MxMIndia

Tag: Shailesh Kapoor

  • It’s time to go back to the roots, and re-imagine the classical notion of love, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: The Changing Face of Love Stories

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Love stories have been a popular favourite for Indian audience. Be it cinema or television, some of the most successful content created over the last several decades belongs to this genre. There was a time when it was default genre for all content in cinema. And that’s why, the idea of the hero-heroine pairing still remains relevant. A film that does not have such a lead pair stands out as ‘different’.

    While cinema embraced love stories almost 100 years ago, the genre flourished on television only in the satellite television era. The Doordarshan era focused on shows that were more real and relevant, than fantastical, which love stories are often designed to be. None of the best shows in that period are based on love as a central premise. Hum Log, Buniyaad, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Nukkad, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Ramayan, Mahabharat et al explored a wide range of genres, but apart from a strong sub-plot in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Fauji, there is little romantic content to talk about from that period.

    This changed quickly when satellite channels entered, and tried to tell more escapist and aspirational stories, than real and rooted ones. From teenage love (Just Mohabbat) to office love (Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin) to a wide array of shows, on love in the backdrop of familial relationships, often helmed by Ekta Kapoor, various shades of love were on offer.

    And this continues to be the case even today. With the exception of Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, which could easily have been a show in the Doordarshan era too, all the top successful fiction shows are centered around a romantic relationship. They may have a larger story that goes beyond love, but the heroine-hero pair is the pivot around which that story unfolds.

    Many such successful shows on television explore marital love. Getting married is easy on Indian television. But falling in love with your spouse and consummating the marriage is a big deal. These shows are referred to by audience as ‘family love stories’, a somewhat oxymoronic phrase that works very well in context of the family medium that television is. The challenges in these love stories are often posed by conflicts within the family, or by circumstances that are triggered off because of one or more family members.

    This external conflicts model dominated the love story ‘formula’ in cinema too, till the 90s. Maine Pyar Kiya, Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Gadar Ek Prem Katha, Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil To Pagal Hai and all such long-named films from the 90s saw protagonists facing external conflicts that tested their love, and their resolve to come together. Often rooted in social or economic divide, these conflicts found their genesis in traditional India, where rich vs. poor and inter-caste marriages were big factors at play in marriage decisions.

    Post-liberalisation, and with the advent of multiplexes, this formula began to look cliché. After all, in how many different ways can you tell a rich vs. poor love story? This is when Hindi cinema shifted its focus from external to internal conflicts. Challenges were more in the mind (career vs. love, commitment vs. free spirit) than in the world outside. Protagonists in films like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani or Love Aaj Kal battled their inner demons, even as the world outside was completely aligned to the idea of them being together.

    Some such films worked, but many didn’t. Internal conflict is still a dominantly Western idea, and barring a section of audience in the big cities, it’s not seen as being dramatic enough to be mainstream content. As a result, love stories stopped working, and then stopped getting made. In the list of the top 50 love stories of the decade of 2010-2019, the number of love stories is an abysmal five. Just five. The equivalent number for the 90s is in the early 20s.

    Clearly, going away from external conflicts hasn’t worked for this genre in Hindi cinema. The nature of these external conflicts needed to be reinvented, but in a classic error of judgement, the baby was thrown out with the bathwater. Last year’s Kabir Singh (originally Arjun Reddy) showed us how external and internal conflicts can be brought together to make an engaging and dramatic love story. Similar impact was created in Sairat, another regional film. It’s the big-city syndrome that may have led Hindi cinema to get deviated from this line of thinking, even as regional films continue to explore it with new-age twists.

    We need more such ideas. Love is a fantastical genre, and it may have been over-intellectualised in Hindi cinema over the last few years. It’s time to go back to the roots, and re-imagine the classical notion of love. And for a change, some inspiration can be drawn from television.

     

     

  • The show has taken Colors to #1 in Urban HSM, past 200 GRPs, a rare feat in Hindi GECs these days, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Non-Fiction sets new Benchmarks with Bigg Boss 13

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Next week, the longest-ever season of Bigg Boss finally draws to a close. And it’s been the longest one for a very good reason. Bigg Boss 13 has turned out to be the most successful season of the show ever. The weekday episodes are rating at par with some of the top-rated fiction shows, despite the show’s late 10.30pm slot, with episodes ending well past 11.30pm on most days. The weekend episodes lead other weekend shows, including the hugely-popular The Kapil Sharma Show and Colors’ very own Naagin.

    In general, Bigg Boss seasons find a viewership pattern in the first month, and then growth in viewership is minimal post that, limited to 20-25% at best. This season has seen growth nearing the 40% mark on the weekdays and the 50% mark on the weekends, if you compare the first half of the season to the second. The first half rated at usual levels of sub-2 TVR. But as the show progressed and the principal characters began to emerge more sharply, the surge in ratings followed. Bigg Boss, with strong support from repeat airings too, has taken Colors to the No 1 position in Urban HSM, now past the 200-GRP mark, a rare feat in the Hindi GEC category these days. Add the digital viewership, conversations and impact, and Bigg Boss 13’s success is even more significant.

    The content has definitely been more edgy this year than before. Relationships, of the romantic variety in particular, have been presented without much sanitisation, and public display of affection on the show is given a lot of prominence in the episodes on air. At times, conventional Hindi GEC understanding would make you question how such content can ever get traction. But that’s where the fascinating audience insight lies.

    If a Hindi GEC fiction show was based on a theme that explores love in a way that’s not ‘Indian’ enough (eg getting attracted to someone despite no formal breakup with one’s existing partner), it would get rejected at the onset itself. Such a fiction show would be seen as propagating negative ideas, and would simply not fit the idea of television and why it’s watched.

    But change the context from fiction to non-fiction, specifically Bigg Boss, and the rules change. Over the last four-five years, Hindi mass audiences have warmed up to non-fiction more than ever before. The low-commitment, short-duration content is a welcome change from the long-running fatigue machines that most fiction shows have come to be seen as. This acceptance of non-fiction has also come with an understanding and acceptance of the idea that ‘rules’ for fiction and non-fiction are different. Fiction is for wholesome family entertainment, delivered through relatable yet aspirational characters, while non-fiction is entertainment in a dialed-up version.

