We will pursue conversation started by our friend and colleague,K. Hariharan of L. V. Prasad Film and TV Academy in Chennai.
For now, here is a piece in The Guardian (beginning with a quote): why Hollywood is making films in India? And, does this make for a “transnational” film?”
Let us return to this issue.
Article by Xan Brooks from the film pages of The Guardian.
This is an explanation from Gitesh Pandya (Box Office Guru) on how marketing strategy for Slumdog Millionaire:
Slumdog Millionaire was initially released in only six major cities on November 12 and American and desi moviegoers alike were targeted. I invited the South Asian media to come and see the film early as we screened the film over a month before its release date so journalists could do stories on it in order to raise awareness. The film was selling out at all theaters and each week more theaters were added in more cities across the country. The momentum kept building and so before Christmas Fox Searchlight expanded the film to over 600 theaters in big and small cities alike. It continued to increase its weekend gross every week as people have been recommending it to others making it a true crossover success.
This has been an increasingly effective marketing strategy. Here is an account of recent developments from The New York Times:
“Films Reach Theaters a Drib Here, Drab There.”
David Thomson profiles Danny Boyle in The Guardian this week. Like Frank Rich in The New York Times (and many others to echo elsewhere), Thomson calls it the film for the times of recession, a story of rags to riches. That is; it is a “feel good” movie that is likely to lift us up in bad times. If there is a message here, it is about how povery is “written” on the bodies of the poor. The lucky coincidence of Slumdog’s success is more about how the game shows attempt to bring out the pathologies of the masses rather than present a feel good story for the Oscars season. If you see only the narrative and not its movement, its steady stealing of emotions with principles of pleasure, you miss everythiing. More on Slumdog later.
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