A long journey has been covered by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and not just in terms of money but also in creating a warm and loving space in the heart of its audience through its emotion-based movies; it has created a successful balance between both money and content afterall with a collection of 425 Crores in 2 Years with just 6 awesome movies, it is already in the league of one of the most top-notch productions houses.
The numbers definitely speak for themselves, but it is also the hard work and the sheer emotions put behind each of their releases that make Dharma a little more special to us all, audiences. Ofcourse the most contributing to this huge balance are two of their most exclusive releases Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016), directed by the ace Karan Johar himself, and Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017), they both made it to the exclusive club of movies that have upped their earnings up and above Rs 100 crore. It is also very understandable as these two movies definitely aimed at emotions and connectivity to their audience as well as provide the ultimate goal of movie-goers, that is entertainment!
A trade expert, who spoke anonymously, estimated that the profit of Rs 15-20 crore earned by Dharma Productions through the distribution of the dubbed Hindi version of S.S. Rajamouli's war epic Baahubali 2: The Conclusion in northern India and overseas, has optimally contributed to the whole success of the company.
Along the recent background of continuous under-performed movies and big-ticket movies with no content and only a plethora of glittery star cast, it is a huge success for Dharma afterall Bollywood is now facing an even fiercer battle with the coming of diverse digital streaming platforms. Giving Dharma Production, its much needed credit in investing and creating movies with diverse themes and content, such movies like Ae Dil Hai Mushkil which was a unique story of love and friendship, Badrinath Ki Dulhania being a rom-com with a balanced content and entertainment quotient, whereas Kapoor & Sons was a family drama and Dear Zindagi a slice-of-life film. While all of this has been covered, the company has now ventured in to thriller with their upcoming project, Ittefaq starring Sonakshi Sinha and Siddharth Malhotra as well as Akshay Khanna in very intriguing roles.
Though we still wonder how is this success possible considering the changing times and attitude of the audiences towards cinema in general, well Apoorva Mehta says, "The only thing constant in life is change and you have to adapt to it. That holds true not only for films but for any sphere of business, the chief executive officer of Dharma Productions further elaborated, "If you look at the 1980s, we were making three-hour-long films with lots of song and dance and the quintessential hero and heroine. As audiences have been exposed to the internet and different kinds of cultures, they're all looking for more real and relatable cinema. We've been conscious of that change.
So it is pretty much firm and agreed upon that now it is content that matters over A-list stars.
Dharma was first molded at the hands of Karan Johar's father, Yash Johar, who died in 2004, he was 37 yr old when he had founded the private company and had produced masterpieces like Dostana (1980) and Agneepath (1990) with Amitabh Bachchan. Then, the drive went onto Karan Johar, who gave the company its real fame and much deserved love from the audience by giving us movies like his directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) followed with more hits like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) and Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003). Though all along these past years, one thing has remained the same and that is Dharma's philosophy clearly stating, as Apoorva Mehta says, "A film never fails, the budget does. There is a viewer for every kind of content. What you need to be clear on is the market segment that is going to accept this content and then work backwards, he said.
Talking about their huge profitability, "Dharma's is a four-pronged strategy, said film trade expert Girish Johar to explain the company's consistent profitability. "It is a combination of Karan Johar's diasporic and international appeal, launch of credible acting and directorial talent, telling stories that strike a chord and getting love back from audiences.
Moreover, Mehta said that the company believes in profit-sharing with its lead stars not only to cap fixed costs but also a way to work towards the advance sale of film rights to satellite TV and digital streaming platforms, ofcourse given the unpredictability of the box office.
"The company will now endeavour, Apoorva Mehta stated, "to do more work in the regional space and also look at co-productions besides just distributing projects like Baahubali.
Cultural influences in the form of spectacles like Baahubali have become very crucial today as the diverse digital platforms threaten to take over the big-screen experience. Though Dharma has partnered with over-the-top video (OTT) streaming platforms like Amazon Prime Video and more recently, Eros Now, for its movie content, but not just that but as Mehta has annouced the company is also looking at producing original web series in due course.
"We're almost fearful of the OTT wave because we may soon become the stepchild of digital content, Mehta said. "How do you compete with something that's offering a lot of films at Rs 500 a month when the average ticket price in a theatre is Rs 400? We have to design our films to allow for audiences to come and want to see them in the theatre. It's an exciting phase (for us) but also challenging...
Well, there is definitely no better way to cope up with challenges and adapt to the upcoming changes in the entertainment industry!
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