There was a time when the roles of directors and producers were demarcated. But now there are some directors in Malayalam who want to be producers too.
Lal Jose with his upcoming Diamond Necklace, Amal Neerad with Bachelor Party and Aashiq Abu with his new production house 'Open Your Mouth', to name a few. Many factors are behind this trend but the most important probably is the satellite rights.
Director Aashiq Abu says, “A convincing story to me may not be so for others. So, when I chanced upon a storyline I was convinced about, I decided to produce it. I believe small budget films can be produced by the directors themselves and since I have an experience of 8-10 years, I believe I can be successful.”
Asked about the business angle, he admits that “the satellite right business angle is profitable and the major income is earned from that”.
The list of actors entering the production field looks like the who's who of the film world with Mohanlal, Dileep, Lal and Prithviraj producing films.
Says Prithviraj, who produced Urumi: “As far as satellite rights go, they did not make up 1/6th of the film's cost. Generally speaking, television channels are major revenue generating avenues and more than 50% of the film’s cost is garnered through satellite and Worldview rights. This has helped bring down the production cost drastically and make things easier.”
But he cautions, “I firmly believe that a producer should be able to invest his own money because expenses can escalate.”
