By: Arun K. Pathak
Average Budget Ranges Required for Making Films in Various Indian Languages
Avg. Budget required to make a movie in Malayalam Film Industry (Mollywood): INR 1 cr to 35 cr
Malayalam Speakers Count in India: 90,809,714
2. Avg. Budget required to make a movie in Tamil Film Industry (Kollywood): INR 3 cr to 80 cr
Tamil Language Speakers Count in India: 1,87 ,55,411
3. Avg. Budget required to make a movie in Kannada Film Industry (Sandalwood): INR 1 cr to 35 cr
Kannada Language Speakers Count in India: 80,809,714
4. Avg. Budget required to make a movie in Telugu Film Industry (Tollywood): INR 3 cr to 90 cr
Telugu Language Speakers Count in India: 1,50 ,55,411
5. Avg. Budget required to make a movie in Hindi Film Industry (Bollywood): INR 3 cr to 150 cr
Hindi Language Speakers Count in India: 20,50 ,55,411
6. Avg. Budget required to make a movie in Bengali Film Industry (Tollywood): INR 1 cr to 5 cr
Telugu Language Speakers Count in India: 45,809,714
7. Avg. Budget required to make a movie in Bhojpuri Film Industry: : INR 50 Lac to 3 cr
Bihari Language Speakers Count in India: 20,809,714
8. Avg. Budget required to make a movie in Odia Film Industry: INR 20 Lac to 3 cr
Odia Language Speakers Count in India:15,809,714
The Real Budget Range of Indian Films
“Never judge a book by its cover.” similarly, we should never judge a film by its budget. However, that is not the world we live in. Most film in our time boast about their blown off budget and the uber expensive star cast and VFX and locations to lure the audience in. But budgeting a movie is both a science and skill that is attributed to the specialists in their fields. And as the geography changes, the yardstick of this science also changes drastically. a 90 Crore film may be a big budget film in Mumbai and around, but in Bhojpuri circle, even a 3 Crore film can garner that same title.Whereas, in a Hollywood production, 90 Crore is nothing big. Lets see how the budget changes with the language in Indian cinema;
India is the only country where a star can charge upto 40% of a the total film budget. Nowhere else in the world do talent costs rise beyond 15-20%. This is a major reason why Indian films lack on the quality of script and other technical infrastructure. This fact is common across all the regions and language of Indian cinema; the stars of the said region charge a whooping chunk of the film budget as their fee. However, as more and more stars are turning into producers, they are letting go of their upfront fee and taking shares in the profit.
Thanks to the internet boom and easy access to new cameras and equipment, more and more filmmakers are opting to increase their technical budget because everybody wants their film to look good. However, a few directors are still lagging behind due to the budget constraints, and are left to use old cameras and indigenous technology to shoot their films.
A mainstream Bollywood movie has an average budget of INR 20-50 Crores.The major chunk of this budget (40-50%) is eaten up by the stars of the film and the rest is to be divided among the writers, crew and technicians. And since the production value cannot be negotiated (as its a unionised industry), writers and crew members end up getting a deduction in their prices.
An average Hindi film script writer earns INR 40,000 – 1,00,000 for a final draft. This doesn’t even comprise 10% of the total of an average movie budget. The figures are even more depressing in regional film industries like Bhojpuri and Bengal. Furthermore, small town films made in cities like Meerut (UP) have their directors and producers as script writers, as they have no money to spend on a writer separately. Thus, they end up writing their own films. Post processing can cost anywhere between INR 50,000 to 10 Crores for a film. There are small studios in cities like Delhi and Mumbai that provide an editor and editing table for a price of INR 1000 per hour. But quality wise, you get what you pay for.
Any decent film editor charges from somewhat INR 50,000 to 10,00,000 for a specific period of time to edit a film. Music can be arranged from a composer to write an original song/score for your film (the price depends on who you hire) to purchasing songs from various song websites that could cost anything between INR 15000 to 15,000 per song. And it goes without saying, that he VFX cost as per their quality.
A DSLR camera cost INR 3000 alone (without lenses or any attachment) per day on rental. The price for a professional film camera like a RED or BLACKMAGIC goes upto INR 10,000 per day (again, without any accessories). So by scheduling your total shooting days, you can come up with a budget for you camera (excluding the person who is going to operate it). Surprisingly, lightings are not as costly as they look. An average light set can cost around INR 5000 per day. But many new filmmakers are learning to do away with the artificial light unless they have to get them.
