Even as many producers are wondering what life would be after the nationwide lockdown is lifted, Yoodlee Films (a sister concern of Saregama India) is going full steam ahead with whatever it can do during the lockdown so that it can start shooting as soon as things return to normalcy or at least to a semblance of normalcy. Like, for instance, it is conducting online auditions for selecting the ancillary cast of its new films which will go on the floors when shootings are allowed to start. Says Siddharth Anand Kumar, vice president, films & events, Saregama India, “We will, of course, adhere to the restrictions which the government will impose on activities after the lockdown — restrictions like providing hygienic environment for the unit members, hand sanitizers, face masks, transportation to and fro the work place etc. But rather than just waiting for things to normalise and then start working, we are doing all that can be done online so that this lockdown time is fruitfully utilised.”
When Yoodlee had been launched, it had announced that it would produce 12 small-budget, content-driven films every year. That model has been given a go-by because it did not work well for the company in the three years of its existence during which it produced films like Hamid and Brij Mohan Amar Rahe!. Explains Siddharth Anand Kumar, “OTT platforms don’t want to buy non-star cast films, even they look for star value in films before touching them.” Also, platforms like Amazon, Netflix and Hotstar prefer films with clear genres rather than the kind Yoodlee made so far. Adds Kumar, “Every OTT platform is interested in films which talk to the youth. What’s more, they have their rate cards for films with different stars. The price is ‘x’ for a film with so-and-so star, ‘y’ for a film starring another hero, and so on and so forth.”
Another reason for chucking its old model was that every OTT platform wanted the IP in the films. “That left Yoodlee Films with just 10-15% margin. For the tight-budgeted films we made, what was 10-15% going to give us? Hence, it made more sense for us to make films with bigger budgets so that the 10-15% amounts to a substantial figure,” reasons Siddharth. Yoodlee is in the process of making a Marathi film starring Amey Wagh and directed by Aditya Sarpotdar. There’s also a Tamil film with Bhagyaraj in the cast, on the anvil. Not to forget a Hindi film for which the company is in talks with Shaad Ali. “This will be a proper commercial film with stars,” reveals Kumar.
Talking about OTT platforms, Siddharth Anand Kumar revealed that the platforms have been showing interest in their inventory of films during the lockdown period. “We have a ready inventory of four films for which OTT platforms are in negotiations with us. We had planned to release them theatrically before allowing them to be streamed but the platforms are now approaching us to see if they can be streamed directly on OTT without releasing them in cinemas as they are shut.” Deals for digital rights were already in place in the case of two films — after their release in cinemas, of course. The said OTT platforms are now negotiating for their premiere release on their platforms without waiting for their theatrical release. But the deals are not as simple as they sound. If Yoodlee releases the films directly on an OTT platform by forgoing the theatrical release, it will have to forget revenues from sale of other rights such as airlines rights, on-demand TV rights, cable and satellite TV rights, DTH rights etc. as all these rights pre-suppose that the film has had a cinema release. This is because with cinema release comes a basic awareness about the film. The aforementioned rights would fetch money only if a film has had a theatrical release as nobody wants to buy rights of films about which awareness is missing.
Among the four ready films produced by Yoodlee is Axone which is about the problem of racism against North East Indians. It stars Sayani Gupta and Vinay Pathak.