Jai Ho Bollywood- The Indian Film Industry

LET ME NOT TELL YOU what you already know…. that the first motion picture was made in 1897 by Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatvadekar (a short film on a wrestling match), that the first feature film was “Raja Harishchandra" made by Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913 (a silent movie), that the first talkie was "Alam Ara" produced by Imperial Film Company in 1931…. But in deference to the theme of this blog I want to focus on the film industry statistics….

Although being the largest film producing country making over 1100 films every year (Hollywood makes 700!), with a film making tradition of a century, film making was recognized as an industry only as recently as 2000!!.......

The Indian film industry constitutes films made in India in a variety of languages. Most films are made in Hindi (350) followed by Telugu (300) and the remaining in other languages. The industry size is estimated at INR 20,000 Crores (around USD 4 Billion) & a typical share of source of revenue is: 70% from ticket sales, 8% overseas rights, 8% music rights, 8% TV, DVD mobile, gaming rights etc and about 4% from Hollywood films, either dubbed or original. Interestingly, Hollywood which rakes in a cool USD 10 Billion each year rules other markets like Europe and also Non-English markets like Japan where they have a 40% share, has had to accept the supremacy of Bollywood in India. Most Hollywood producers like Sony, Warner and Disney prefer to make true blue local films for this market rather than selling Hollywood films here ( Its just like McDonald making veg burgers for India!). After all it is difficult to ignore 20 million people going to the movies every day!!

Like Hollywood, even Bollywood is secretive about cost of production. While the numbers could be suspect, it is commonly assumed that while a Hollywood film of 60-90 minute costs on an average USD 75 million to make, Bollywood makes a 140 – 160 minute film at an average cost of around 2.5 Million (not including marketing costs, only production) Of course each has its exceptional big spender list every year like Avatar (USD 300 Million) and Jodha Akbar (USD 15 Million)

Anyway, this is one world beater industry out of India that generates employment for millions and has the opportunity to be a global leader one day…why, there could be a day when K-Jo directs J-Lo!! …. JAI HO BOLLYWOOD…