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Home , Aaja Nachle, Hum Tum, Krrish (franchise), Lamhe, Lara Dutta, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic

: From Print to Digital Platform

Neha Agarwal1 and Pooja Agarwal2 1,2Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies, Pune

“In our business today, the most valuable currency the audience has is their TIME. And they are very sure about how they want to trade it. Also, it’s no longer enough just to create buzz about the product, it’s now more important to compete for their attention by providing compelling reasons to experience our product.” 1 —Yash Raj Film’s Statement on its Website As the rainy season finally hits the skies of , popularly known as The City of Dreams, it is the place in where a lot of people come every day wishing to convert their dreams into reality. , one of the leading film producers of pdf, India was carefully watching the rain drops on the window pane of his office. He has this been instrumental in shaping the symbolism of mainstreamof cinema across the globe. His company had a great name in the filmcopyright-holder industry, from making content high-budget blockbusters to youth-oriented films,system, fromthe working with the biggest of actors of the industry to launching young talentany in films, Yash Raj films had by far applied a lot of marketing strategies to drawsave its retrieval customer’s attention. or But today the scenario was different, He wasany actually thinking about the crises that his film making company “Yash Raj printFilms” on PERMISSION was facing at that point of time in early full, 2007. That year, expensive filmscopy, likein JhoomBarabarJhoom with , to or , andWRITTEN , Aaja Nachle with and partwith Rani Mukherjee had bombed in the market. The in company that had madeILLEGAL a 150% return from three films in 2004 was now able to is collect only 10% returnIt from EXPRESSthe above films2. This was all happening because of the social media and digitalizationthe trend, that was emerging in India. Due to the advancement in technology, people were attracted towards the different media and drastic technological withoutchanges were also taking place in the film industry in terms of digital cinema, 3D screens, Direct to Home services, mobile phones and animation. Sitting on the CEO seat of YRF studios Yash Chopra was pondering on the different ideas that can be taken to regain the lost market and suddenly something came to his mind and he dialled a number. He called his son to arrange a meeting with all the department heads of YRF to discuss a strategy that can pace with the current digitalization trend.

[167] International Conference on Digital Innovation: Meeting the Business Challenges GENESIS OF YRF

YRF, Yash Raj films was founded by late Yash Chopra, a veteran of the Indian film industry. Yash Chopra popularly known as “King of Romance” for his ligature of hit romantic films spanning over a five-decade career, he redefined drama and romance onscreen. He has been instrumental in the symbolism of mainstream Hindi cinema across the globe. YRF was established in year 1970 by star maker and studio mogul Yash Chopra and it’s the only privately held and fully desegregated studio in India producing and have produced till now 50 plus films. Out of these 13 films have been fabricated by himself. A film by the veteran fasten its strong screenplay but gilded them always with gorgeous locations, snow-capped mountains, lakes and rivers, beautiful women draped in magnificent chiffon amidst fields of flowers-womenpdf, who invariably went this on to become icons after appearing in his films. of “A Yash Chopra film did not just engage the eyes and thecopyright-holder heart-it seduced the ears content 1 system,the as well.” of any YRF has its own state-of-art fully integrated studio that houses shooting stages, save retrieval sound studios and is headquartered at oneor of Mumbai’s prime properties where the any heart of the entertainment business beats. To many SOUTH ASIANS, a Yash print on PERMISSION Chopra film was their passport to a worldfull, outside the one they inhabit. He was one of the first directors to take his copy, camerain overseas to countries such as Switzerland, to or Holland, Germany, and the United WRITTENKingdom. This often led to a direct increase in part visitors to those countries, andin government were not shy in taking note. ILLEGAL is YRF, a 47 years strongIt productionEXPRESS house and vertically integrated studio in every sense, sways almost everythe part of the value chain from production, music and home entertainment, marketing, domestic and international distribution, digital, design, merchandising, licensingwithout talent management, brand partnership, music studios and film studios- all in-house facilities, which make it one of the most coveted entertainment conglomerates in the country. If his achievements as director were flabbergast, his work as a producer was no less. He had never been shy of adventuring into bold and controversial themes-which were not just simple ‘messages films’. Starting from movie like (1993) to movies like CHAK DE INDIA (2007). Instead he pulled off the more difficult task of weaving in socially relevant messages within the parameters of commercial cinema, which had in its box movies like SALAM NAMASTE (2005) and LAGA CHUNRI MEIN DAAG (2007).

