'Now, no one will get exploited'

Says Amit Khanna, CEO of Reliance Big Pictures, after the standoff between film producers and multiplex owners over revenue sharing came to an end yesterday

Says Amit Khanna, CEO of Reliance Big Pictures, after the standoff between film producers and multiplex owners over revenue sharing came to an end yesterday

Amit Khanna, the man instrumental in bringing the standoff between producers and multiplex owners to a photo finish tells Subhash K Jha what transpired at the 12-hour meeting where the breakthrough was achieved.

So is the strike finally over?
Yes. We arrived at a settlement late into Thursday night. The problem was that in the last 15 years, films are being distributed very differently from the way they were 50 years ago. Despite changes like the emergence of multiplex theatres and entry of corporate players, there were no clear ground rules about the marketing and distribution of films.
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Referee: It's only after (inset) Amit Khanna got involved with the strike that producers and exhibitors slackened their positions.

Big producers would often muscle their way into extracting something extra from the multiplexes, or larger chains would bully the smaller producers into saying, "Okay, if you want to release your film in Kolkata, allow us to distribute it in Asansol as well." In a way, concerned players have finally put long-due guidelines on how the downstream business will operate in place.

Everyone went home happy?
Yes. Before I got involved with the strike, the producers and exhibitors took very hard positions.u00a0 It took a lot of effort to thaw the ice between the two parties. We started the meeting at 2 pm on Thursday and finished our business at 2 am on Friday morning.

Henceforth, the producer has the sole right to decide the marketing strategy of a film. He decides how and where to release his film. As a counterbalance to this the showcasing rights as they are called, that is, the number of shows per film, will rest with the exhibitor.u00a0 In this way, no one will get exploited.

What about the revenue sharing?
Producers would get 50 per cent of the total revenues of a film in the first week, 42.5 per cent in the second week, 37.5 per cent of the third week and 30 per cent of the fourth week.
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If a film reaches a threshold of profits in certain screens, it will be entitled to a bonus of 2.5 per cent for the first two weeks. That means a successful film like Ghajini gets a little more.

Similarly, as counterpoint to this, where films perform exceptionally poorly, like our own Reliance release Love Story 2050, the exhibitor gets a 2.5 per cent rebate.

How much did the industry lose due to the strike?
Rs 200 to Rs 300 crore. But it finally turned out for the good. Last night, Aamir Khan called me, and we discussed the problems faced by the film industry. Everyone is willing to work together now.

What role did Aamir and Shah Rukh Khan play during the strike?
Aamir and Shah Rukh were not part of the core community during the just-concluded crisis. Mukesh Bhatt and Yash Chopra represented the producers, and Ajay Bijli represented the
mutiplexes.