Overseas collection of a few films such as Ekti Tarar Khoje and Jodi Ekbar have crossed their home territory collections.
Kolkata:
Armed with quality storytelling,the Bengali film industry is producing blockbusters at lowbudgets, according to a report prepared by FICCI which pointsat abundant creative talent available in Tollygunge.
"There is an increase in small budget films being madeat budgets less than Rs 60 lakh. This stands as a testimony tothe creative talent available in the Bengali film industry," aFICCI-Deloitte report on media and entertainment scene in eastIndia, says.
The report noted that the Bengali film industry had oflate received a healthy flow of investment in films releasedin the current year.
"On the higher side, the production budgets of a few bigbudget Bengali films have now crossed Rs six crore. Greaterproduction budgets in large films have led to more sequencesin the films and not just songs, now being shot overseas,"says the report.
Out of about 122 films certified in 2011, the report saysquoting industry sources, that only around 100 of themactually saw commercial release.
Growing approximately by 20 per cent from last year, theannual investment in Bengali film industry is believed to bearound Rs 150 crore when viewed in terms of overall costs ofproduction and marketing.
On the box office side, the report says, quite a few masscommercial films continue to find success through contentadapted from other popular vernacular languages, primarilyfrom the south, to cater to the rural and semi-urban audience.
The report also noted that commercial successes likeBhooter Bhabhishyat have helped sustain an alternative genreof content more targeted towards urban and multiplex audience.
Stressing on the need to develop overseas market bytapping the Bengali and Bangladeshi diaspora, overseascollection of a few films such as Ekti Tarar Khoje andJodi Ekbar have crossed their home territory collections.
"Realisation from this market has accelerated with newertechnologies and startups making it easier to distributeBengali content across screens and geographies," theFICCI-Deloitte report says.
Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee says, "Riding onthe similarities in our languages and cultures, it will becritical in future to embrace Bangladesh not just for itsaudience, but also for cross pollination of ideas andharnessing the talent in its film industry."
The report says that the shooting of Bollywood films likeKahaani and Barfi! against backdrops of Kolkata and otherparts of West Bengal is also an encouraging trend.
"It helps in exposure of acting talent in West Bengal to alarger audience through niche character-driven roles andemployment at better pay for the crew behind the camera on thesets. Moreover, this acts as a stage for cross-pollination interms of techniques used in the two industries," it says.
However, Bengali film industry still continues to grapplewith challenges at the ground level due to issues of piracyand poor distribution and exhibition infrastructure thatthreaten the sustenance of this growth, the report concludes.
"There is an increase in small budget films being madeat budgets less than Rs 60 lakh. This stands as a testimony tothe creative talent available in the Bengali film industry," aFICCI-Deloitte report on media and entertainment scene in eastIndia, says.
The report noted that the Bengali film industry had oflate received a healthy flow of investment in films releasedin the current year.
"On the higher side, the production budgets of a few bigbudget Bengali films have now crossed Rs six crore. Greaterproduction budgets in large films have led to more sequencesin the films and not just songs, now being shot overseas,"says the report.
Out of about 122 films certified in 2011, the report saysquoting industry sources, that only around 100 of themactually saw commercial release.
Growing approximately by 20 per cent from last year, theannual investment in Bengali film industry is believed to bearound Rs 150 crore when viewed in terms of overall costs ofproduction and marketing.
On the box office side, the report says, quite a few masscommercial films continue to find success through contentadapted from other popular vernacular languages, primarilyfrom the south, to cater to the rural and semi-urban audience.
The report also noted that commercial successes likeBhooter Bhabhishyat have helped sustain an alternative genreof content more targeted towards urban and multiplex audience.
Stressing on the need to develop overseas market bytapping the Bengali and Bangladeshi diaspora, overseascollection of a few films such as Ekti Tarar Khoje andJodi Ekbar have crossed their home territory collections.
"Realisation from this market has accelerated with newertechnologies and startups making it easier to distributeBengali content across screens and geographies," theFICCI-Deloitte report says.
Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee says, "Riding onthe similarities in our languages and cultures, it will becritical in future to embrace Bangladesh not just for itsaudience, but also for cross pollination of ideas andharnessing the talent in its film industry."
The report says that the shooting of Bollywood films likeKahaani and Barfi! against backdrops of Kolkata and otherparts of West Bengal is also an encouraging trend.
"It helps in exposure of acting talent in West Bengal to alarger audience through niche character-driven roles andemployment at better pay for the crew behind the camera on thesets. Moreover, this acts as a stage for cross-pollination interms of techniques used in the two industries," it says.
However, Bengali film industry still continues to grapplewith challenges at the ground level due to issues of piracyand poor distribution and exhibition infrastructure thatthreaten the sustenance of this growth, the report concludes.