[168] Yash Raj Films: From Print to Digital Platform

Even after decades, Yash Chopra’s creative bequest remains unmitigated and now new YRF film continues to remain the most anticipated event in the film calendar of Indian cinema. And it’s all because of his elder son, Aditya Chopra’s vision and trend setting excellence over the years that has elevated YRF to the position it holds today. At the age of 18, his own film career kicked off. He started working as an assistant to his father in CHANDNI (1989), (1991) and DARR (1993) followed quickly by DILWALE DULHANIA LE JAYENGE (DDLJ) at the mere age of 23 as his directorial debut, which was there in the cinema for more than 1000 weeks after it was originally released on 20 October1995. DDLJ was truly an Aditya Chopra’s creation in every sense. He was responsible for the story, screenplay and dialogue in addition to direction. The movie won every conceivable award, including 10 AWARDS (highest for a film until that year) and the coveted NATIONAL AWARD for the BEST FILM for providing popular pdf, and Wholesome Entertainment. His superpower, as a director and exploring genre this shifting trends, as a producer led to many more successof stories like VEER-ZARA (2004) in the film industry. copyright-holder content system,the THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION IN FILM PRODUCTIONof any

Cinema has an immense popularity amongsave retrieval the people of India. The Indian film or industry is the largest in the world as it any produces approximately 1600 movies in various languages annually and overprint 3.2 on billion PERMISSION (INR203.4209 billion) movie tickets are sold every year in India3. This industryfull, has made a long journey from silent copy,in movies to vocal and colouredto films;or and then a time came when the age of WRITTEN digitalization emerged. part in ILLEGAL The birth of digital photography,is the swift transformation in data storage which came along and the developmentIt EXPRESS of internet paved way for the digital era. We are spectator tothe this transition. It is true that the impact of digital technology has its positive and negative aspects but the transformation cannot be ignored. New-age aspiringwithout film makers are desired to be geared up to the latest developments and should be aware of how the art of film making has gone through various stages in the past 100-150 years. Most of the experts are of the opinion that the current digital era is one of the major transformations the world of cinema has gone through till date. Over the last decade, the industry has been largely driven by increasing digitisation and higher internet usage. Internet has almost become a conventional media source of entertainment for most of the people. The Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry is an advent sector for the economy and is making high growth strides. Proving its pliability to the world, the Indian M&E industry is on the cusp of a strong

[169] International Conference on Digital Innovation: Meeting the Business Challenges

phase of growth, backed by rising consumer demand and improving advertising revenues. The Indian advertising industry is projected to be the second fastest growing advertising market in Asia after China. At present, advertising revenue accounts for around 0.38 per cent of India’s gross domestic product. With the impact of technology, slowly the film making industry is becoming the world’s most lucrative industry. Impact of digital technology on cinema is all encompassing. It is shot edited and distributed without a single film. The impact of technology is that it changes both the art of film-making and the business of film making (exhibit1). Digitisation has enabled the release of films on the same day. This has killed piracy of films to a great extent. The craze of lots of fans to watch the first show has also been exploited by the dawn of digitalisation. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND INVESTMENTS IN THE MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY pdf, this The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) sector (including Print Media) in the period April copyright-holder 2000–June 2017 stood at content US$ 6.58 billion, as per data released by Departmentsystem,the of Industrial Policy and 4 of Promotion (DIPP). any save retrieval  Rising internet penetration in theor rural areas will enable the consumers to access videos on their smart phones,any as Google's video platform, YouTube, print on PERMISSION plans to increase its user base full,in India to 800 million. Therefore, social media is gaining huge popularitycopy, amongin the viewers. to or WRITTEN  At a compounded ratepart of 30.8 per cent internet penetration and data in consumption is ILLEGAL likely to increase digital advertisement spends in India is between 2016It and 2021.EXPRESS  During FY 2017-18the PVR Cinemas plans to add around 75 screens across India, thereby raising its capacity to 650 screens and has a target to achieve 1,000 screenswithout in India by 2020.  Star India Ltd owned, a digital streaming platform, Hot star, has entered into a partnership with Zapr Media Labs, a media tech company based in Bengaluru, to perform analysis on mobile audience that can be leveraged by brands to create personalized communication.  Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), a based global digital marketing company, has acquired SVG Media Pvt Ltd, an Indian marketing services group, in an all-cash deal which is estimated to be in the range of US$ 100-120 million.

