Mumbai: There once was a time when satellite rights for a film would account for nearly 30-40 per cent of a producer’s revenues. But those exorbitant fees are now a thing of the past, with satellite business for most Hindi films taking a severe beating. In fact, many films (with the exception of those starring the Khans or box office blockbusters) remain unsold.
Bucking this new trend, however, is Kapil Sharma’s debut film. Much before its release, there’s already a buzz over its satellite rights.
And executive from a channel that’s interested in purchasing the rights told us on condition of anonymity, “Today, even big films on satellite get average TRPs. But for Kapil’s film, the idea is that he is a TV star and whenever he is on TV, people don’t switch to other channels. So his film on TV can be a big draw. You might not have houseful audiences in theatres but he can change the scenario of TV ratings of movies on satellite.”
Directors Abbas-Mustan have already started shooting the film, which is produced by Venus, and has an ensemble cast headed by Kapil. When we contacted the film’s team for a confirmation about the broadcast bidding war, the spokesperson said, “Nothing has been finalised. We’re only in the discussion stage.”
More on Ajay Devgn’s ambitious directorial project Shivay: So we had told you all about how the film had hit a roadblock and the team had to return from the shoot location in Canada because of bad weather. To make up for the sudden freeing up of dates in his shoot diary, Ajay gave his nod to Nishikant Kamat’s remake of Drishyam once he returned to Mumbai. However, Ajay maintained that he would not give up on his dream project either.
“Ajay asked his team to do a recce of new locations that would suit Shivay’s script. He needs to shoot in a snow clad region and among the short listed locations are the Balkan Mountains in Bulgaria,” a source told us. Other locations are also being finalised.
“Ajay wants to best locations but he is also keeping a check on the pre-production budget which has already shot up way beyond the original estimate. Going to Canada with the entire team and facing bad weather escalated the cost,” our source said.
In the meantime, Nishikant has also signed Irrfan for a film titled Madaari, and it remains to be seen which of his projects he starts first. Work on the Drishyam remake with Ajay was expected to start in February, but hasn’t. For Madaari, Nishikant needs to begin shooting at the earliest as he is eyeing an August 2015 release date