    Barring KBC, which stays true to its original idea of being a wholesome entertainer, most other non-fiction shows that have done well have tweaked their content to give frontal status to their entertainment value. On Indian Idol, for example, less than 30% of the action or talk between any two singing performances is about the performance (or music, in general) itself. There is a running joke about the host wanting to marry the female anchor, and it works. Two weeks from now, Khatron Ke Khiladi, another show that has used entertainment as a weapon of audience expansion, will play on the same quotient.

    Bigg Boss 13’s success may be difficult to repeat every year, but non-fiction is here to stay… and grow. Now, if only they aired more of it on the weekdays.

     

  • With Uri, Tanhaji and more, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Nationalism In A Theatre Near You…

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Since the last year, the month of January has emerged as a month of usual blockbusters for Hindi cinema. In 2019, Uri – The Surgical Strike released in January, and went on to do exceptional business at the box office well into February, eventually doing net (post-tax) domestic ticket sales of almost Rs 250 crore. It was also the most-liked Hindi film of the decade (2010-19) with an Ormax WOM (Word-of-Mouth) score of 86, ahead of Bahubali 2’s Hindi dubbed version by one point.

     

    This year, Tanhaji – The Unsung Warrior, released in the second week of the month like Uri, has struck gold. The film marches on in its fourth week that starts today, and will comfortably cross the Rs 250 crore mark. Ajay Devgn is an established star over three decades, but this is by far his biggest success, overtaking Golmaal Again (2017) comfortably, despite the latter having the advantage of a franchise backing and a lucrative Diwali release.

     

    The second week of January may emerge as a hot date for new releases because of these back-to-back successes, but you don’t need to be a fancy analyst to decipher that there is a lot more in common between Uri and Tanhaji than just their release dates. Both the films evidently, and unabashedly, cash in on a nationalistic fervor that is an integral part of the political narrative of the country over the last few years. And both are inspired by true stories, though both take ample ‘creative liberties’ to mend the true story in question to suit the nationalistic sentiment they are trying to stir up.

     

    The films in question themselves are very watchable. Uri’s last hour is particularly gripping, and its handling of action sequences, especially in the sound department, broke new grounds in Hindi cinema. I found Tanhaji very cinematic, and in certain scenes, the Bahubali-inspired imagination of the makers was on good display. Both had to be good films to do the business they did.

     

    The question, however, is: How over-indexed is this business because of the political climate of the country? Would Uri have been an equal success in an earlier political regime, where Modi was not helming affairs? Would Tanhaji have gone on to do so well if national and regional pride were not on the top of the political agenda of BJP and Shiv Sena respectively?

     

    The films, especially Tanhaji, systematically incorporate the nationalist sentiment in their writing. I started counting the mentions of the word ‘bhagwa’ (saffron) in Tanhaji, and lost count somewhere around 12. The distortion of actual facts in the film’s story further propagates this agenda, along with building the lead character’s machismo.

     

    While quantifying the exact box-office surplus that these films gained from their political leaning may need more research than is currently available, the qualitative impact is there for everyone to see. And why only these two films? The Accidental Prime Minister, an unabashed mockery of Dr. Manmohan Singh’s tenure as a PM, opened at about Rs 3.5 crore last year, despite no star value to boot and a release clashing with Uri. The Tashkent Files, which implies, and in no uncertain terms, that the Congress was behind the ‘killing’ of Lal Bahadur Shastri, opened low but went on to do fairly good business last year.

     

    Cinema’s political coloring may be a worrying trend for many, but it may just be here to stay. After all, it’s the audience who are writing this narrative. One can make a dozen and more films on an agenda, but if there is no audience for the taking, it won’t work. Here, there’s a thriving audience who are looking towards the cinema halls for their monthly dose of nationalism.

     

    Patriotism has always been a strong selling point of our cinema, and the huge success of Gadar: Ek Prem Katha is the best example in this regard. But nationalism and patriotism are different. And that is why this story will continue to get more interesting in the years to come!

     

    Shailesh Kapoor is Founder and CEO, Ormax Media. He writes weekly on MxMIndia. His views here are personal

     

     

  • In the last of a series of decade-enders, Shailesh Kapoor list five things that he wishes would happen to M&E in India… soon

    A Wishlist from the New Decade

     

    This is the sixth (and the last) in a series of decade-ender lists in this column. The previous lists:

    The most-defining Hindi TV shows of the decade

    The most-defining Hindi films of the decade

    The most successful OTT brands of the decade

    The most successful TV channels of the decade

    The most important emerging trends of the decade

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    It’s only 17 days old, but 0.46% of the new decade is already over. Last week, I wrote about the important trends that emerged in the Indian Media & Entertainment space over the last decade. While writing that, I wondered: Can we even begin to imagine what an equivalent list will look like in Jan 2030, for the 2020-2029 decade? That would certainly be ambitious, almost foolhardy, to attempt. But a more realistic exercise would be to list what one would wish from the new decade.

    So here are five things, in no particular order, that I wish happen to the Media & Entertainment industry in India in the coming decade. And hopefully, in the early parts of it.

     

    A Regulation-Free TV Regime

    The new decade has started with more chaos on an issue that’s been artificially manufactured and then incessantly fueled by Government of India and its agencies. After the New Tariff Order (NTO), there’s NTO 2.0, and the arbitrary TRAI guidelines continue to get more bizarre by the day. Interference of the government in private television has been an irksome factor the TV industry has learnt to live with over the years. But this time, they have rightly taken TRAI to the court.

    There’s little argument in favor of price regulation in a category that offers the best value-for-money compared to any other form of entertainment available. By subjectively questioning the price points every now and then, TRAI continues to baffle us. In a free market, the consumer will dictate the ideal price points. Channels have the option of being free-to-air, and eventually, the market will find segments and niches that are willing to pay a lot more or a lot less than the median.

    I hope we are not discussing NTO 8.0 in 2030. But something tells me that we may just be doing that!

