'Even OTT price is decided by box office performance': Dhurandhar marketer calls out unfair practice hurting small films

Varun Gupta, who has marketed films like HanuMan, RRR, and Dhurandhar, laments the vicious circle of budget that traps small Indian films.

The pandemic brought to the mainstream knowledge of film budgets, box-office collections, and niche terms like overhead costs and recovery. Suddenly, everyone on Twitter and Reddit was a box office expert. But expertise or not, any follower of Indian cinema could see the wide divide between the haves and the have-nots. The bigger films with superstars had crores at their disposal for marketing and publicity. Ironically, the smaller films, which actually needed the marketing push, found themselves struggling to fund it.

Varun Gupta of Max Marketing talks to Hindustan Times.

Varun Gupta talks about marketing small films

Varun Gupta of Max Marketing has helped sell films both big and small. His portfolio boasts Baahubali and Dhurandhar, as well as HanuMan, an unheralded Telugu superhero film that grossed over ₹300 crore worldwide. In an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times, Varun discusses what needs to change in the Indian film marketing ecosystem to help small films find their voice.

“The irony is that big films will have the budgets to do this (large-scale marketing). But whether it is Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, or Kota, do you really need Shah Rukh Khan to come to your city and tell you to watch his film? Not really. You will still watch King even if he doesn’t do that,” says Varun, while talking about the expenses of marketing films.

“The bigger stars don’t need it, but they have the budgets. Where we actually require this is where I need my actors to be recognised better. The smaller films with not-so-big actors need to be recognised by local media and viewers on the ground. But they don’t have the budgets. If an actor doesn’t have the box office pull, you don’t get marketing budgets. But business-wise it doesn’t make sense because the risks are higher,” explains Varun on the vicious circle of budgets that traps small films and their marketing campaigns.

‘Box office determining OTT rights fee is unfair’

It is often the content-driven films with no big stars that need a marketing push. They need to reach out to the audience, says Varun. However, the perception in the film industry, particularly post-pandemic, is that such films are only good for the metros and don’t do well in mass centres. As a result, they do not get that marketing push. Varun disagrees with this theory. He argues, “I disagree with the notion that tier-2 audiences don’t go and watch content-driven films. Yes, after the pandemic, people have become selective. But then, how would a 12th Fail, Munjya or HanuMan work if that were the case? I think audiences are ready to watch anything that is good. Just that sometimes there is not enough star power or budget to tell them, here is a good film.”

Box-office performance has increasingly become a metric for determining worth, both for films and for actors. Varun laments and says, “The irony is that the OTT price (streaming rights) is determined by a film's theatrical performance. For instance, Haq is doing very well on Netflix. But do you think Netflix would have paid for it based on that anticipation, or on what the film has done theatrically? That is unfair.”

How to break this vicious cycle

Then, is there a way to break this vicious cycle? “We need a UTV back,” says Varun, praising the former production house’s diverse slate. “There isn’t a single studio like that. Back in the day, UTV would release Jodhaa Akbar, Race, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Mumbai Meri Jaan, and A Wednesday in the same year.” Varun says the way to get more money into the marketing of so-called small films is for big producers to support them. “The only way this vicious circle can be broken is when people who have the infrastructure and money to make big films smartly and save money from them to market smaller films. That way, their values as studios are not compromised, and the smaller films get that infrastructure,” he says.