[170] Yash Raj Films: From Print to Digital Platform

 Group M, the US-based advertising media company, has acquired a majority stake in Mediacom India, a joint venture between Group M India and Madison Media group's principal shareholder Sam Balsara, for an undisclosed amount.  PE major Warburg Pincus has purchased 14 per cent stake in India’s largest multiplex chain PVR Ltd for INR 820 crore (US$ 123million).  Big tree Entertainment Pvt Ltd, which owns Book my show, has acquired an online event registration and ticketing platform based in Pune, with a 75 per cent stake in Town script.  ITW Consulting, a global sports consulting and management company, has forayed into the Indian market by launching its entertainment, media and

communication arm, ITW Play worx, which will bepdf, based in Mumbai with offices across , Bengaluru, and .this of  For INR 1,900 crore (US$ 285 million) Reliance Capital, part of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, has announced thecopyright-holder sale of its radio and content system,the television broadcasting businesses under of Reliance Broadcast Network any to the Zee group. save retrieval DIGITAL ERA OF FILM MAKING–WHATor ARE THE MAJOR CHANGES? any CHANGE IN PRODUCTION print on PERMISSION full, copy,in Production is the stage of filmmakingto or where the movie is actually shot. In recent WRITTEN times there has been a steady part rise in use of digital cameras (cameras that capture images in digital format ratherin than on films) in Hollywood and all other movie ILLEGAL industries around the is world. The industry currently is relying mostly on digital It EXPRESS equipment for producing films,the though few big budget Hollywood movies of recent times were shot using film cameras. More than 90% of Hollywood and the

Bollywood films arewithout shot using digital cameras today. The reason behind using digital cameras was that, it reduces the cost of production. Due to this majority of filmmakers from around the world are preferring digital over film cameras for making movies. Today, we have aspiring film makers who use equipment as simple as a mobiles and handy-cam to make movies. The potential of digital technology has simply destroyed all conventional boundaries and has opened the door for a new world of great possibilities.

CHANGE IN EDITING

In the past, editing or post-production was one of the most mundane jobs in filmmaking process. Filmmakers had to rely on manual techniques during filming to

[171] International Conference on Digital Innovation: Meeting the Business Challenges create visual effects in movies. Thanks to advanced film-editing software products, today it is possible to create the effects of an imaginary world and blend it seamlessly to the footages that are shot using digital camera. Visual effect is a dedicated domain in movie business which has been in great demand in recent times. These all are of the biggest changes digital technology has brought in the process of making movies.

CHANGE IN SCREENING METHODS

When asked about the biggest onus after completion of the movie, producers often point out at the job of handling and storing the canister (the circular box that has the film rolls). With digital technology, the storage method has changed and today it is much easier to handle and transport movies to theatres than in the past. Servers, hard disks and video tapes are being used to store movies and digital projectors are being used to screen them. There are other alternative platforms new-age film pdf, makers are looking at. Internet has made it possible for filmmakers to showcase their this film to audience of a greater geographic range. Socialof media platforms and all other online promotional strategies can be adopted to ensure thatcopyright-holder the movie reaches out to content more number of audience from around the world. system,the of THE CRISES AT YRF any save retrieval or YASH RAJ FILMS was at the peak when anythey got 150% returns from the films like , and Veer-Zaara inprint 2004 on butPERMISSION suddenly with the use of digitalisation it’s films started losing their charm andfull, that resulted in a huge list of flops in the copy,in upcoming years NEIL N NIKKIto or (2005), (2006), JHOOM WRITTEN BARABAR JHOOM, LAGA part CHUNRI MAIN DAAG, AAJA NACHLE (2007), TASHAN, THODA PYAAR THODAin MAGIC (2008).The year 2007 has been the ILLEGAL worst for the productionis house going by return on investment. By the production It EXPRESS house's own admission, Yash Raj Films has earned a return of just 10 per cent from the five blockbusters in 2007 against 85 percent from just three films in 2006, The production house earnedwithout a 50 per cent return in 2005. "Yash Raj Films has come out cumulatively profitable across its slate of five films for the year 2007, with an annual return of investment of approximately 10 per cent," said Sanjiv Kohli director and CEO of Yash Raj Films3. COMPETITION TO YRF

The Indian film industry started witnessing a colossal change in scripts and film making. As from year 2005 to 2008 many talented directors like Sanjay LeelaBansali whose film,

