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Author Topic: Indian movies Jim Ziegler Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 753 From: West Hollywood, CA Registered: Jul 99 posted 12-16-2006 10:13 PM                     Does anyone know of any U.S. distributors of indian films and how to get ahold of them?  |  IP: Logged Caleb Johnstone-Cowan Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 593 From: London, UK Registered: Mar 2006 posted 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  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 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?)  |  IP: Logged Jim Ziegler Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 753 From: West Hollywood, CA Registered: Jul 99 posted 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)  |  IP: Logged Caleb Johnstone-Cowan Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 593 From: London, UK Registered: Mar 2006 posted 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.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 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+  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 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.  |  IP: Logged Caleb Johnstone-Cowan Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 593 From: London, UK Registered: Mar 2006 posted 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.  |  IP: Logged Jim Ziegler Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 753 From: West Hollywood, CA Registered: Jul 99 posted 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!  |  IP: Logged Jonathan M. Crist Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 531 From: Hershey, PA, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 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.  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 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.  |  IP: Logged Michael Brown Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1522 From: Bradford, England Registered: May 2001 posted 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. -Most have english subtitles.  |  IP: Logged David Graves Film Handler Posts: 38 From: Cocoa, FL Registered: Nov 2006 posted 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.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-01-2007 03:08 AM                        Very cool....we are looking into this. Very helpful info guys, thanks. And Happy New Year to all.  |  IP: Logged Alex Cross Film Handler Posts: 34 From: Eccleshill, Brafdord, West Yorkshire, Registered: Dec 2005 posted 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.  |  IP: Logged

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