Yash Raj Films: From Print to Digital Platform

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1 Yash Raj Films: From Print to Digital Platform Neha Agarwal 1 and Pooja Agarwal 2 1,2 Kirloskar 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. Yash Raj Film s Statement on its Website 1 As the rainy season finally hits the skies of Mumbai, popularly known as The City of Dreams, it is the place in India where a lot of people come every day wishing to convert their dreams into reality. Yash Chopra, one of the leading film producers of India was carefully watching the rain drops on the window pane of his office. He has been instrumental in shaping the symbolism of mainstream Hindi cinema across the globe. His company had a great name in the Bollywood film industry, from making high-budget blockbusters to youth-oriented films, from working with the biggest actors of the industry to launching young talent in films, Yash Raj films had by far applied a lot of marketing strategies to draw its customer s attention. But today the scenario was different, He was actually thinking about the crises that his film making company Yash Raj Films was facing at that point of time in early That year, expensive films like JhoomBarabarJhoom with Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Preity Zinta and Lara Dutta, Aaja Nachle with Madhuri Dixit and Laaga Chunari Mein Daag with Rani Mukherjee had bombed in the market. The company that had made a 150% return from three films in 2004 was now able to collect only 10% return from the above films 2. This was all happening because of the social media and digitalization trend, that was emerging in India. Due to the advancement in technology, people were attracted towards the different media and drastic technological changes 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 Aditya Chopra to arrange a meeting with all the department heads of YRF to discuss a strategy that can pace with the current digitalization trend. [167]

2 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-women who invariably went on to become icons after appearing in his films. A Yash Chopra film did not just engage the eyes and the heart-it seduced the ears as well. 1 YRF has its own state-of-art fully integrated studio that houses shooting stages, sound studios and is headquartered at one of Mumbai s prime properties where the heart of the entertainment business beats. To many SOUTH ASIANS, a Yash Chopra film was their passport to a world outside the one they inhabit. He was one of the first directors to take his camera overseas to countries such as Switzerland, Holland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. This often led to a direct increase in visitors to those countries, and government were not shy in taking note. YRF, a 47 years strong production house and vertically integrated studio in every sense, sways almost every part of the value chain from production, music and home entertainment, marketing, domestic and international distribution, digital, design, merchandising, licensing 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 DARR (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]

3 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), LAMHE (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 FILMFARE AWARDS (highest for a film until that year) and the coveted NATIONAL AWARD for the BEST FILM for providing popular and Wholesome Entertainment. His superpower, as a director and exploring genre shifting trends, as a producer led to many more success stories like VEER-ZARA (2004) in the film industry. THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION IN FILM PRODUCTION Cinema has an immense popularity among the people of India. The Indian film industry is the largest in the world as it produces approximately 1600 movies in various languages annually and over 3.2 billion (INR billion) movie tickets are sold every year in India 3. This industry has made a long journey from silent movies to vocal and coloured films; and then a time came when the age of digitalization emerged. The birth of digital photography, the swift transformation in data storage which came along and the development of internet paved way for the digital filmmaking era. We are spectator to 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 aspiring 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 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]

4 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 The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) sector (including Print Media) in the period April 2000 June 2017 stood at US$ 6.58 billion, as per data released by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). 4 Rising internet penetration in the rural areas will enable the consumers to access videos on their smart phones, as Google's video platform, YouTube, plans to increase its user base in India to 800 million. Therefore, social media is gaining huge popularity among the viewers. At a compounded rate of 30.8 per cent internet penetration and data consumption is likely to increase digital advertisement spends in India between 2016 and During FY 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 screens in India by 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 United Kingdom 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$ million. [170]

5 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 be based in Mumbai with offices across Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kolkata. For INR 1,900 crore (US$ 285 million) Reliance Capital, part of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group, has announced the sale of its radio and television broadcasting businesses under Reliance Broadcast Network to the Zee group. DIGITAL ERA OF FILM MAKING WHAT ARE THE MAJOR CHANGES? CHANGE IN PRODUCTION Production is the stage of filmmaking where the movie is actually shot. In recent times there has been a steady rise in use of digital cameras (cameras that capture images in digital format rather than on films) in Hollywood and all other movie industries around the world. The industry currently is relying mostly on digital equipment for producing films, though few big budget Hollywood movies of recent times were shot using film cameras. More than 90% of Hollywood and the Bollywood films are 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]

