Category: Movies

How Big Data Is Changing The Entertainment Industry!

Big Data is here – The latest buzzword of the Information Technology Industry !

The world is generating humungous amount of data every second. Rapid advances in technology is making analysis of such data a cake-walk. Big Data is influencing every aspect of our lives and will continue to grow bigger and better. Retailers will push us to buy extra chips and soft drinks from the nearest outlet as we will watch the T20 match with our friends and our favorite teams are playing. They will even recommend our favorite party songs CD and encourage us to donate a dollar to our often visited charity. Preventing diseases, share trading, marketing efforts and lot of other use cases are emerging.

Big Data is changing the sports and the entertainment industry as well. Sports and entertainment industry are driven by fans and their word of mouth. Engagement with audience is the key and Big Data is creating opportunities for driving this engagement and influencing audience sentiments.

IBM worked with a media company and ran its predictive models on the social buzz for the movie Ram Leela. According to the reports, IBM predicted a 73% success for the movie based on right selection of cities. Such rich analysis of social data was conducted for Barfi and Ek Tha Tiger. All these movies had a runaway success at the box office.
Hollywood uses Big Data big time ! The social media buzz can predict the box office success – more importantly based on the trending of the movie, strategies can be formulated to ensure favorable positioning of the movie. All science !

Netflix is the best case study of analyzing user behavior and hitting the jackpot ! Netflix original show The House Of Cards’ was commissioned solely on the basis of the big data results of the preferences of its customers.

Shah Rukh Khan’s Chennai Express, one of the biggest box office grossers on 2013, used Big Data & Analytics solutions to drive social media and digital marketing campaigns. IT Services company Persistent Systems helped Chennai Express team with the right strategic inputs. Chennai Express related tweets generated over 1 billion cumulative impressions and the total number of tweets across all hashtags was over 750 thousand over the 90-day campaign period. Persistent Systems CEO Siddhesh Bhobe said “Shah Rukh Khan and the success of Chennai Express have proved that social media is the channel of the future and that it presents unique opportunities to marketers and brands, at an unbeatable ROI (return on investment)”

Lady Gaga and her team browse through our listening preferences and sequences and optimize the playlist for the maximum impact at live events. Singapore based Big Data Analytics firm Crayon has worked with leading Hindi Film industry producers to understand the kind of music to release to create the right buzz for the movie.

Sports is another area where big data is making big impact. FIFA 2014 champion Germany have been using SAP’s Match Insights software. It has made a big difference to the team. Data was crunched relating to player position ‘touch maps’, passing ability, ball retention and even metrics such as ‘aggressive play’. Even Kolkota Knight Riders, an IPL team, to determine the consistency of the players based on 25 data point per ball. It helped in auction as well as ongoing training.

Big Data can definitely be a boon to the entertainment and sports industry. It can improve the profitability of the movies – always a high risk business. The green-lighting of the story to the cast selection to the timing of release can be determined. It can help to pick the right players for the sporting leagues – allowing talent to win !

Entertainment Industry leaders need to collaborate with the leading big data startups and visionaries to create new uses and deliver new success stories !

July 30, 2014
Get Ready For The ‘Happy New Year’ Marketing Juggernaut !

Get Ready For The Happy New Year Marketing Juggernaut !

The Marketing for SRK’s ‘Happy New Year’ has already started. If ‘Om Shanti Om’ and ‘RaOne’ and ‘Chennai Express’ experience is considered, expect a mega publicity drive.

It started with the full page advertisements at the start of the year. The latest one is the ‘Happy New Year’ auditions for acting with SRK on Groupon. It is designed to create lot of ‘user engagement’. By being part of the movie, the user will be more connected to the movie. The people who applied for the auditions will have an emotional stake in the movie. People are being gifted certificates etc.

Expect more innovations and more visibility campaigns from SRK. Expect to read more and hear more about SRK and its cast. There will be overt and covert approaches.

Smart move !

