has gone to and we have also got phenomenal MGs. So, quite literally, the world is shrinking and the language of cinema is getting unified. This is the third style that we want to follow.
The fourth is the horror genre, 3D horror films. We pioneered the first 3D horror film, Haunted, which was quite successful and are planning Haunted 2. Horror has a very loyal following all over the world, and the audience for this genre is increasing. Horror was also not exploited properly in our market. So we have a couple of horror films in our line-up too.
VR: These are the four styles we are concentrating on and this is also reflected in our line-up. We are green-lighting films on the basis of these four types. For instance, the few Tamil films we are doing and which we will announce soon. They are very interesting projects and have great content. We are also working on Ritesh Batra’s, the director of The Lunchbox, next project.
AR: But regardless of what we do, quality of content is most important. We will never do mindless, big-budget films, regardless of how exciting it sounds.
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BOI: Can you give us an example?
AR: (Laughs) I can’t give you an example! No, people do it and they do it very well, but we come from a different school of thought and are very comfortable in our zone. You may call it a ‘shortcoming’ but we can’t do that kind of cinema. So the common thread among all these films, whether horror, an international concept, high drama or a big-ticket film… all of them will have a very strong content foundation.
BOI: Speaking of green-lighting… What are DAR’s criteria for this?
VR: We ask for the synopsis of the film and our team – Arun, me, the marketing team with Sasha and distribution team with Murli and Elvin – looks at the commercial aspect of the film and evaluates whether it is marketable. Sasha takes that call and a call on the creatives.
Sometimes, we take a look at the script and sometimes, we ask for a narration, or a reading. Next, we look at the budget as we also have a production team. If the film doesn’t have a budget, we sometimes add our own budget and then take a final call based on whether we like the script and whether it is commercially viable. Then we give the final go-ahead for the film.
From a distribution point of view, we also look at other films in the same genre and how well they have performed. That gives us an idea of the kind of revenues we are looking at. We also decide whether we have the bandwidth and manpower to do a particular film. These are the factors we look at. Of course, Arun mentioned how content is primary but we also look at the marketability of the film.
BOI: What business model do you follow? Do you believe in producing yourselves, co-producing or acquiring films?
AR: We don’t acquire; we have never acquired any films. We come from the school of thought that believes that filmmaking is a collaborative business and there is no one rule that we have to follow. We are very open and look at a script in its totality. Will the script work? Will it do well commercially? How will we market it? And will the distribution work out effectively?
There are certain films that are very good but very difficult to market. We take all this into consideration and then decide whether we will have the film made. At the end of the day, the film has to me made, whether it’s a co-production or a home production. We do all kinds of stuff. I think the advantage of having a very nimble organsiation is that we make our own rules as we go along. There is no ‘one rule’ that we have to follow.
BOI: Do you have a scale in mind, to do, say, eight or ten films a year of a medium budget, small budget etc?
AR: At the back of our mind, we do have that in mind and we try to look at how we will deploy it. We plan to do one or two big-ticket films a year; maybe a couple of international focus films, two or three small and medium-budget films; and two or three horror films. That’s the general sense of the kind of films we want to do a year.
But if a great film comes along, we are liable to change our slate and do something else. We are flexible in that respect. There have been times when we have been pitched projects that we didn’t have the bandwidth to do. So we were honest and turned them down.
BOI: Sasha, what are the inputs you usually offer a project?Image may be NSFW.
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Sasha John (SJ): After a project is pitched, we have an internal discussion and I talk about the marketing that the film can have. We see whether it is commercially viable or along the sidelines of… Let’s say a project has been cleared. We then make sure its marketing is in tune with the content of the film and I give my inputs at every stage.
BOI: Marketing is a very important stage for any film. What is your approach to marketing films like The Lunchbox and Ugly?
AR: For The Lunchbox, thankfully, we also had UTV on board! (Laughs)
BOI: Karan Johar was on board too.
AR: Yes, when we have films like these, bringing a brand on board helps. These films have a little time to release, so we are figuring out a couple of ideas. We have a couple of very innovative ideas and I think the other collaborators will be very impressed with what we come up with in the next couple of months.
BOI: But for films like The Lunchbox, where a bigger studio like UTV is involved and which has more marketing muscle, what is your role in marketing?
AR: They do take inputs from us. What often happens is people get caught up in ego tussles. What should I do, what is my brand positioning in the film, and other such things. At the end of the day, a movie speaks for itself. So, to answer your question, we have a very balanced approach towards marketing, especially when there is a third partner on board. The film has to benefit so it doesn’t matter if we get slightly less or more branding. But too many cooks spoil the broth. So, if there is one person responsible for marketing and we trust them with our film, we might as well put our faith in them entirely.
BOI: Most of your films are co-productions as opposed to standalone DAR productions. Is it important for you to distribute the risk?
AR: That’s part of it, of course. From a financial standpoint, we do distribute the risk. Also, as I mentioned earlier, filmmaking is a very collaborative business so we will do two-three films ourselves and if we have to do a bunch of more interesting films, we have to rely on some of the co-producers that we have. There is no harm co-producing. We just want to get to the top of the table and hopefully produce a good product.
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BOI: Distribution-wise, are films like The Lunchbox and Monsoon Shootout a challenge? And how do you tackle it?
Elvin Raja (ER): When it comes to distributing films like these, this is handled by Murli, who has been around for a very long time. What we bring to the table in terms of distribution is the understanding of what the exhibition market wants. How we can position a product in a certain way so that the exhibition fraternity accepts it. We try and map which markets these films work best in. Let me give you an example… a Lunchbox will work only in a limited number of markets. So how do we put that across? And how do we get the requisite showcasing?
AR: These are the guys who bring in the sanity. Our first reaction to a film is that it should crack at least 1,000 screens. Then, these guys say, hold your horses; this film is meant for only so many screens.