Where a big budget Bollywood film can cost around INR 90 Crores, a big budget film in Bhojpuri circle would cost around INR 2 Crore. The contrast of the condition between two regions can be seen by the fact, that these days an average Marathi film costs around INR 3 Crores. This figure, in comparison to a South Indian film would pale as their average films cost around INR 10 Crores.
The reason why regional cinema has such discrepancies in their average budget can be directly attributed to the state of the infrastructure of the said regions. In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Multiplexes are still growing and Single Screen theatres rule the cinema scene. This in turns makes the expensive films harder to recover their cost and earn profit. And so, the producers in these regions have mastered a basic rule, “Less cost = More profit.”
Whereas in South and Marathi cinema, the filmmakers are fascinated with experimental techniques and new stories. Therefore, they are willing to take risks and invest more. But this is also because the audience in their regions are capable of buying tickets in Multiplexes (The Tamilnadu Govt has also limited the price of film ticket to a maximum of INR 120).
So where a producer in South is ready to invest INR 10 Crore for an average film, a Bhojpuri producer will only break his wallet for around INR 70 Lakh. The situation worsens in the Meerut circuit where the producer will only be able to cough up around INR 5 Lakh. Though as we warned in the beginning to not judge a book by its cover, its pretty common to see through a film’s quality by looking at its budget.
Amidst this confusion and complexity, many young filmmakers find themselves getting confused thinking “How much should my film cost?”
As a filmmaker, you need to take care of your costs while you write your script. Also, if you are a writer writing a spec script, you must understand that the producer (you are planning to sell your script to) does not have a tree in their backyard, that grows money for leaves. Every writer and filmmaker has a duty towards their producer/financier to get the cost under control. And this begins with writing the first draft. Trim out the unnecessary expense that you see in the scene. Think of a location that could be both creatively justified and pocket friendly. As a screenwriter, I always think before writing a scene, “How can I make this scene both interesting and budget friendly?”
Find a middle ground, and you shall get a moderately budgeted good film, no matter which language it is in
FILM PRODUCTION
Which Are The Best States in India for Film Production
Every state in India is diverse not only by its culture, but also by the rewards it offers to film producers. Several Indian states have various incentive schemes to attract filmmakers to their home-ground for film production.
The Indian movie industry can be imagined as one big river flowing all over the country; with its many small and big tributaries joining in together to make one big movie making enterprise. Unlike Hollywood, its a bigger and more complex system, but yet it rakes out lesser revenue despite its potential.
Top 10 movie shooting location in india.
Where almost all of the movie industries around the world are centralised (like Hollywood, China, Japan etc.), India has multitudes of big and small regional industries. And now we are going to discuss which is the best Indian state for film production. Almost every Indian state has its own film industry that caters to its locals, providing relatable content that flies well under the mainstream radar. However, the filmmakers and enthusiasts in these states have not lost their zeal to make films and tell stories. But here, we will discuss the states that offer decent amount of resources and/or tax concessions or any other reward for the makers/producers. And so the states that we have rounded up are:
Film Production Scope in Kerala,
Malayalam film Industry has made a massive turnaround in recent years. The industry that faced a tough time due to video piracy and lack of good scripts, dusted itself off and pulled up its sleeves. The hard work and creative inputs paid off and the industry broke the INR 250-350 crore benchmark in the year 2012. Since then, there has been a constant rise in indie cinema amidst the big boys of mainstream Malayalam cinema. With its thriving mainstream industry, Kerala has also seen a recent boom in its indie scene where young filmmakers are trying to create a niche for themselves. Kerala State Film Development Board offers a subsidy for the feature films and documentaries shot in the state of Kerala, ranging from INR 37,000 – 1,87,500.Besides this, the films shot in Kerala also qualify for their State Award, ranging from INR 1,00,000 – 6,00,000.
Furthermore, any such films that wins any prestigious international or national award in filmmaking qualifies for INR 2,00,000 as a subsidy.