April 21, 2014
Honey Singh & The Blockbuster Strategy

Anita Elberse’s Blockbusters is one of the must read books in the entertainment world today. It makes a refreshing and a strong argument for the cause of Blockbusters.

Anita Elberse is an award-winning scholar at Harvard Business School. She teaches a course on Strategic Marketing in Creative Industries, covering the businesses of entertainment, media, and sports. Her book ‘Blockbusters: Hit-making, Risk-taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment’ is awarded Amazon’s “Best Books of 2013” in the Business and Investing category.

According to Anita, the blockbuster strategy ensures higher success rate at box office and reduce risk. Blockbuster strategy of investing in big potential winners reaps rich rewards across industry segments – movies, sports, video games, music bands, hotels, restaurants, electronics. She uses examples of Warner Brothers, Beyonce, Argentinian Soccer Clubs, Jay-Z etc to drive home the point. For example, Warner Bros. earned more than 40% of revenues from the top 10% of films produced from 2007 to 2011. In 2011, 102 music tracks, 0.001% of the eight million tracks on offer that year, sold more than a million units, representing 15% of total music sales. That’s up from 36 tracks with more than a million units sold in 2007, representing 7% of sales. At the other end of the curve, 94% of all tracks in 2011 sold fewer than 100 units, and 32% sold only one copy.

Blockbuster Strategy is exploiting the “winner-takes-it-all” strategy. Studios should focus on more Blockbuster movies and produce less movies.

If you think more about, the strategy is clearing shaping the world around us. The energies that are behind launching mobile phones are example of Blockbuster strategies. See how Samsung launches its new phones.

In Indian context, the same phenomena are clearly visible. The biggest Indian movie of recent time was Dhoom 3. It was the first movie to reach near INR 5 Billion (85 Million USD). Incidentally, Indian movies first reached the 1 Billion INR mark only in 2010 onwards. India’s biggest sporting league is Indian Premiere League (cricket). It mimics NFL. India’s top singer is Honey Singh today. He has taken over the imagination of India. He is our equivalent of Beyonce and Jay-Z strategies.

Infact, India is under the election fever. And the front runner for PM Post has emerged as his party favorite using the Blockbuster strategy. What he did in his party, he is doing at the national level.

Finally, Blockbuster Strategy is carpet bombing the masses. It is mass strategy. The world is also moving towards more customized experiences. The world is moving towards niches. Toward slow movement. It could be the big challenger to Blockbuster strategy.

April 17, 2014
National Film Awards – Ship Of Theseus Wins Top Honor

The 61st National Film Awards were announced. It shows a worthy list of well-deserved winners.

Ship Of Theseus indeed is a great choice of the best feature film. I had written about it earlier in the two blogs as well:
Ship Of Theseus – The Finest Indian Movie !
Bollywood’s Top Movies 2013

Shahid got the well deserved awards for Rajkumar Rao and Hansal Mehta. So happy for Hansal !

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was indeed a popular entertainer across the stream.

Another highlight was the sheer number of awards for Marathi films. The golden days of Marathi cinema continue !

Please find the complete list of award winners:

Best Feature Film: Ship of Theseus

Best Direction: Hansal Mehta for Shahid (Hindi)

Best Film (Hindi): Jolly LLB
Best Popular Film providing wholesome Entertainment: Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Hindi)

Best Actor: Raj Kumar (Shahid, Hindi) & Suraj Venjaramoodu (Terariyathavar, Malyalam)
Best Actress: Geetanjali Thapa (Liar’s Dice, Hindi)

Supporting Actor (Female) – Aida Elkashef, Ship of Theseus and Amruta Subash, Astu
Supporting Actor (Male) – Saurabh Shukla, Jolly LLB

Special Jury Award: Yellow (Marathi) & Miss Lovely (Hindi)

Special Mention Gauri Gadgil and Sanjana Rai for ‘Yellow’ (Marathi)
Direction (Non Feature): Chidiya Udh
Special Effects: Jal
Short Fiction (Non Feature): Mandrake! Mandrake! (Hindi)
Non Feature Film on Social Issues: Gulabi Gang (Hindi, Bundelkhandi)
Environmental Film including Agriculture: Foresting Life (Hindi,Assamese)