[172] Yash Raj Films: From Print to Digital Platform

BLACK (2005) became a blockbuster with awesome cinematography. The Indian film Black poses an interesting filmmaking question: how does one find visual terms to express the poin tof view of a character who cannot seeorhear? The Cinematographer Ravi K. Chandran, did a fantastic work of communicating the story with visual effects and sounds5. In 2006, became a blockbuster film because of global significance and a trendsetter in Indian cinema, with visual effects on par with those from Hollywood. To that end, the effects team was aided by Hollywood's Marc Kolbe and Craig Mumma, and the stunts were choreographed by Chinese martial arts film expert Tony Ching. The film was released worldwide on 23 June 2006 at a budget of 450 million and on 1000 prints, both near-record amounts for an Indian film at the time6. The music was composed by , with the background score by Salim-Sulaiman. pdf, this KABHI ALVIDA NA KEHNA (2006) of

copyright-holder With 's awesome cinematography, thecontent film was shot at New York and the system,the of lens man captures the various seasons and coloursany with gusto. The outcome is easily comparable to the best in Hollywood. The styling and the production values 7 save retrieval weretop-notch . or any (2007) print on PERMISSION full, copy,in It was the largest Indian cinematicto orrelease with 2,000 prints worldwide. It became the WRITTEN highest-grossing Indian film of part all time, both domestically and internationally. The in film was well received atILLEGAL the box office, grossing over 1.49 billion worldwide on a 8 is budget of 400 millionIt EXPRESS the JODHA AKBAR (2008)

This movie was a masterpiece,without a complete interpretation of what the director has visualized. From costumes, to background score, to body language to the songs, manpower, sets and lighting director Gowariker has everything spot-on. Cinematographer Kiran Deohans captures through his wide lens the glory of the Mughal Era recreated by Nitin Desai. A R. Rahman uses the beat of huge drums to transport the viewers to another era9. So, overall if we take all the above examples Yash raj films was badly hit by its industry rivals due to the immense technological revolution.

[173] International Conference on Digital Innovation: Meeting the Business Challenges HOW THE COMPANY TURNED AROUND ITS FORTUNES

Yash Chopra discussed the revamped strategy of YRF with Aditya Chopra and other department heads like Anand Gurnani (Vice President–Digital & New Media, Yrf). The team came up with the “Digital First” strategy. They thought of releasing movies assets online instead of hosting Grand event launches. For instance, when a trailer or other audio- video assets are released, the no. of views and comments on the asset serve as a direct bench mark to gauge popularity, reactions and reception of content among the youth. By now the company knew that–if there is one platform that allows direct calculation of ROI–is Digital “The tangibility spectrum that digital medium provides goes beyond analytics and allows for direct actionable insights”10. Not so long ago, Chopra’s production house, Yash Raj Films, was making films that cost up to Rs 35 crore each. Stars were ready to dump other producers for a role in his films. There would be about a thousand prints, and thepdf, films were launched with fanfare across the length and breadth of the country, this but when Band Baja Baraat (2010) with fresh Bollywood faces andof , became a hit they got a lesson that stars and big-budget moviescopyright-holder ’t always fetch good content returns (in 2007 Yash Raj Films earned only 10 system, per the cent return from four high- of budget films), so they started making youth orientedany films using digital platform3. save retrieval Now as they knew that a big chunk of audienceor is aged between 15-35, Company’s energy, physical as well as creativity, was anynow focused on low-budget films with a budget not more than INR 10 crore (5print crore on PERMISSION on movie and 5crore on advertising and full, marketing it digitally) with lesser-knowncopy,in actors and even downright fresh faces. To make this happen, Yash Raj to Films or has set up a new division called Y Films. It WRITTEN released Luv Ka the End in May,part Mujhse Fraaandship Karogeon August 12 and in Virus Diwanon DecemberILLEGAL 30 in the year 2011, Mere Dad Ki Maruti in 2013 and 1 is Bank Chor in 2017 . It EXPRESS For they the started using digital prints which costed INR 5000-7000 instead of Physical prints costed INR 75000-80000. They released their films trailers on online platforms likewithout You-tube, Vimeoetc to reach large audiences. They created their you-tube channel that hitted the 2 billion view benchmark in 2016 strengthening its standing as one of the leading channels in the film and animation category from India and has already amassed more than 5 million subscribers and over 3 billion views collectively across its channel network. With over 6000 entertaining videos, YRF currently boasts of 44 YouTube channels in its network. Many popular web-series like Dar 2.0, Ladies room, Love shots etc. had also been launched on this channel. All these strategies proved to be beneficial for YRF and this can clearly be understood by the growth in revenue of the company (exhibit 2). They made a digital division in the company that manages distribution and delivery of YRF