     

    Better Marketing Quality

    The quality of marketing in the Media & Entertainment industry is arguably poorer than most other sectors. While the creative output (trailers, posters et al) may range from very good to very poor, the real bone of contention I have is with their aversion to strategic marketing. Very few media brands or products approach marketing in the classical FMCG way. Marketing objectives are too transitional and tactical, and almost never strategic. Ironically, the industry, especially some companies in the television space, is fairly good at content strategy. But marketing strategy approaches being used are highly nascent, and have almost a college-project-like feel to them. Be it television’s unidimensional obsession with the ratings data or film producer’s obsession with following the standard marketing template being used for almost all films now, there’s jadedness around.

    The silver lining is that there are a few companies and professionals who recognise this, and are consciously working on changing the marketing rules of this sector. More power to them in the new decade!

     

    An Oscar, Maybe?

    The Indian Oscars story over the last 18 years has been a dodgy one. After Lagaan won a nomination, and lost to a tough competitor, there hasn’t been much to show by the way of Oscar nominations, let alone an award. There is no need to be obsessed with the Oscars, some argue. While that’s correct, not being able to feature in the top international films for 18 years in a row is a worrying comment on the quality of cinema being produced in India, when benchmarked globally. Our theatrical business has been stable over the last decade, and India remains one of the few countries whose cinema has managed to stay strong despite the Hollywood superhero invasion. Surely, we can do better in terms of our global representation.

     

    OTT Measurement

    The OTT content factory has flourished in the last three-four years. In April 2017, BARC India announced its digital measurement initiative. After multiple delays, the initiative seems to have lost prominence now, and doesn’t seem to be in sight anytime soon. The absence of a consolidated digital measurement metric can be a deterrent in the growth of the AVOD business, which relies on advertising, in the coming years. Even from a content perspective, absence of clear knowledge on what’s working and what’s not can only hamper the quality of content being churned out. In the current scenario, no one else except BARC India seems to be in the pole position to make this happen. Hope they have this high on their priority list.

     

    Better News: Wishful?

    Traditionally, there have always been news platforms that are pro- or anti-establishment. But now, we have right-aligned and left-aligned news platforms (currently, the former enjoys a clear majority), and the masks are off too. Ideological colouring of news is extremely worrying in today’s times, when news consumption and its impact is at an all-time high. In the early half of the last decade, television news saw the emergence of the debates format. News got louder first, and then got ideologically colored too, and in no subtle way on either count. Arnab Goswami, the flagbearer of this decadence, is probably the most impactful television celebrity of the last decade, along with Kapil Sharma. The new decade needs to find its own Arnab. One who’s more assertive than loud, and more conscientious than coloured.

     

     

  • Shailesh Kapoor lists the five most significant trends in M&E in India

    The Most Important Emerging Trends of the Decade

     

    This is the fifth in a series of six decade-ender lists in this column by Shailesh Kapoor.

     

    The previous lists:

    The most-defining Hindi TV shows of the decade

    The most-defining Hindi films of the decade

    The most successful OTT brands of the decade

    The most successful TV channels of the decade

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    The decade that went by was unmistakably eventful for the media & entertainment industry. But isn’t that true for every decade, and for most industries? Ten years is a long time, especially given the pace at which technology is evolving, and there are bound to be fundamental shifts in how a category is perceived, consumed and transacted.

    Here are the five most significant trends that emerged in the last decade in the media & entertainment business, in no particular order. While a lot happened on the back-end, such as the launch of BARC India or the introduction of NTO, the trends here have been identified from a consumer perspective, leaving out the B2B shifts the decade may have seen.

     

    The Digital Explosion

    Perhaps the most significant shift the decade saw was the rise of the digital media, first in the form of social media and YouTube, and then via the OTT category in the second half of the decade. The presence of unlimited and ever-growing content options online (including television catch-up) had various levels of impact on consumer behaviour and taste. The exposure to genres and languages increased, leading to wider acceptance of different forms of content, including that from the West, at a mainstream level. The digital growth also put increasing pressure on other media, such as TV and films, to up their game, lest they should lose audience to a new-age media option. Eventually, digital has managed to co-exist with other media. TV viewing time has not gone down, and box office has not degrown, over this decade. But digital content has opened up a new realm of possibilities for content creators and consumers alike, the true potential of which may be realised only in the coming decade.

     

    Breaking of Geographical Boundaries

    While television continued to be culture and language-driven, we saw the breaking of geographical boundaries in films and digital content in this decade. The prime example, of course, is the Bahubali franchise. Who would have predicted at the start of the decade that the biggest ‘Hindi film’ of the decade will be a Telugu film dubbed in Hindi, without any Bollywood actors in it! Hollywood continued to get stronger too, with certain years showing unreal levels of growth in the Indian market, in the range of 25-40%. Marvel Cinematic Universe is probably the strongest entertainment brand in India today, and that itself is a testimony to how geographies matter less today than ever before. All international and regional content did not cut through, but Indian audience latched on to culture-neutral content, especially in the action and adventure genres, from around the world.

     

    TV Survives… and Flourishes!

    Fallacious, unresearched and over-simplistic arguments around cord cutting and the imminent death of television have gone on for too long now. The truth is: Television is here to stay, at least in India. And that’s not just because India is a mass country with so many small towns and villages that it will take a few years for digital content to truly penetrate. Television’s ‘survival’ story in India is one about culture and values, than about content. Television is the only form of media consumption that’s done almost entirely at a family level in India. Fearful of their children slowly disassociating themselves from all things traditional and cultural, parents have turned to religion and television to keep the family bonding and identity alive. In fact, the arrival of digital content, which is essentially consumed solo, has further amplified the power of television as a collective medium for the entire family. Which is why even the most affluent Indian households have decided not to have a second TV in their house, and at 4-5% only, India’s multi-TV penetration is negligible.

     

    News Acquires Mainstream Status

    From being as a males-only, North India-skewed genre, news acquired a more mainstream and ‘mass’ status this decade. While comparing viewership over decades is problematic because of the constant changes in the ratings universe, the growth of news ratings at the time of marquee events has been consistent and very noticeable. Women audience have warmed up to watching primetime news to some extent, and hence, in many families, news has emerged as a legit option for 9pm or 10pm family viewing. A large part of this change can be attributed to the change in the political regime in the country in 2014, and the political and ideological polarisation that has followed. The rise of digital news, too, has fueled an overall acceptance of news content across media. And for all the flak they face, news channels have made news more accessible, even if it is via making it ‘entertaining’.