Non Feature Film: Rangbhoomi (Hindi)

Best Book on Cinema: Cinema Ga Cinema (Telgu) by Nandagopal
Sound Design: Bishwadeep Chatterjee, Madras Cafe
Choreography: Ganesh Aacharya, Havan Karenge (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag)

Best Children’s Film: Kaphal (Hindi)
Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation: Perariyathavar (Malyalam)
Best Film on Social Issues: Tuhya Dharma Koncha (Marathi)

Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration: Thalaimuraigal (Tamil)
Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director: Fandry (Marathi)

Playback Singer: Bela Shinde Khura Khura

April 16, 2014
500 Crores – Not An Impossible Task For Bollywood !

In the last 2-3 years, the Indian Film Industry had got a new aspirational goal – 100 Crores. Suddenly 100 crores was the new benchmark of success. With each passing year, the number of films in the 100 crore club grew. And it will continue to grow. The rationale is simple.

India’s population is more than 100 crores. Even if 2% of Indian population watches a movie, it is 2 crore people watching a movie. Multiply it by the average lowest price of Rs 50, and we have 100 crores !

Movies were always popular in India and hit movies made good money. A few important changes have happened in the Indian Film Industry and that has contributed to the 100 crore movies:

1. The revenue leakages are getting reduced due to multiplexes and digital technologies.
2. Multiplexes have increased the number of screens. They have also increased the ticket prices and hence the yield.
3. Strong marketing strategies ensure carpet bombing of the movie. Maximum people watch movie within 2 weeks.
4. Modern management has ensured a good template for the success of a big size movie.

Inspite of the above facts, India has less number of per capita screens. The movie watching audience will continue to swell and we will soon move to new benchmarks. In fact, 200 crore is the new 100 crore with three movies already clocking more than 200 crores in 2013. The day is not far when 500 crore will not be an impossible feat in Bollywood.

Indian Film Industry is bullish in outlook. The only challenge is to ensure high quality content with global best practices. It can then make a bigger dent in the global entertainment order !

December 31, 2013
Bollywood’s Top Movies 2013

The End Of The Year – Time To Review. Time To Reflect. Time To Relive.

2013 Was A Mixed Year For Bollywood – India’s Film Industry.

The 100 Crore Club continued to welcome new members and three movies rocked even into 200 Crore club – Dhoom 3, Krrish 3 and Chennai Express.

At Half Year mark, I had commented: “The content and treatment continues to win. The new talent is getting better results and traditional stars are being challenged. Good times for Bollywood continue!”. It still holds true at the end of the year. (See Bollywood 2013 Half Year Mark Review)

Ranbir tasted first failure when he let money to precede our his cinematic choices. Though Yeh Jawaani Hai Dewaani was no great cinema, it balanced commercial and contemporary cinema. The same treatment was dished out to Himmatwala, Once Upon A Time In Mumbai 2. Ranbir’s Rocket Singh is yet to be bettered, Barfi not withstanding.

Ranbir got a challenger in form of Ranveer with Ram Leela and Lootera showcasing his talent. Sushant Singh Rajput is the new talent where banks are betting their money on ! Parineeti and Alia Bhatt are the new ladies to watch for ! Nimrat Kaur seems promising !

Deepika was the actor of the year with 4 hits – Race 2, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Chennai Express and Ram Leela. Behind the beautiful face and awesome acting is an intelligent mind – who redefined herself. Sonakshi and Shahid Kapoor need reinvention for sure – they can learn from Deepika.

I still feel the best film of the year was Ship Of Theseus. It was seconded by The Lunchbox. Ship Of Theseus showcases the best of Indian Cinema and so does The Lunchbox. A R Rahman still rules in the music department. Though Aashiqui 2 brought new challengers.