This is the real budget range required for making various Indian Films
Film Production Scope in Uttar Pradesh
The state of Taj also offers several subsidies for the films shot in the state for upto a whooping INR 2,00,00,000 (TWO CRORES). And these subsidies attract not only the big studios but also independent filmmakers; as any movie shot in the state gets a subsidy between 25% to 75%, depending on how much of the movie was made in Uttar Pradesh.Besides if a filmmaker/producer repeatedly shoots more films in the state, this subsidy grows to an amazing INR 3,75,000,00 (THREE CRORES SEVENTY FIVE LACS). Additional subsidies ranging from INR 25,000,00 – 50,000,00 depending on how many artistes in the movie hail from the state. The state also offers INR 50,000,00 to any film that uses a its tourists places and projects the image of Uttar Pradesh in and out of the state. There are other subsidies offered by the state government for films made in the regional languages such as Awadhi, Bundeli, Braj and Bhojpuri. However, Hindi films get only half of the subsidy on the same account. Uttar Pradesh also assures a guaranteed screening for 2 weeks of the regional films shot in the state. Such films also get a 100% tax concession by the government on entertainment tax.
Film Production Scope in Maharashtra
Every Marathi film is 100% entertainment tax free in Maharashtra, along with a subsidy of INR 15,00,000 give to the producers of any Marathi film. These subsidies grow upto a maximum of INR 40,00,000, depending on the state resources used by the producers. However, these subsidies are only limited to 5 producers per year, and these producers are handpicked by the government after reading the screenplays of their films. Besides this, any Marathi film that earns a National Award, gets a reward of INR 15,00,000 from the state Government. But Maharashtra’s regional cinema is recently growing immensely, not because of the subsidies, but due to the talent and skilled workforce it possesses (all thanks to Bollywood). This not only gives the producers loads and loads of options to choose from, but it also brings down the production price.
Film Production Scope in Jharkhand
Under the Jharkhand Film Grant Management, any film made in the state’s language and shot in the state can get 50% of its total costing funded by the state government. Like the Uttar Pradesh policy, Jharkhand offers upto INR 3,00,000,00 (THREE CRORES) for the films, depending on how much they were shot in the state.
Film Production Scope in Andhra Pradesh
The Government offers a 10% concession in the entertainment tax for a low budget film, while it gets 12% for high budget films that are made in the state. As far as subsidies go, the state offers INR 10,00,000 per film for a film made in the state, but the film must pass the judging process of a government committee. Also there are only 6 films that could get this subsidy per year. However, with the establishment of Ramoji Film City, the producers were drawn to the state due to its facilities. But after Hyderabad went with Telangana, the state doesn’t have much to offer.
Film Production Scope in Tamilnadu & Karnataka
The state offers a subsidy of INR 7,00,000 for Tamil films that are selected by a government committee as ‘quality Tamil films released under Tamil names’.And if a movie has a name that contains a word that is not in the Tamil language, the said film will not be qualified for the subsidy. Karnataka on the other hand offers INR 50,000 to every movie that is shot 90% in the state.
Film Production Scope in Punjab & Goa
The government of Goa offers a 50% subsidy, or a maximum amount of INR 20,00,000 to indigenous films made in Konkani, Marathi, English and/or Hindi.However this scheme requires the filmmaker to be a resident of the state for a minimum of 15 years. Punjab Government offers a better option of providing 75% concession on entertainment tax, if even a part of the film is shot in the state. Besides it also offers a subsidy of INR 50,000 if the films is made in the state government’s studio near Mohali.
Film Production Scope in Gujarat
Recently, the state of Gujarat has given its film policy a major overhaul (and for good), that offers financial assistance to Gujarati filmmakers upto INR 50,00,000. Based on a grading system by a government committee and the number of tickets a movie sells, any film made in Gujarat can get the subsidy between INR 5,00,000 – 50,00,000.
Rest of the states do offer concession in entertainment tax for films shot inbound, but they lack any incentive schemes to promote regional cinema or attract producers to shoot in their state. However, currently there are two clear winners from my list:
1. Maharashtra – Only because its the hub of Bollywood and the home to countless talented and skilled people who can make production of a film really easy.
2. Uttar Pradesh – With its massive incentives, the state doesn’t have any grading system or restrictions over the language of the film. The only condition is that the film should be shot in the state, and the rewards for the same as Donald Trump would say, are HUGE
