“AN IMAX VENTURE NEEDS PASSION”
INTERVIEW WITH MANMOHAN SHETTY
by Satish J. Kaushik

SJK : Shetty sahab, every body knows about your rise in the film industry…from a small lab to this big establishment in the Film City. You have also produced films and now you have entered in the exhibition sector of film industry and that also in new tech of I Max & multiplexes. What made you do this?

MMS : I have always believed in doing something new or rather do things which other people are not doing for whatever reasons. For example when I started my Lab, I thought of doing 16mm films, though there was one lab Modern 16 in those days but I went out of my way to promote 16mm film production and today if you see all the regional films are made in 16mm format. Why nobody else thought of doing? What I am trying to say is that what is new is interesting. The new things always interest me it is boring to do the same thing again and again. So I always used to travel abroad and used to look for something new.

One thing always fascinated me the I-Max
theatres. I think I-Max is the best invention ever happened in the field of Audio Visual yet. There is no other Technology, which can match this technology. Since 1992 I thought of bringing the technology here. Even though I could not, I always thought that Science center, Nehru center or some Govt agency should bring in this technology here, like planetarium, it is always owned by the state, not by private enterprise. Even abroad, the out of 220 I-Max theatres in the world more than 180 I-Maxes are owned by the state or Govt sponsored Universaties, Museums, Theme parks etc. So when I approached the Govt they said there is proposal which they are working on. At that time the size and capability of my company was not so big to venture into some thing as big as I-Max theatres. This I am talking about 92-93. At that time the property prices were also very high in Bombay. So I left it at that. I thought that somebody or the other would do it. Quite a few people tried it also.

SJK : Did they fail? If so, then why?
MMS : When you put the costs versus ticket cost and numbers, it was never falling in line. You cannot go to a bank with those figures. So over a period of time, about 98-99, I thought I cannot wait any longer. At the same time around mid nineties number of I-Max theatres came up in south-east Asia, in Singapore, Bangkok and Australia in the private sector. So I thought its high time I also ventured into the I-Max theatres in India.

But in this project, I knew that if I went thought by the logic of numbers and balance sheets, it wouldn’t work. Because, unlike any other project the recovery of money is not going to be very fast. It is a kind of project, which if you want to do it, then you must do it. Then you will get to the numbers and come to know what is happening. When I decided to do this, and then I decided about the place which is less expensive because prime property would increase the budget unnecessarily, because I was sure and confident or you may say over confident that in Bombay, where ever the I-Max theatre may be, people will come to see I-Max. My confidence was based on my observation that abroad also people go from country to country, university to university to see I-Max movies. So I said it is better to put the I-Max in a less expensive place. While I was working on the I-Max project then two things coincided. One; I said why make only I-Max standing alone, why not have multiplex there? So my first design was a two-theatre multiplex and an I-Max. But then information came that Maharashtra Govt was considering giving incentives to new theatres in the form Entertainment Tax Exemption. So we thought of having two more theatres in the same complex. So now we have a multiplex with four screens with I-Max in the same Building.

SJK : What is the response of the people in Mumbai?
MMS : It is very appreciative of the people that in the very first year where were expecting 9 lac people, we already have more that 6.5 lac people, who have visited I-Max. So it is not as bad as I was thinking it to be and it is also getting better and better. We are planning to get more pictures and I am sure we will meet our target. So it is a good experience for me because I have brought something which people want.

SJK : So it is not a business venture like any other theatre.
MMS : Oh sure it is not. It is very expensive. The projector it self is costing a bomb compared to the any theatre. Finance people and bankers always asked me when the regular projector cost 30 lac why your I-Max projector costs 20 crores of rupees? If somebody wants to venture into I-Max you must have passion for it. You must have a commitment for it. Now if you ask me to do it again, I will not do it because, I have done it once. Now there is nothing new in it for me.

SJK : What is the reason behind setting up multiplexes when many theatres have been closing down?
MMS : Coming to the multiplexes, the new concept of cinemas is having a group of cinemas in one complex not one cinema of say 1000 seat capacity but having more cinemas with lesser capacity of say 300-400, thereby giving choice to the people to see film of their choice like Hindi, English, Comedy, Love story, Action thriller, Suspense, Horror etc…that is you segregate the interested people group, may be small in number but here you offer them the Better Cinema Seeing Experience. You provide better seats, better sound, better projection system, better toilets and better parking facilities etc. So there is no reason why people wont come. You go and see the two multiplexes; there are no tickets available. The idea behind is that people will pay little more for better cinema experience and the theatres can run on even smaller capacity. The public response is so good that you wait and see what will happen in two years. There will be more 50 multiplexes in the Bombay city.

SJK : What about the films for I-Max theatres to be produced in India for your I-Max?
MMS : You cannot produce a film to cater to one I-Max. It is very expensive format to work on and ridiculous idea to produce a film and try to recover money from one theatre. Leave alone making profits you cannot recover the heavy investment done in making the film. The film subject should be able to cater to at least 60-70 I-Maxes out of 250 I-Maxes spread all over the world.

SJK : What kind of costs are involved in making film in I-Max format?
MMS : If you go by the thumb rule, any figure above 20 Crores of rupees for a one hour film. That is why; any subject which would be chosen should have international appeal. If one is making a subject in India, the subject could be Indian but it should have universal appeal, Indian Subject Appealing Universally. Like Back Waters of Kerala, people would like to know, what is Back-
Waters of Kerala, like how people live in the Himalayas? Right now one Indian producer, Bharatbala is making a one-hour film on Taj-Mahal.

SJK : That means, there will very few films for release in I-Max theatres?
MMS : In I-Max, there are not every Friday Changes. But now there will be more narrative kind of films available for release. Till now most of the I-Max format films were basically Documentries. Now there will be fiction as well. This is going to be possible because, just three months ago, I-Max technology has found a way to convert existing 35mm films into I-Max format using Digital technology. So after some time you will be able to see 35mm films in I-Maxes, not of 2 hours but one hour or one and a half hour duration. Another thing which we did while opening our I-Max in India, we wanted some thing Indian to start with. As there was no Indian film in I-max format, we converted the AR Rahman film of Maa Tujhe Salaam into I-Max format of 1and a half min. And we are running that film in our shows in our I-Max.

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