Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Indian movies

This is topic Indian movies in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 12-16-2006, 10:13 PM:

Does anyone know of any U.S. distributors of indian films and how to get ahold of them?

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 12-17-2006, 12:31 PM:

Yash Raj release the biggest Bollywood titles:

http://www.yashrajfilms.com/ContactUs/ContactUsLanding.aspx?SectionCode=CU001

Eros Entertainment are pretty big as well:

http://www.erosentertainment.com/eros_uk/contact_original.html

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 12-17-2006, 03:23 PM:

How about print quality? I don't expect them to be first run AA prints, but decent quality without major jumps in sound, which is especially important because they all have music sequences. And are they typically analog stereo -- I'd be happy with just that and of course if digital would come along that would be great. What could be expected on the majority of releases? (And how do you know which titles are "big hits" -- is there any kind of publication that publishes grosses?)

Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 12-17-2006, 04:23 PM:

Honestly, I'll be happy if it comes in something other than a burlap sack (I actually got an indian print like that once)

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 12-17-2006, 04:39 PM:

If you play Bollywood on the break the prints should be fine, although they come in metal cases in a straw box shipped over from India. Couldn't tell you about second-run print condition, sorry. Would probably not be great, but would naturally depend on the standards of the previous cinema.

I can't recall playing a print that didn't have digital sound, a few have Dolby Surround EX, and the recording volume is very loud.

There are a lot of Bollywood websites, some seem to have grosses for India. They might give some indication of what people are looking forward to. There are seemingly some bankable stars and the more in a film the better. Bollywood is also very good for concession sales.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-17-2006, 08:22 PM:

All the prints typically are shipped in burlap wraped cases in tins on cores (hopefully the cores are still there)
The prints are often in good contition if one opens on break
remember that the indian labs always print off the o neg so they look very sharp and the tracks are always recorded at 0 db+ [Smile]

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 12-17-2006, 08:55 PM:

The prints we have played have all been in very good condition, color saturation is usually high, sometimes cores are missing, almost all have SRD, few have had DTS. We play about 15 a year for a local promoter. Only one in the last 3 years did not have English subtitles and that was known well in advance, it was in a language that has only a few speakers in this area and was a special event for them.

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 12-20-2006, 10:35 PM:

Another Indian distributor, Ayngaran International. These guys seem to do the major films from Tamil Nadu in southern India. These films are in the Tamil language and nearly all come with just a DTS and mono track. We had DTS installed in one screen specifically for them.

http://www.ayngaran.com/ContactUs.jsp

Obviously this would only be worthwile if you have the relevant local community, in the UK only 5 or 6 cinemas show these films. However where I worked sells out every evening show on opening weekend.

Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 12-21-2006, 07:29 PM:

We have a large Sikh community here.. I *think* they would be looking for the Hindi language films.

Thanks for all the info!

Posted by Jonathan M. Crist (Member # 413) on 12-21-2006, 11:03 PM:

I use to run Indian features at my theatre. The promotors eventually gave up because by the time they got the prints over here, the films were already out on DVD.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-22-2006, 05:07 AM:

quote: Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
Eros Entertainment are pretty big as well

Hey, I know where this place is. I used to drive by their offices several times a week when I was on the truck. I always figured they were porn producers. [Big Grin]

Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 12-28-2006, 05:42 PM:

I work at a multiplex in the UK, in one of the countries most highly Asian populated city. We usually have at least 2 bollywood films playing each week.

-"in metal cases in a straw box shipped over from India." and often the cert is shipped seperately.

-99% of them are SCOPE prints

-with Loud Dolby Digital Sound (as standard we play our bollywoods about one fader setting lower than our hollywood films) [Film Tech Member: Alex Cross will be able to give more tech info on how we show these films]

-Typically they are quite long anywhere in the region of 3 hours.. and they all usually have intermissions (they have in-built intermission tags, usually at the end of one reel in the middle of the print) Which is a nice boost for your concession sales. [Smile]

-Most have english subtitles.

Posted by David Graves (Member # 4069) on 12-28-2006, 09:21 PM:

In the USA, Yash Raj has by far the biggest hits, and usually anything they play is worth booking. Eros Entertainment as well. You'll also want to look into Adlabs films, who are new in the USA but have had some good hits.

The other biggie is UTV Films. Your minor studios are Rainbow and Weg. Those guys are pretty much it.

Prints come in perfect if you play on the break, but print traffic is usually a nightmare- the studios don't get the films from India until the day before release, generally, and they often don't arrive until early Friday. I've taken to scheduling my first Friday show at 3:30 pm.

A few things to note:
-They are virtually ALL 3 hours long. Expect to stay late.
-Concession sales are great- be sure to leave the intermission in and you'll get a second blast of sales midway through!
-Everything is in Dolby Digital- often with full EX. The mixes are excellent, but audiences expect them to be played LOUD.
-Because they're out on the same day worldwide, the films essentially promote themselves. You won't need to do any marketing once the local Indian population knows you're playing the film.
-They're 99% subtitled, but you will see virtually zero crossover audience. It's 99% Indian, no matter how much you market otherwise.

Good luck... if you want some contact info for the distributors, feel free to send me a PM.