     

    An Era of Instant Rejection… and Acceptance

    Social media had come in towards the end of the last decade. But its true power was felt this decade. Rejection or acceptance of a new piece of content, such as a film or a series on the internet or television, would earlier be an organic process, lasting upto weeks. Today, it can be a matter of hours before the word spreads around. There is no place to hide for mediocre content, especially as consumers are spoilt for choices, and have ready access to opinions and reviews all the time. Films like Thugs Of Hindostan and Kalank sank within a day of their release. This digital-fueled trend puts increasing pressure on content creators and distributors to raise the bar, or be left behind. The shelf life of content itself has reduced significantly, and even the best content has a window of a few weeks to get its audience. ‘Now’ is everything! And that’s not necessarily a good thing, but that’s a topic for another day.

     

  • Shailesh Kapoor picks his list of the Top 5 most successful TV channels in India over the last 10 years, based on how they navigated through this tricky 1990s decade

    The Most Successful TV Channels of the Decade

     

    This is the fourth in a series of six decade-ender lists in this column. The previous lists:

    The most-defining Hindi TV shows of the decade

    The most-defining Hindi films of the decade

    The most successful OTT brands of the decade

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    The decade of 2010-19 was easily the most uneventful decade in the history of Indian television so far. Each of the previous three decades was dotted with events that unmistakably shaped television in India. The 80s was the golden age of television content, as Doordarshan started to provide primetime programming and engaged with some of the best writing, directing and acting talent in the country for the same. The 90s saw the emergence of satellite television, which widened the options available to the audience multi-fold. The 2000s saw the daily soap movement, led by Star Plus, and then, the rise of the alternative force in Colors, which brought a unique, real and rustic touch to mass entertainment. Each of these decades had a big highlight at the start. The Asian Games in the 80s saw the arrival of the colour TV. The Gulf War telecast in the 90s, albeit niche, introduced us to the fascinating power of satellite television. And Kaun Banega Crorepati ushered in a new era in 2000.

    In contrast, the last decade (2010-19) can only be remembered for what happened ‘off-screen’. The ratings controversies, leading to the birth of BARC India, in the midst of digitisation, headlined the first half of the decade. And TRAI’s New Tariff Order was the big talking point as the decade ended.

    Low content innovation and a general sense of inertia became even more apparent as digital and social media grew on the side, becoming a dominant force by the time the decade ended. Yet, some TV channels stood out, challenging the status quo and making a mark for themselves. Here’s my list of the top 5 most successful TV channels in India over the last 10 years, based on how they navigated through this tricky decade, making a mark for themselves, and their parent networks.

     

    5. Sony SAB

    SAB’s flagship show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (TMKOC) launched in 2008, and kept going strong through this decade. For large chunks of time over the last 10 years, SAB struggled to have a second hit show. But there were strong periods in between, when the channel managed to add fire power to TMKOC to emerge as a strong contender in the Hindi GEC category. 2019 was one such year, and the channel has been on the heels of Star Plus, Colors and Sony for the top spot, and often taken it too. SAB’s success is even more remarkable if you consider than it operates at significantly lower programming costs compared to other top Hindi GECs. TMKOC itself has gone from strength to strength, and SAB’s packaging and family-inclusive positioning are arguably the brightest and the sharpest respectively, in the genre.

     

    4. Nick

    In a category that’s essentially commoditised, and one flagship show is all you need to dominate the ratings charts, Nick managed to rule the roost for a large share of the decade, and often by a wide margin too. While its competition found it difficult to extend their portfolio beyond one show (e.g. Chhota Bheem on Pogo and Doraemon on Disney), Nick kept the animation mill running, launching several properties through the decade, with varying levels of success. While its 2012 launch Motu Patlu remains its biggest success story till date, the channel managed to sustain a strong second line, and showed nimble-footedness in experimenting with content shifts between the two sister channels Nick and Sonic.

     

    3. Star Plus

    The decade started with Colors emerging as a disruptive force in the Hindi GEC category, throwing Star Plus and Zee TV off their comfort zone with a new programming outlook. After a year or two of trying to figure out what had hit them, Star Plus found its feet back. Its ‘Rishta Wohi Soch Nayi’ campaign in 2010-11 is easily the most effective brand campaign any mass Hindi TV channel in India has ever launched. Unlike the umpteen ‘brand refreshes’ that GECs indulge in, this one was actually backed by content, ushering in a new line of shows like Diya Aur Baati Hum and Pratigya, which put strong women protagonists on the forefront, in relatable, small-town settings. In the second half of the decade, the Hindi GEC category went through a tough phase, losing ratings to regional, news and movie genres. Star Plus innovated here too, launching the ‘Rishta Wohi Baat Nayi’ campaign, signaling its focus on differentiated content that breaks the monotony of sameness. On the side, experiments like Satyamev Jayate continued, even as the channel managed to steer through many highs and lows over 10 long years.

     

    2. Zee Tamil

    For the first half of this decade, the Tamil GEC category was a one-horse race. Sun TV led its closest competitor Star Vijay by an embarrassingly-wide margin. The ratio of their viewership was often higher than 10:1. Zee Tamil was in a wooden spoon battle for the second spot with Star Vijay, with no hopes of catching up with the big force at the top. But somewhere in mid-2006, the channel started finding an alternative content space. It took a couple of years, but Zee Tamil became a strong contender, overtaking Sun TV in some prime-time slots, and bringing down the 10:1 ratio to 2:1, even less at times. Importantly, it altered the viewing behaviour of the category, as it made the audience realise there are options beyond Sun TV to consider. Even Star Vijay has gained because of this behaviour change. While Sun TV still ranks no. 1, it has lost about 20-25% of its viewership through the decade, even as Zee Tamil has grown by a whopping 500%+.

