By Shailesh Kapoor
Perspective is a powerful word. It is also an underrated one, and “losing perspective†is not an uncommon thing to do. The entertainment industry, in particular, is notorious for having perspective problems. And nothing highlights this more than the events of the last week. It may not be the most obvious linkage, but it’s one worth diving into.
With the cash economy coming under increasing pressure over the last 10 days, the focus of the country has been on keeping their lives running. Everything else comes second to that. Now that’s pretty obvious, you would say. But this dead-duck-obvious piece of fact actually challenges how the entertainment industry, especially the film industry and the ad industry, has been thinking for years.
The perception that the entire country, if not the world, is waiting with bated breath for their new film, trailer, ad, channel or show launch is something you would strongly sense in the corridors of a media house. It is natural to feel involved with one’s work, and passionately so too. But the perspective that this industry’s work after all is not essential to running people’s lives is often not understood in so many words.
It is routine to hear sweeping statements like “People have simply loved the show, we are getting so much positive feedback, we can’t even read all of it†or “I’m surprised its recall is so low. Everyone I meet is talking only about itâ€. In a country as big as ours, words like everyone, people, so much, etc. can mean previous little, especially when spoken without perspective. The social media has made it worse. It has increased the interaction of celebrities, creative talent and media executives with their audience manifold, creating more and more illusion about how substantive their work is.
Let’s look at some numbers for perspective. Only 36.6 million (3.66 crore) Indians contribute to 87% of Bollywood’s theatrical business. More than 65% television sets are switched off at 9pm, which is the peak of primetime. An episode of the biggest show on TV gets about 12 million (1.2 crore) impressions only. These numbers may look sizeable, when you compare them to random data points, like the population of a mid-sized state in the USA. But when seen in the Indian context, they are certainly not national unifiers.
Entertainment is a powerful industry in influencing public opinion, shaping popular culture and creating social change. There is no debate on that. But it is, to begin with, primarily a medium of relaxation and enjoyment. No shame in that. Relaxation and enjoyment are not easy to come by. But ascribing undue importance to the role of the entertainment business is where perspective is lost.
Theatres have been largely empty over the last week and a half. In a research conducted by Ormax Media earlier this week, 28% of regular theatre-goers said they will not be able to watch a film in theatres at least for the next week, till their cash situation improves. This number is likely to be significantly higher among irregular theatre goers.
The “non-essential†nature of the entertainment business is evident. People don’t talk TV shows and films all the time. They have a life to run, which can at times include standing in long bank and ATM queues for hours. That’s their perspective. What’s yours?