Theatrical runs of Hindi movies are likely to become shorter as production houses make movies available on television within one and five months of their theatrical release. The move is significant as it ensures faster breakeven for producers’ investments.

A year back, producers were not willing to make their movies available on television before at least six months of their theatrical release.

Consider this. Movies like Amitabh-Bachhan-starrer ‘Rann’ and ‘Mr aur Mrs Khanna’ were made available on television within one month of their theatrical release. ‘Love, Sex aur Dhoka’, which released on March 19, is already available on DVD.

Jehil Thakkar, head of media and entertainment, KPMG, said, “During recession last year, producers had resorted to various new strategies to ensure breakeven. One of the successful models that emerged is shortened theatrical runs of movies to ensure faster breakeven. When a movie releases, the brand recall is at its strongest and can garner maximum viewership. Producers would therefore look at making a movie available simultaneously on more than one platform to ensure guaranteed profits.”

According to analysts and media buying agencies, most films negotiate a deal with various television channels, both national and local, for an average of Rs 3-10 crore, depending on the star-cast and popularity of the movie. While a few deals could be a three-year exclusive for a television channel, others can be for showing a movie six times a year or even for two runs in a year exclusive to one channel.

Moreover, during the ongoing 45-day Indian Premier League (IPL) season, the industry lined up over 25 films, mostly small-budget ones. Even though these films were eyeing only about a 20-40 per cent theatre occupancy, producers and analysts say such small-budget films have been able to cover a large chunk of their production costs through television rights alone.

ASA Productions and Enterprises, which released ‘Shaapit ‘ in March, is negotiating with television channels to sell the rights by June this year. Vikram Bhatt, CEO of ASA Productions, told Business Standard, “We are negotiating with television channels to sell rights for Shaapit. In any case pirated copies become available much faster and so an earlier release of a movie on television makes sense for us.” Mukta Arts, which released ‘Right Ya Wrong’ in March, is also negotiating with television channels for a speedier release of the movie. Ravi Gupta, CEO, Mukta Arts, said, “Movies are anyway available on direct-to-home platform within two weeks under the pay-per-view scheme. We invested around Rs 15 crore and we have not broken even yet. We are negotiating with television channels for selling the rights on small screen.” Pritish Nandy Communications, however, has stuck to the six-month period for its production ‘Raat Gayi Baat Gayi’, and has sold the television rights to Imagine. “The producers who are perso nally involved in the distribution of a movie, find it easier to make a movie available on television before even six-months of its theatrical release. The advantage is, ofcourse, faster breakeven,” Pritish Nandy told Business Standard.

Television channels, too, are cashing in on this opportunity as it ensures a minimum guaranteed viewership.

Star India has bagged the television rights for the Salman Khan-starrer epic movie ‘Veer’, which will be shown on television next week. Veer had released in January this year and had reportedly grossed Rs 32.5 crore in its first week in India, including the Telugu version.

Kevin Vaz, executive VP – advertising and sales, Star India, said, “Rann was available within a month. Then we are going to show Veer within four months of its theatrical release. My Name Is Khan should be available by June-July this year. Producers clearly want movies to be available on television while the hype is on, which also works in our advantage because we get to bring it to consumers while the marketing is still strong.”

Sony Entertainment Television (SET) India, on the other hand, has bagged the rights for ‘Rocket Singh’ , which was released in theatres in December 2009.

Danish Khan, marketing head of Set India, said, “A year back, producers were not willing to make their movies available on television before at least six months of their theatrical release. Now, we can bag the rights within four to five months, while some movies are available on television within one month of their theatrical release.”

Theatrical runs of Hindi movies to get shorter