     

    1. Star Sports

    There’s so much to say about Star Sports’ dominance of the sports scene over the last 10 years that it may need a separate article some time. One can talk about the thought leadership shown in backing Kabaddi (and later soccer), or the front-footed approach towards IPL rights, or the digital strategy for sports with Hotstar, or the championing of Hindi commentary in the early part of the decade to the launch of regional channels in the latter. The long list of Star Sports’ innovations in the sports category provides a silver lining to a dull television decade. Star Sports’ much-underplayed tagline says ‘Believe’. It’s probably more a reflection of how Star looks at the future of sports and sports programming in India, than what they want Star Sports viewers to feel about the channel!

     

    Shailesh Kapoor is founder and CEO, Ormax Media. He writes on MxMIndia every Friday. His views here are personal

     

     

  • Shailesh Kapoor lists the Top 5 OTT brands both from a content and a marketing perspective

    The Most Successful OTT Brands of the Decade

     

    This is the third in a series of six decade-ender lists in this column by Shailesh Kapoor. The previous lists:

    The most-defining Hindi TV shows of the decade

    The most-defining Hindi films of the decade

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    The OTT category in India saw a major boost in the latter half of the decade, especially 2017 onwards. From a handful of originals and OTT platforms that you could count in single digits, the category took off with the arrival of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in India. In 2019, more than 100 original OTT shows launched in Hindi language alone. Add regional content, sports, movies, animation etc. to it, and you know that the end of the decade belonged to OTT.

    Ranking “successful” brands in an emerging category can be tricky. This list is based on impact created in the Indian market, both from a content and a marketing perspective. Social media brands have not been considered, and special mentions are due to regional players like Hoichoi, and niche players like FilmCompanion and Ullu, for managing to find a strong need gap and catering to it.

     

    5. ALT Balaji

    Balaji’s entry into OTT category in 2017 made it one of the earlier entrants. It took ALT Balaji some time to get going, and it can be argued that the launch of the more premium services like Netflix actually helped ALT Balaji position itself as “mass” and more mainstream, especially for the non-metro markets in India. The platform has relied on quantity, launching shows every other week, and Gandii Baat, which explores the erotic genre from the small-town/ rural lens, is arguably its most successful show till date. When compared to other platforms that didn’t make it to this Top 5 list, like Zee5, Voot and Sony LIV, ALT Balaji’s run is impressive, particularly because it did not have much GEC catch-up content to provide an early cushion.

     

    4. Netflix

    It’s difficult to split Amazon Prime Video and Netflix on rank. Netflix is clearly the more niche of the two, operating as a standalone content service at a much higher price-point than Amazon. When Netflix launched, its price-point was seen as prohibitive by many. It took some time for Netflix to customise, and the launch of the Rs 199 mobile-only service in 2019 was a sign that they are willing to adapt to the unique rules that the Indian market can demand from global players. Netflix’s content strategy has been to focus on less but high-quality content, though some of their 2019 India shows, such as Sacred Games 2 and Bard Of Blood, fall short of that high standard. The platform’s imagery, however, remains strongly associated with high-quality international content, and that’s a sub-genre in which it’s a clear leader.

     

    3. Amazon Prime Video

    Amazon Prime Video’s launch in India was in line with its global strategy to create content to fuel the retail business through content engagement. Compared to its competitor Netflix, Amazon’s OTT strategy in India relies on higher number of big-ticket launches and more aggressive film acquisitions. Through Mirzapur last year and The Family Man this year, the platform has managed to create top-end Indian content, which puts it in a very credible space as we enter a new decade.

     

    2. TVF

    TVF (The Viral Fever) is the only content creator in this list of OTT platforms. Being the early innovators (remember Permanent Roommates and Pitchers), TVF had its OTT moments much before the big players came. Some argued that TVF would fizzle out as big budgets come into play, but the platform continues to be amazingly consistent with its quality, and this year’s Kota Factory is the latest testimony to that. Having addressed a definitive segment of the urban Indian youth, especially men, TVF is in a rock-solid position to be the most-sought-after content creator in the new decade.

     

    1. Hotstar

    Hotstar came before everyone else, in early 2015. And with each passing year, the Star-owned platform has managed to stay ahead of the OTT evolution curve, especially in the area of marketing. Taking IPL digital rights, even before Star had the broadcasting rights, was a clear indication that Star meant business with Hotstar, and this year has seen a lot more action to support that line of thought, with the launch of the VIP service and Hotstar Originals. In the new decade, Hotstar will have to do a bit more to more away from its image of being primarily a catch-up TV and digital sports platform. But that work has already started, it seems.

     

     

  • Shailesh Kapoor lists the Top 10 most iconic films of the decade, chosen basis the impact they had on shaping industry trends, apart from the appreciation they received from the audience.

    Shailesh Kapoor: The Most Iconic Hindi Films of the Decade

    This is the second in a series of six decade-ender lists in this column. Read the prologue here and the first list on most-defining Hindi TV shows of the decade here

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Despite stagnating footfalls and the emerging threat from Hollywood and regional cinema, there was enough action to keep the Hindi films category going through this decade. Here’s a list of the top 10 most iconic films of the decade, chosen basis the impact they had on shaping industry trends, apart from the appreciation they received from the audience.

     

    10. Dangal (2016)

    The top-grossing Hindi film of all-time (not counting the dubbed Bahubali 2) took forward the sports biopic fascination of the industry to a new level, with Aamir Khan helming a film in this genre. The film provided an exciting combination of many ingredients that work commercially and critically – a real life story, great casting and performances, humour, social messaging and warm emotions. It may have lacked the ultimate finesse of Lagaan, but being based on real-life characters, Dangal had an unmistakable authenticity that resonated across the country.

     

    9. Singham (2011)

    The first film of the much-touted Rohit Shetty cop universe came at a time when anti-corruption citizen movement in the country was at its peak, in the midst of various scams and scandals. Singham was followed by the much-inferior Singham Returns, and then by the highly-entertaining Simmba. All the films in this cop universe quasi-franchise promote vigilante justice in some form or the other, which can be problematic at some level. But in terms of entertainment value, Singham and Simmba both had the right balance of larger-than-life elements (especially the punchlines) and a certain believability that the story is indeed rooted in today’s real world.