6 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 makers are looking at. Internet has made it possible for filmmakers to showcase their film to audience of a greater geographic range. Social media platforms and all other online promotional strategies can be adopted to ensure that the movie reaches out to more number of audience from around the world. THE CRISES AT YRF YASH RAJ FILMS was at the peak when they got 150% returns from the films like hum tum, Dhoom and Veer-Zaara in 2004 but suddenly with the use of digitalisation it s films started losing their charm and that resulted in a huge list of flops in the upcoming years NEIL N NIKKI (2005), KABUL EXPRESS (2006), JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM, LAGA CHUNRI MAIN DAAG, AAJA NACHLE (2007), TASHAN, THODA PYAAR THODA MAGIC (2008).The year 2007 has been the worst for the production house going by return on investment. By the production house's own admission, Yash Raj Films has earned a return of just 10 per cent from five blockbusters in 2007 against 85 percent from just three films in 2006, The production house earned a 50 per cent return in "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 Films 3. 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]

7 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 sounds 5. In 2006, Krrish 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 time 6. The music was composed by Rajesh Roshan, with the background score by Salim-Sulaiman. KABHI ALVIDA NA KEHNA (2006) With Anil Mehta's awesome cinematography, the film was shot at New York and the lens man captures the various seasons and colours with gusto. The outcome is easily comparable to the best in Hollywood. The styling and the production values weretop-notch 7. OM SHANTI OM (2007) It was the largest Indian cinematic release with 2,000 prints worldwide. It became the highest-grossing Indian film of all time, both domestically and internationally. The film was well received at the box office, grossing over 1.49 billion worldwide on a budget of 400 million 8 JODHA AKBAR (2008) This movie was a masterpiece, 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 era 9. 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]

8 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 the films were launched with fanfare across the length and breadth of the country, but when Band Baja Baraat (2010) with fresh Bollywood faces Anushka Sharma and Ranveer Singh, became a hit they got a lesson that stars and big-budget movies don t always fetch good returns (in 2007 Yash Raj Films earned only 10 per cent return from four highbudget films), so they started making youth oriented films using digital platform 3. Now as they knew that a big chunk of audience is aged between 15-35, Company s energy, physical as well as creativity, was now focused on low-budget films with a budget not more than INR 10 crore (5 crore on movie and 5crore on advertising and marketing it digitally) with lesser-known actors and even downright fresh faces. To make this happen, Yash Raj Films has set up a new division called Y Films. It released Luv Ka the End in May, Mujhse Fraaandship Karogeon August 12 and Virus Diwanon December 30 in the year 2011, Mere Dad Ki Maruti in 2013 and Bank Chor in For film distribution they started using digital prints which costed INR instead of Physical prints costed INR They released their films trailers on online platforms like 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]

9 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 content 1. 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 release 1. 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! YFX s first major project was visual effects for the recently released Salman Khan starrer SULTAN - CGI virtual sets, crowd multiplication, both 3D and live, and digital prosthetics, formed a large portion of the over 2000 VFX shots delivered for SULTAN. Two new feature films are currently under production, along with VFX for TV commercials 1. YRF also released games like Dhoom3-the game which was among one of the most downloaded movie-based game of Bollywood, and Fan-the game by collaborating with the leading company 99Games 11. Social media is continuously growing from past 10years in India (exhibit 2). Currently YRF have around 13million followers on Facebook and 8.8million subscribers which shows its popularity among social media users. All the above digital initiatives of the company resulted in giving it the 27 th position among the world s biggest film production houses like Buena, Vista, Sony, Warner Brothers, Universal etc. and thereby number 1 distribution house from India. [survey-hollywood reporter magazine 1 ] 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$ billion (INR 2, billion) by 2021 from US$ billion (INR 1, billion) in 2016, outshining the global average of 4.2 %. [175]

10 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 EXHIBIT 2 Fig 1: Net Gross of YRF from Year 1993 to 2016 Source: techcrunch.com Fig. 2 [176]

11 Yash Raj Films: From Print to Digital Platform EXHIBIT 3 Source: techcrunch.com REFERENCES Fig. 3 [1] Yash Raj Films website, accessed January12, [2] The small picture, retrieved from, assessed January 20,2013 [3] Dr. Padma Rani, (2011), Impact of Technology on Creative Industries, [4] Retrieved from [5] Media and entertainment industry, (December 2017), Retrieved from [6] Black movie review (2005), retrieved from [7] Krissh (2006), Retrieved from [8] Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (2006), retrieved from [9] Om shanti Om (2007), retrieved fromhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/om_shanti_om [10] Jodha Akbar is a spectacular watch (2008), Retrieved from [11] Prerna Sharma, Digital Success Story (September 25, 2015), Retrieved from [12] Is Indian Cinema waking up to the power of brand licensing?(2016), retrieved from [177]