Top 5 Films:

1. Ship Of Theseus
2. Lunchbox
3. Kai Po Che
4. Raanjhaana
5. Shahid
6. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
7. Shuddh Desi Romance
8. Special 26
9. Aashiqui 2
10. D-Day

Other Honorable Mentions:
1. Madras Cafe
2. Ram Leela

Top 5 Movies That Did Not Work !:
1. Once Upon A Time In Mumbai Dobara
2. Himmatwala
3. Besharam
4. Zanjeer
5. Phata Poster

Top Grossers Of The Year:
1. Dhoom 3 – 250 Cr +
2. Krrish 3 – 250 Cr
3. Chennai Express – 225 Cr
4. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani – 190 Crore
5. Ram Leela – 110 Cr

I am pleased to note that Bhaag Milkha Bhaag crossed 100 Crores – 100 Crores is not an elusive number anymore with even Grand Masti touching the magical figure.

December 29, 2013
Soylent : The Future Of Food?

Everyone has pet ideas and interesting concepts that are pure fun, very energizing and often seemingly impossible. I have my list. One of the ideas in the list was Annapurna Tablets. The idea was simple. Body needs food. Food takes lot of time. I really hate time spent on lunch. Even dinner – if I am busy. Many of my friends and colleagues visit home for lunch – waste of time, fuel and break from thinking. My mother or wife have to worry about the menu for the lunch – especially difficult for a person like me. Why not have a tablet that gives you all the necessary ingredients of the daily food? Going beyond the normal supplement pills ! Imagine a pill for dal, chawal, roti, subzi etc. It helps in many time. Saving precious time for you and your environment. In a country like India, it will release the time from housewives – as this becomes their major chore. They can invest in other productive areas including their passions, kids or helping family business.

The joy of food increases. You really cherish those lunches and dinners of full food. You really spend time with friends and colleagues and spouse when you go out for lunch or dinner.

Of course my parents always warned me. But this will not allow the natural growth of your body. Many body parts exists such to help us digest food. Including teeth ! I agreed to some points.

Annapurna Tablets was a thing I never thought would happen. Mine was just wishful thinking and part of my friend conclaves. I am sure that there are lot of people thinking on same lines. I was overjoyed and extremely excited when I saw the concept of Soylent. It addresses the very same issue.

Soylent is an efficient form of fuel for humanity for the first time in history. Soylent is an affordable nutrition drink with all the essential ingredients the healthy body needs. It is an substance that is intended to replace food – just mix the powder with water and drink.

The name Soylent is inspired from the 1973 movie Soylent Green

What Soylent consists of ? Read It Here

Soylent seems like the future of food. Cut the emotion out of food. Do not worry about what to eat. Just eat Soylent which addresses the needs of your body. Have the same thing. It is time efficient. Saves money as well. Steve Jobs did not worry about what to wear – saves decision making and one less thing to worry !

And when you really want to enjoy food – do that. The same food may test better !

Of course Soylent may be very controversial as well. I am sure enough research has been done on it and its effect. It is ready for delivery in US from early 2014. It will soon open for international orders.

Maudene Nelson, a dietician at Columbia University’s Institute of Human Nutrition. “Nutritionally I don’t think you can make a food that delivers everything,” she says. “This is an obsessive way of making food choices. It’s not obsessively overeating. It’s obsessively micromanaging.”

The dream of replacing food has been around for hundreds of years, popular with science fiction writers and utopian communities, says Amy Bentley, an associate professor of food studies at New York University. “In the 19th century, Victorians talked about the meal in a pill,” she says. While the idea may appeal to a small group of people who find eating to be a chore, she says, “for better and worse, most people find food pleasurable.”

Soylent is a revolutionary concept. It is a major mindset shift for mankind. Can it solve the world’s hunger problem? Or it will be just a Silicon Valley techie’s time-saving tool only? Let us see !

References:
Soylent Website
Businessweek Article on Soylent

November 22, 2013
Jobs: The Genius Is Missing !

Jobs Movie is a big letdown.