     

    8. Kahaani (2012)

    Kahaani is iconic for several reasons. Coming within three months of the much-hyped The Dirty Picture, it provided a definitive tag to Vidya Balan as one of the finest female actors of her generation. Kahaani was also one of the first films in the so-called ‘female-centric’ films genre, and its success paved way to many more such films over the last seven years. It was also one of the first Hindi films with Nawazuddin Siddiqui in a major role. The film also gave us the iconic Bob Biswas, who now has a film of this own under production.

     

    7. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013)

    The original sports biopic that opened the floodgates for umpteen others had an unlikely director-actor combination for the genre, and that probably worked as its surprise element. Farhan Akhtar may not have got the Punjabi accent pat, but his work on his physique and look deservedly got much appreciation, and the film, which spanned a few decades in time, worked equally as a human drama as a sports film.

     

     

    6. Kabir Singh (2019)

    This year’s big hit Kabir Singh was a near-replica of its original film Arjun Reddy. It was also the most-controversial and spoken-about film in a long time, fueling debates on misogyny in cinema. But the film worked for the audience across the broad spectrum, and remains the highest-collecting film of the year in multiplexes, ahead of the year’s top-grosser War. While the music played a key role in its success, the resonance of today’s youth with Kabir’s character is a study in itself, on how Indian youth looks at life today. And that’s a topic that deserves a full write-up of its own.

     

    5. Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019)

    Political films have been taboo topic in Hindi cinema for the longest time, but the last 2-3 years have seen more acceptance on this front. Uri was a full-throttle action drama, featuring a fictionalized account of the surgical strikes that followed the Uri attacks. The idea of the film itself is a masterstroke, and the execution was more than praiseworthy, especially in the sound department, which lifted the last hour of the film to a new level altogether. The film went on to be a much bigger hit than anyone would have anticipated, given its modest cast. And that shows the power of right-wing cinema in today’s India, when made with technical prowess, of course.

     

    4. AndhaDhun (2018)

    Ayushmann Khurrana is the big story to emerge out of the last two years, with back-to-back successes in AndhaDhun, Badhaai Ho, Article 15, Dream Girl and Bala. AndhaDhun, with its comedic treatment of the thriller genre, was perhaps the best-reviewed film of the decade. Director Sriram Raghavan has made taut thrillers before. But with AndhDhun, he outdid himself, peppering the film with fascinating sequences, especially that captivating scene in the first half at Tabu’s house, where Khurrana discovers there’s been a murder in the house. AndhaDhun will take some beating in class, and may hold the tag for the most iconic modern-day thriller in Hindi cinema for a long time.

     

    3. Queen (2013)

    If Kahaani started started the trend of films being headlined by female actors, Queen took it to the next level. It also brought forth the acting genius of Kangana Ranaut, which was later reiterated in Tanu Weds Manu Returns, where she plays a double role. Queen was empowering, uplifting, funny, emotional and authentic in equal measure, becoming that rare urban film that only gets better with each viewing.

     

     

    2. Dabangg (2010)

    I write this on the day of the release of Dabangg 3, more than seven years after the first film in the franchise. Dabangg, coming after Wanted, gave Salman Khan the star status he continued to enjoy through the decade. It also led to the resurgence of the masala action genre, which thrived for a few years, before facing audience fatigue due to a sense of sameness that grew with every such film. Dabangg may not be even amongst the top 25 finest films of the decade (at least 2-3 Salman Khan films would be ahead of it on that list), but in terms of its impact, it became the foundation of a sub-industry in itself.

     

    1. Bahubali (2015) & Bahubali 2 (2017)

    There’s not much new to say about Bahubali. It remains the most-watched, most-discussed and most-adored Indian film work of the decade by an embarrassingly-wide margin. A dubbed film, without any major Bollywood stars, beating the big-ticket Hindi films to the top of the box-office was an eye-opener for many. It told us that big-screen experience and imagination hold more value in minds of the audience that one would have ever thought, an idea that was further authenticated with the huge success of the last two Avengers films in India. Bahubali’s success may have changed Hindi film industry’s thinking forever, and for the better.

  • The first in a series of six decade-ender lists by Shailesh Kapoor

    The Most-Defining Hindi TV Shows of the Decade

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    This is the first in a series of six decade-ender lists in this column. Read the prologue here.

     

    It’s been a decade where regional GECs have thrived, even as the Hindi GEC category has struggled to fight stagnation, especially in the second half. But this list is based on Hindi language TV shows only, and hence, does not cover regional shows. The list also does not cover shows that launched in the previous decade (2009 or earlier) and found their peak recognition in the previous decade itself, i.e., several Colors’ shows like Balika Vadhu, Naa Aana Iss Des Laado and Uttaran, as well as other top shows like Pavitra Rishta and Saath Nibhana Saathiya.

    Honorable mentions must be made for three shows that just missed making it to this list of 10: Star Plus’ Yeh Hai Mohabbatein and Mahabharat, and Life OK’s Devon Ke Dev Mahadev.

     

    10. Kumkum Bhagya (Zee TV)

    The Balaji love story launched in 2014, and has been a top-rated show since then, though its consumer perceptions peaked in the 2015-17 period and have thereon been mixed. The show is arguably one of the best renditions of the tried-and-tested Balaji love story template of star-crossed lovers who have little in common except their undying love for each other. Kumkum Bhagya has managed to keep Zee TV in the running for a top position in the category through the last five years, and also given the channel a quasi spin-off in the very successful Kundali Bhagya (2017).

     

    9. Bigg Boss (Colors)

    Bigg Boss has managed to last through the decade, battling the odd weak season among quite a few strong one. Salman Khan took over as the host of the show at the start of this decade, in Season 4, and the parallel rise in his stardom over this period has benefited Bigg Boss too. The show has now become the standard reference for all task-based reality shows, including many on Colors’ network channel MTV. While Bigg Boss’ ratings may be modest at times, the social media buzz and online consumption (Voot) it garners speaks about its cult status today.