Also, Frank- Yash Raj, Eros, and Adlabs report their info to Renttrack, so you can see the box office info on sites that do full charts. If you want more info for the New York City area, try contacting Dylan over at The Imaginasian- I used to work with him down here in Florida, his theater is the go-to Bollywood house in Manhattan and he'll be able to help you with any information you may need.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 01-01-2007, 03:08 AM:

Very cool....we are looking into this. Very helpful info guys, thanks.

And Happy New Year to all.

Posted by Alex Cross (Member # 3520) on 01-01-2007, 06:56 PM:

Hi Jim,

While I agree with most that has previously been posted, I'll have to vehemently disagree with David's opinions that 'mixes are excellent' and 'the audience expects it to be LOUD'. As Micheal said, we play these films daily and the sound mix is, in my professional opinion s**t! I have it on good authority, that the sound is originally recorded in mono, then digitalised for cinema release. If you ever get dts discs for a print, burn them! For some reason, it never syncs with the second half of the film after the intermission. As for loudness, when we first started playing these type of films, we ran them as we would any other. When we could hear the film word for word, in the projection room, we thought it might be a good idea to drop the volume a bit. Based on a CP500, we never play indian films above 4.8. Not only that, we blew 4 600w sub woofers as a direct result of these films.

Hope this helps.

Regards Alex.

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 01-02-2007, 05:49 PM:

"-99% of them are SCOPE prints "

Trailers are in scope too. Yash Raj usually attach one in front of the feature.

"I have it on good authority, that the sound is originally recorded in mono, then digitalised for cinema release."

Apparently the entire soundtrack is done using ADR in most films. You definitely don't get surround effects, still can't believe that mono would be used.

Posted by Alex Cross (Member # 3520) on 01-02-2007, 06:50 PM:

Hi Jim,

Almost forgot, be careful some Indian distributors have a nasty habit of sticking trailers just after the intermission! We've had that on more occasions than I care to think about.

Not only that some of the prints, even a brand new release have had only a mono soundtrack, no SRD at all.

Hope this helps.

Alex

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 01-02-2007, 07:03 PM:

Most location recording is mono stems anyway
directional dialogue died out (regretably) years ago
I have not seen a "mono" soundtrack on a current bollywood release in years
All that I have delt with are DTS and many SRD and SDDS as well and most with EX channels
Since the dynamic range of digital is finite I would question if you system was properly designed or calibrated if they caused a failure

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 01-03-2007, 10:23 AM:

Also watch out if you ever get programmed two screens of an Indian film, you will probably get one print to bicycle between the two.

Posted by David Graves (Member # 4069) on 01-04-2007, 11:29 PM:

Regarding Alex's comments-

-Our audiences do like them loud, but you're right- they're mixed exceptionally loudly. If you normally run a 7.0, 4.5-5.5 will be the rough equivalent for most films. Still, if you're blowing subs, I'd make sure you get everything calibrated as soon as you can- that's not good in any case.

-As for the mixes- I strongly disagree. They very well may loop most of them, but I tech the majority of the prints we play, and the majority sound amazing. Dialog is crystal clear, ambient effects abound, and they are the only films I've heard that actually make audible use of the EX system. The musical numbers in particular are amazingly dynamic, with true 5.1 channel mixes. Granted, we only play the biggest titles, so I'm sure the non-blockbusters still look and sound like crap.

Posted by Alex Cross (Member # 3520) on 01-05-2007, 01:08 PM:

David,

We'll have to agreed to disagree. I've played these films everyday for over 6 years, and played some very bizarre films at that! But, we're all here to offer our opinions, and you're entitled to yours.

Regards Alex

Posted by David Graves (Member # 4069) on 01-05-2007, 11:30 PM:

Hey, if everyone agreed, this would be the dullest board in internet history. [Big Grin]

Surely we can agree on one thing- some of the actresses are the most beautiful women on the face of the earth.

Posted by Alex Cross (Member # 3520) on 01-06-2007, 01:49 PM:

David,

Hell ya! Couldn't agree with yoy more on that one [Wink]

Alex

Posted by Justin Gorka (Member # 3727) on 01-10-2007, 07:23 AM:

We, herein the UK, play Bollywoods weekly. The actual picture qualit and sound is normally good.
But..... take care if you have to move them to a different platter. Most are too big to use a print move and the film itself is always extemely spongy with a life of it's own. I normally plate off a few reels, from experience, the stuff has a habit of dropping in the middle.
You have been warned.......

Posted by Nathan Fettes (Member # 3545) on 01-10-2007, 10:45 AM:

I was amazed at the picture quality of the Indian film that I received. I was literally blown away and babling about how the picture was so damn crisp. Amazing. Why don't wide release prints look this good.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 01-10-2007, 02:48 PM:

the reason they look so good is they are printed off the o negative not a dupe because the print run is small enough for the camera neg to withstand it

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 01-10-2007, 08:03 PM:

Average print run is less than 200 on the O neg. They cycle to films regionally to type A / B / C rated cinemas, so the small or low grossing locations get the worst presentation. On some DTS prints you can get the player to play a disk from another feature since some labs somtimes reuse a DTS timing track. The lab work is quite good.