center lO saDemiyaa by Darina poye daanayya

Amid unprecedented fanfare is released the latest offering of our top hero. Our movies have overcome boundaries, literally. No longer are time, distance and space the obstacles to the reach and extent of our telugu movie print's tentacles. To different continents is beamed the same signal simultaneously and audiences across the globe can cheer, dance, whistle, clap, jubilate and celebrate at just the same time. True global event, this is. Gone are those days when one patiently had to wait for the print to arrive to his city to recreate the fun and relive the frolic. Now a days, the only places that do not witness such global events are ones that simply aren't plugged into the civilization through electricity. The media is abuzz with the "time and distance", "time and work" type calculations - if a movie is released in 200 centers, with 300 prints and runs for 400 days, collecting returns that would rival a small country's budget figures, rewriting a few records along the way, what would be the business range of the hero's next venture? What would he have to do to top this? how huge has our industry grown in terms of potential and marketability?

After the initial euphoria subsides, it is better to evaluate some basic economic principles. There is a small law hidden somewhere in those vaults governing the principles of economics. It is termed as law of diminishing returns. In simple terms it states that more of anything cannot be sustained over longer periods of time. In other words, more the number of theaters, more the number of prints, the returns start to diminish at some point. This point cannot be refuted and has been proved beyond any reasonable doubt. The only tricky issue is, nobody knows at what point this starts to happen. So during the time when the industry is heating up like a boiler with a broken knob, unmindful of burst that is as inevitable and as certain as the sun rising in the east, the media and the fans join in this effort by stoking the egos and false-prestige's of our heroes, increasing the number of prints, theaters, centers, the certain result would be right in the face at times, much much earlier than expected. Going by this mass hysteria, the industry is certainly headed toward that dreaded S word - yeah, the SLUMP!

Somewhere in our secondary standard economics textbook is mentioned the bedrock principle about the inverse proportionality relation between demand and supply. When demand increases and supply is in shortage, demand (read craze) has to increase and it surely does increase. Nowhere is it written that, if the every outlet of the market is flooded with the same product, the demand sustains over longer periods of time and the returns double, triple and quadruple at unprecedented rates. Well, one would adhere to and abide by these rules and act accordingly, if the intention is to conduct better business and get better returns for the investment. On the other side, if the ultimate aim is to be able to print 100 days in 1000 theaters spread all across our Milky Way on the back ends of special editions of newspapers, that is a different matter altogether! And chest-thumping that all these improbable and impractical equations add up to the an increased business potential of the telugu movie, is an act of self-deception, great idiocy and pure stupidity.

When the Barjatyas scored a hit with Maine Pyaar Kiya, they turned extra-cautious and more business savvy while marketing their subsequent venture Hum Aapke Hai Koun! They drastically cut down on the number of prints and thus the number of theaters and the numbers of the cities the movie would release in, thus ensuring greater longevity and continued clamor and yearning for their product and lo and behold, the movie ran for years, thanks to some cool heads and thinking minds! It is usually the practice in Hollywood to flood the multiplexes with a movie trying to make the best out of the initial hype and hoopla, if it tests badly with test audience and prospects appear to be bleak if the word of the mouth spreads around creating negative publicity and thereby fewer ticket sales. It is pure commonsense! Less is more and more is less! How would one ensure that a movie runs longer over extended periods of time, even after every movie going soul has watched the movie once? Enter, the creative ways of propping (or rather, pushing and prodding) the movie, like prolonging the life of a gone case on a ventilator! The producers recycling the returns, and probably the profit margins, the fans associations digging deep into their not-so-deep pockets, the distributors fearing retribution from the producers if they pull the plug on the movie, and the exhibitors dreading fall out with the distributor should they choose to replace this movie with a really profitable one, collectively work towards the common goal of putting up the 100th day poster and collecting the rolling shield at the grandly arranged functions! What solidarity and what camaraderie!! Whoever thought reinvesting into the industry meant this?

One can be philosophical about this whole charade and call this a zero sum game! Or call this a law of conservation of collections - Collections are neither created nor destroyed! They just assume different shapes and names depending on the run time - aaDaDam, aaDincaDam, naDipincaDam, toyincaDam!

kalakshanu varshamulu cooDa kumbha vRusTi ayi vunDu
daani poTTa vippi cooDa produceru paaTlu vunDu
telugu citra naDaka gati tappi pOyenayaa
viSwadaabhi raama vinave sinee seema!

- Daarinapoye Dannayya

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