The Bengali film industry has been seeing higher investments and released. But box office successes are few and far between.

According to a CII and IMRB International study, today over 120 Bengali films are released in a year.

“Compared to 2005, there is a three fold increase in the number of films made and is now quite similar to the number of releases in Kannada and Marathi markets”, said the report.

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The highest grossing Bengali film of 2013 was Chander Pahar. The box office collection of the film was over Rs 15 crore, an unheard figure in Bengali film industry.

The average investment in a year in Bengali film industry is around 180 crore. The revenue and its growth, however, do not match the buoyancy in the investment. “The industry is valued at Rs 120-150 crore in terms of expected revenue in 2014 and has shown negligible growth over last year”, the report noted.

According to industry estimates, not more than 10 per cent films released in a year break even and around a handful of films, typically 5-6 generate enough surpluses.

This is in striking contrast to the Marathi industry where despite being in close proximity to Rs 9,000 crore domestic Bollywood, operating profits are on the rise.

“Almost 70 per cent of the box office collection of Bengali films today is reclaimed by 22-25 films emanating from 3-4 large production houses. This has left a large number of individual producers, small players operating in the space on a short-term basis unable to recover their promotional expenses let alone production costs”, the reported recorded.

The industry experts believe that this current trend in Bengali film production is not sustainable. Home to acclaimed directors and actors, Bengali film industry produces 8 per cent of the total films made in the country but fails to account for a fair share of revenue.

TV viewership

Poor TV viewership and earnings compounded the problem further. Even a few years back, selling of satellite rights was a very lucrative option. The situation, however, has now changed drastically. Only about 35 per cent films are at present being bought by the channels.

Films performing badly in theatres directly affect their satellite rights, according to Saroj Mukherjee, chairman of distributors section at Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA). Broadcasters are also affected by drop in advertisement revenues, generated by airing Bengali films. In general for regional films, and more specifically for Bengali cinema, the broadcasters are solely reliant on local advertisers.

The broadcasters are also threatened by the growing tendency among younger generation to turn their back on television. In order to retain them, the Essel Vision Productions Ltd (EVPL), a subsidiary of Zee Entertainment is now looking at doing films in regional languages, the report pointed out.

ETV Bangla has taken initiatives to launch a slew of telefilms. This enables a host of new talents to come to the fore and also serves as an interface for the audience to appreciate the best on the small screen. The efforts would also allow greater flexibility and utilization of resources, experimentation with new genres, with new scripts and rising stars.

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