     

    8. Bade Achhe Lagte Hain (Sony)

    Balaji’s 2011 launch single-handedly turned around Sony’s fiction fortunes. From being a channel that was known and watched only for crime and reality content, Sony suddenly had a 3+ rating show in its kitty, literally in a matter of weeks. This is how good and effective Bade Achhe Lagte Hain was. The Ram Kapoor-Sakshi Tanwar casting lent unmistakable punch to the show, reminding us how good acting can be a gamechanger in itself. The show’s peak following was short-lived, to less than two years. But in that short time, it was arguably the most special thing on Indian television.

     

    7. Naagin (Colors)

    If you are counting Balaji shows in this list, this is the third, and the last one too. Naagin’s huge success in a weekend slot surprised many. Weekends were traditionally known for non-fiction content, and a supernatural drama wouldn’t get too many bets as a top-show contender. But Naagin became that, not just for the weekends but across the entire week. The show’s fourth season launches this December. The second and third seasons have not been able to build on the first season’s magic, but the franchise has even firepower to keep it going. There’s enough and more to write about this show, and this 2016 article written in this column may be a relevant read for those interested in more.

     

    6. Crime Patrol (Sony) & Savdhaan India (Life OK/ Star Bharat)

    The crime reconstruction genre has thrived through these ten years, and it would have been unfair to pick the show that pioneered it over the one that has taken the baton ahead, or vice versa. Hence, Crime Patrol, which had an amazing run in the 2012-14 period, and Savdhaan India, which gave its channel a lifeline in the most-troubled times, share this spot. The two shows actually have very different presentation styles, but between them together, they have created a genre that carries such immense viewer appeal that even fatigue with the overdose of such content has not managed to dampen it beyond a point.

     

    5. Diya Aur Baati Hum (Star Plus)

    Shashi-Sumeet Productions’ show on a woman’s journey to become a cop, with her husband by her side all along, ruled the ratings charts and the audience’s hearts alike for almost four years in the first half the decade. Diya Aur Baati Hum is a rare show that actually led to visible social change, triggering off interest among young girls to join the police force, and enabling their parents’ acceptance of this idea. Sandhya’s journey has been a source of inspiration for many women in small-town India in particular. Even as the Hindi GEC category continues to be attacked for its negative and regressive portrayal of today’s India, this show continues to remind us of the progressive social change television has the power of bringing about.

     

    4. Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai (Star Plus)

    Rajan Shahi’s show launched in early 2009, and was an instant hit for its resonating portrayal of the life of an Indian woman through the various positive emotions and challenges she has to face, especially in a post-marriage scenario. Almost 11 years later, the show continues to thrive, staying true to its core idea of being a positive and uplifting portrayal of the great Indian family culture. The lead Akshara has been now replaced by her daughter Naira, but unlike many other fiction shows that lose the plot over time, Yeh Rishta… shows how a long-running show is still possible in today’s age if you have a strong idea at the heart of it.

     

    3. Kaun Banega Crorepati (Sony)

    Sony brought back the iconic show in 2010, after a three-year gap since the previous season on Star Plus. I often wonder if KBC would have ever come back on air if Sony did not need a disruptive gamble to revive its dwindling GEC fortunes in 2010! But on air it was, and for eight seasons over the decade, all but one of which have been hugely successful. Every season brings with it something new, and yet, the idea of the family sitting together and watching KBC has remained intact. As has the show’s impeccable host, who exemplifies excellence in television hosting.

     

    2. Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah (Sab)

    The Asit Modi-produced show started off as a light family entertainer in 2008, and was initially dismissed as a “regional” success, given the heavy skew in its ratings from the Gujarat market. But over the decade, the show has managed to break this geographical barrier inch by inch, through its wholesome, family-inclusive and clean comedy. The show’s lead character Jethalal is also the most popular Hindi GEC character of the decade (Ormax Characters India Loves). Many comedy shows over the decade have attempted to recreate Taarak Mehta…’s success. But nothing has come even close. And that tells us how special this one has been.

     

    1. Comedy Night With Kapil (Colors) & The Kapil Sharma Show (Sony)

    If there was a title of the Person of the Year for the media & entertainment industry for this decade, Kapil Sharma would get my vote for it. By virtue of being a top comedian on Sony’s Comedy Circus, Sharma got his opportunity to get a show of his own, and that’s when his came into his own. Starry tantrums, co-star issues, channel issues and many other such controversies have come in the way, but Sharma has managed to stay afloat, and is back with renewed energy over the last year or so. May he have another decade, and more, of ruling the small screen. Because when it comes to comedy for the masses, he’s running a solo race.

     

     

  • Over the next six weeks, Shailesh Kapoor will track the 2010-2019 decade in a series of lists

    A Fortnight of News, A Decade of Everything

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    A lot has happened on the news front over the last two weeks. We first witnessed a political battle in Maharashtra that would put the biggest political thrillers in Hollywood to shame. It was a twist-a-minute saga, and you never quite knew if you have seen the end of it. In fact, we may not know that even now.

     

    Then, over the last week, the Hyderabad rape case has grabbed the headlines, and the story continues to develop, with the news of the four accused being shot dead in an encounter coming in even as I write this. There was also the historic Pink Ball test, which ended with another emphatic India win in under three days.

     

    On the entertainment front, another successful season of KBC came to a close, with a skillfully-crafted finale week. Even if you do not watch the show, you will do well to check out the finale episode featuring Sudha Murthy. It was inspiring and entertaining in equal measure.

     

    We are also nearing the end of the year, and also the end of the decade of 2010-2019. There’s been an unprecedented interest among journalists, especially those in the media & entertainment sector, to do decade lists and trend stories. I don’t remember any such interest ten years ago when the 2000-2009 decade ended. This interest may have been piqued by online channel Film Companion’s list of the best films and the best performances of the decade.

     

    The more one thinks of it, the idea of analyzing a decade is intriguing and challenging in equal measure. How do you ensure that recency does not bias your opinion? However sharp your memory may be, 2010 is way more distant than 2018-19. Much as I’m averse to lists, because they eventually becoming subjective opinion, a ten-year period is an irresistible temptation to take a shot at them.