[174] Yash Raj Films: From Print to Digital Platform content across all key digital media outlets. This includes deployment of full films on VOD platforms, deployment of music on music platforms, digital rights and licensing of YRF audio-visual content1. After this they also formed a technical division that has not only managed to digitize all content available in the analogue format but has also successfully completed digital restoration for the entire YRF catalogue. YRF is among the first in the industry to make their catalogue available in pristine High Definition for further digital exploitation and satellite release1. In 2016 they started a division “YFX” which was formed for visual effects facility at YRF Studios, by a core group of experienced, skilled and award-winning VFX supervisors, technical directors, and artists, this state-of-the-art studio offers film makers a one-stop shop; a creative ‘think tank’, where every aspect of film making is addressed under one roof... from script to screen! pdf, this YFX’s first major project was visual effects for the recentlyof released starrer SULTAN - CGI virtual sets, crowd multiplication, bothcopyright-holder 3D and live, and digital content prosthetics, formed a large portion of the over system, 2000the VFX shots delivered for of SULTAN. Two new feature films are currentlyany under production, along with VFX for TV commercials1. save retrieval or any YRF also released games like Dhoom3-theprint on gamePERMISSION which was among one of the most downloaded movie-based game of Bollywood,full, and Fan-the game by collaborating copy,in11 with the leading company 99Gamesto or . WRITTEN Social media is continuously part growing from past 10years in India (exhibit 2). in Currently YRF have aroundILLEGAL 13million followers on Facebook and 8.8million is subscribers which showsIt its popularityEXPRESS among social media users. the All the above digital initiatives of the company resulted in giving it the 27th position among the world’s biggestwithout film production houses like Buena, Vista, Sony, Warner Brothers, Universal etc. and thereby number 1 distribution house from India. [survey-Hollywood reporter magazine1] THE ROAD AHEAD

The cinematography, innovative story lines and technical quality advances of the filmmaking IS creating a huge impact on the film production industry. Based on current trends, The Indian media & entertainment sector is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.9 per cent, to reach US$ 37.55 billion (INR 2,387.0175 billion) by 2021 from US$ 19.59 billion (INR 1,245.317 billion) in 2016, outshining the global average of 4.2 %.

[175] International Conference on Digital Innovation: Meeting the Business Challenges

As consumers evolve and with India’s growing young population, there is a heightened need to engage them across platforms and experiences. Because of the increasing technical advancements YRF is in greater need for integration and innovation across traditional and new media to pace with the current world. With changing media consumption habits and preferences for niche content, the company have no choice but to provide more digital technologies and content to engage with audiences. Growing YouTube and Facebook (exhibit3) users due to rising internet penetration and smart phone ownership in the rural areas enable access to online videos. Similarly, other online video platforms, both Indian and international, are currently looking forward to ramp up their presence in the country and capitalise on the massive shifts in consumer behaviour. EXHIBIT 1

pdf, this of

copyright-holder content system,the of any

save retrieval or any print on PERMISSION full, copy,in Fig 1: Net Grossto or of YRF from Year 1993 to 2016 WRITTEN part EXHIBIT 2 in ILLEGAL is It EXPRESS the

without

Fig. 2

Source: techcrunch.com

[176] Yash Raj Films: From Print to Digital Platform EXHIBIT 3

pdf, Fig. 3 this of Source: techcrunch.com copyright-holder content REFERENCES system,the of any [1] Yash Raj Films website, https://www.yashrajfilms.com/, accessed January12, 2018. [2] The small picture, retrieved from, http://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/the-save retrieval or small-picture-111061100021_1.html, assessed Januaryany 20,2013 [3] Dr. Padma Rani, (2011), Impact of Technologyprint on onPERMISSION Creative Industries, [4] Retrieved from http://eprints.manipal.edu/78288/1/search_paper_final%5B1%5D.pdffull, [5] Media and entertainment industry, (Decembercopy,in 2017), Retrieved from to or https://www.ibef.org/industry/media-entertainment-india.aspxWRITTEN [6] Black movie review (2005), retrievedpart from https://www.webindia123.com/movie/national/black/index.htmin ILLEGAL [7] Krissh (2006), Retrievedis from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krrish [8] Kabhi Alvida Na KehnaIt (2006),EXPRESS retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabhi_Alvida_Naa_Kehnathe [9] Om shanti Om (2007), retrieved fromhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Om_Shanti_Om [10] Jodha Akbar is a spectacularwithout watch (2008), Retrieved from http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/feb/14jodhaa.htm [11] Prerna Sharma,”Digital Success Story (September 25, 2015), Retrieved from http://www.dqindia.com/11-digital-success-stories-from-india/5/ [12] Is Indian Cinema waking up to the power of brand licensing?(2016), retrieved from https://www.licenseindia.com/expo/archives/tag/yash-raj-films

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