'...you start running after the star.' 'If the star says yes to the film, the ecosystem supports it.' 'The biggest cog in the wheel of the ecosystem is the audience and we forget that.'
Disney Star India, bought at a valuation of $15 billion, could be on the block for roughly one-third that amount.
'The formula now is even if there is no profit there should be break-even.' 'We green-light a film only if we can see break-even in it.'
'In terms of ticket sales, Hindi is at 50-60 per cent while the South markets are at 80-90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.' The patchy performance of Hindi, the largest segment of the business is the nub of what is bothering Indian cinema.
'Advertising this season will help IPL surpass $550 million in ad revenues, across digital and pay TV.' 'It should still represent a steep loss against annualised 2023-2027 IPL rights fees of $1.2 billion.'
DD Freedish is the 'largest TV platform in India', going to 58 million homes, featuring 70-odd private channels. DD Freedish reaches about 278 million people, and is easily among the top five TV platforms in the world.
'I didn't want to do a highlight reel with greatest hits of Yash Raj Films.' 'I wanted to do an actual story.'
'Today, the risks have risen.' 'So stars need good content and good content needs stars.' 'It is now X+Y (star + content) not that X is greater than Y or Y is greater than X.'
With three key subscription drivers -- F1, IPL and HBO -- gone, can Disney+Hotstar depend only on its chart-topping originals like Criminal Justice and Rudra: Edge of Darkness to hit both scale and profitability?
In spite of its flaws, I enjoyed reading the book, says Vanita Kohli-Khandekar. Simply for the joy of digging into the life, in pictures and words, of one of the most enduring stars of Indian cinema.
Shah Rukh had outgrown the roles that made him a star -- the menacing, obsessive lover in Darr, the regular guy in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na or the new age boyfriend in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. By the time he entered his 50s, he was struggling to find his feet, explains Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
There are hundreds of fan clubs -- in Jalgaon, Beed, Chennai, Kolkata, Akola, Yavatmal, Bengaluru, Sitamarhi, New York, Canada, Nigeria etc. Every Indian city/town or a major country has a fan club for the man whose fan base has been estimated at 3.5 billion by Time Magazine.
On January 24, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces the Oscar nominees for 2023, it would be a surprise if RRR doesn't make the cut, declares Vanita Kohli-Khandekar.
In the quarter ending June 2022, the growth of Internet subscribers was less than one per cent of all of 2021.
News, as a business, faces its biggest crisis ever, globally. To fight it needs investment in feet-on-the-ground journalism, tech tools like artificial intelligence among other things.
Why will JioCinema live-stream the FIFA World Cup 2022 games for free?
'Streaming will get to 100-200 million subscribers, but the journey is not as rose-tinted.'
'There is so much talk about Netflix and what they should be doing.' 'In two years, SonyLIV has done what Netflix should be doing.'
It means more tickets sold and therefore more revenues and hastens the recovery of the devastated-by-the-pandemic film business.
'This is the best time to do a pan-Indian film.'