I am an Apple fan. I am a Apple consumer since early 2000s. I have been interested in Steve Jobs, his leadership, his presentation skills, his innovation. I am aware that he was a flawed and an eccentric character. I loved Walter Issacon’s biography. Naturally, I was doubly excited about Jobs movie since its announcement – it married my two interests – Apple and Movies.

Jobs movie captures only some moments of Jobs’ eventful life. The events are also given a passing reference. Jobs life has a perfect screenplay, which is not exploited fully.

Apple produces glamorous products with story and magic around it, Jobs Movie does not !

Steve was a great marketer and a greater businessman. He had a strange ability to spot magic and push people to innovation. He rallied the troops at Apple and made it the most valuable company in the world. This is not captured in the movie.

I found that Woz was made to sound like a comical character – a second rung side-kick. Sculley episode was totally underplayed. The Lisa part was not given equal justice as well. The way Woz was cheated, or stock options denied to early members, making of Macintosh etc could have been effectively exploited. The dialogue between him and his designer at the end sounded very very fake and gospelic. You see that funny episode and other small moments like parking in disability spot.

Many people expecting to see iPhone, iPad and other stories will be highly disappointed. This is outside movie’s frame. So is his cancer episode. For non-tech masses and many emerging countries, the context will be missing.

The movie does not do justice to Jobs. It has many parts of his life but sum is lesser than parts. The movie could have been in the same league as The Social Network to become a business case study for leadership and technology business. It is not !

The genius is missing in the movie.

August 24, 2013
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – Worth A Watch !

Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra’s Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is a dramatic Bollywood experience with moments of magic. It is an inspirational tale of the Flying Sikh Milkha Singh. Farhan Akhar has given a towering performance in a career best role.

Everyone knows that the movie is the story of a popular athlete and hence there are set expectations. The challenge is to present a large than life aura of the star yet remain authentic. Rakesh Mehra’s partially succeeds in achieving the difficult balance but he could have done better for sure. The film’s length of 3 hours plus clearly expresses his struggle.

The film is the journey of Mlikha Singh as he conquers the world. His unhealed wounds of partition, his growing up years, his incomplete love story, his rise as an athlete, his brief flirtation and his pursuit of world record is beautifully captured. Milkha’s early years represent the idyllic life in beautiful village in the pre-partition days. The move to India is painful but he adapts to the environment and grows into a lawless mischief. His relationship with sister is touching. The entry of love in his life inspires him to become responsible and amend his life. The salvation is in an army job where the glass of milk incentivizes him for a running career. His talent leads him to the glories inspite of the petty jealousies, setbacks and brief deviations. Milkha runs with fresh wounds after an attack by competitor and breaks the national record. He breaks the 400 m world record with his sheer persistence and passion. The movie ends with a typical India and Pakistan competition.

There are two heroes of the movie: Prasoon Joshi and Farhan Akhtar. Prasoon’s lyrics are pure magic. The songs really touch your heart. He seems to be a worthy successor to Gulzar style of poetry. He has even written the story, screenplay and dialogues for the movie. Farhan Akhtar plays the character with pure conviction and his hard work clearly shows. He has not only build his muscles but only reconstructed himself with the movie. He is going to busy in the awards season. Divya Dutta is brilliant as always and Rebecca Breeds is charming. Sonam has nothing to do in the movie. Pawan Malhotra, Prakash Raj, Yograj Singh, K K Raina are all brilliant in supporting the main cast.

Inspite of its flaws, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is a good movie. The movie is a lesson in pursuit of excellence. If the movie even inspires a few Indians to take sports seriously and live life with determination and will power, it will have ensured its place in the history.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – A Good Watch !

July 14, 2013
Amitabh Bachchan PhD Scholarship !

Australia’s La Trobe University is rolling out a new scholarship named after the Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan. The scholarship is meant for PhD students, and the student who receives this award would be called a ‘Shri Amitabh Bachchan scholar’. It will be given to Indians opting to study any subject relevant to India, including media, philosophy and films. The four-year scholarship will be worth $25,000.

The University will also honor Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan next month with the La Trobe University Global Citizenship Award.

April 28, 2013