     

    There’s another reason why I’m keen on them. For Ormax Media, which started in 2008, this is a decade for which we have comprehensive data over the entire ten-year period, which takes care of objectivity in good measure. Hence, from next week, over the next six weeks, this column will cover the following six lists for the 2010-2019 decade, not necessarily in this order. I’d stay away from box office and ratings-based lists, as that is easy to access in the public domain.

     

    1. The most defining TV shows of the decade

    2. The most successful TV channels of the decade

    3. The most iconic Hindi films of the decade

    4. The most successful digital brands of the decade

    5. The most important emerging trends of the decade

    6. The most significant trends expected from the new decade

     

    Let the lists begin!

     

     

  • The regular OTT audience universe in India is already bigger than the regular theatre-goers universe in India, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    The Big OTT Growth Story: Chapter 3

     

    This is the third in a series of columns on the OTT Growth Story in India.

    Links to previous chapters: Chapter 1, Chapter 2

    By Shailesh Kapoor

    76.5 Million. That’s the all-important number to look at from The Ormax OTT Audience Report: 2019. The recently-concluded research, designed to size and profile the OTT audience market in India, took up the task of first measuring the number of ‘regular’ OTT audience that exist in the country currently.

    The definition of ‘regular’ can be subjective. Based on our category experience and market feedback, we defined it as: Audience who watch online videos for at least two hours every week, and use at least one OTT platform/ app, apart from YouTube and social media, to watch videos.

    The study covered 15+ audiences, and hence, does not include kids. It emerged that 76.5 Million, or 7.65 Crore, is the size of this market in India currently. The next track in 2020 will establish the growth rate. The question is: How small or big is this number?

    Comparing to TV universe can make the number look very small at this early stage of the OTT category. But a more obvious comparison can be made to the theatrical universe. The Bollywood regular theatre-goers universe stands at 33.3 Million, or 3.33 Crore. Add the unduplicated components of regional universes, especially the bigger ones in Tamil and Telugu, and the overall regular theatre-goers universe in India touches the 6 Crore mark.

    Let that sink in. The regular OTT audience universe in India is already bigger than the regular theatre-goers universe in India. And the former is growing in top gear, while the latter has flattened out for almost a decade now. This gap will only get wider.

    Only 15% of the regular OTT universe belongs to the top 6 metros in India. There’s a healthy longtail, created because of falling data costs and the penetration of Jio into small towns and villages in the last 2-3 years. But there’s enough scope for growth across markets. Mumbai and Delhi, the top 2 cities, have about 3.0 Million regular OTT audience each, which is nowhere close to saturation, given the huge adult population of these big metros. The equivalent theatre universe size in these metros is 3.2 Million (Mumbai) and 2.8 Million (Delhi). Hence, the two biggest cities have similar OTT and theatrical universe sizes. It’s beyond the metros, where theatre penetration, content relevance and ticket pricing remain key issues, that theatre-going habit loses out to OTT, a scenario that would have seemed quite unlikely till three years ago.

    The recent trend of films going directly to OTT (read here) is another sign of how OTT has emerged as a robust option for entertainment, and the price factor, which would have earlier been a big discussion point (“Indians are not used to paying for ‘television’ content”) is slowly becoming a lesser factor, with most OTT platforms coming up with rationalized pricing packages for the Indian market.

    As an aside, Amazon Prime Video’s The Family Man has emerged as the big show of the year, scoring an Advocacy Rating of 80, just a point below Sacred Games S1, to become the second most-liked India OTT show ever. A few more such winners and the OTT universe will continue to flourish.

    125 Million by 2020?

     

     

  • That Sony would actually go with Malik this season amazed me no ends, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    #MeToo India: A Year Later…

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    It’s been a little over one year since the #MeToo movement erupted in India. Tanushree Dutta’s accusations against co-star Nana Patekar triggered off a chain reaction, whereby several women, including many in the media and entertainment business, came out with their accounts, some anonymous, accusing co-workers of sexual harassment.

     

    Fourteen months is a long-enough time period to look back and wonder: Did the #MeToo movement really change things for the good? The answer is not very encouraging. The #MeToo movement in India has fizzled out spectacularly, with no major signs of any fundamental shifts in the thought process. Yes, it provoked many organisations into putting more robust sexual harassment policies in place, and may have sensitised many working men about how they should treat women co-workers. But a lot of these ‘changes’ were perhaps borne out of fear – the fear of being caught on the wrong foot, the fear of losing one’s career, or the fear of bad PR for a corporate.

     

    The real test of the movement’s success or failure can be judged through the current career status of those accused in it. If we focus specifically on the entertainment business, the accused in the corporate sector lost their job, and many of them have since been marginalised. But if you look at actors and directors, the picture is a more mixed one. Alok Nath had a film release earlier this year and director Vikas Bahl’s Super 30 released with him getting the director’s credit (the very well-made film went on to do good business too). Sajid Khan, one of the most prolific offenders, has not managed to restart his career, and that’s something even those indifferent to the #MeToo movement will be happy about, given the quality of his last few films.

     

    But the biggest and the most darning evidence that the movement is all but history is the re-establishment of Anu Malik as a judge on Indian Idol. The music composer was removed midway in the last season when accusations against him surfaced, to be replaced by Javed Ali. But in this season, he has been a part of the show right from the start, as if nothing really happened last year. Interestingly, he shares a platform there with Vishal Dadlani, a strong voice on social media on a wide range of social topics, including gender equality.

     

    That Sony would actually go with Malik this season amazed me no ends. He was eminently dispensable. The show does not rely on any one judge, and Malik, in any case, has a jaded imagery by now. It’s not like he’s the Amitabh Bachchan on whose shoulders a big show like KBC firmly rests. Keeping Malik away from Indian Idol would have simply been good optics. But Sony, I think, have chosen to take a legal position than a socio-cultural and ethical one, and reinstated Malik. There has been a social media backlash, but it’s not of a proportion that cannot be managed.

     

    It’s unfair to call out Malik and Sony, because the decision is symptomatic of the larger concern on how #MeToo was more of a fad than a real change. And hence, we can expect more men accused in the movement last year to slowly get ‘rehabilitated’ over the coming months.

     

    Do we need #MeToo Season 2 to take forward the unfinished job in changing mindsets? Perhaps yes.