Rupee is sinking and with it the Indian economy is sliding down as well. And the falling Rupee hits Bollywood like never before. Businesses have taken a beating and the country at large is reeling under the power of the US Dollar.
Even our film industry has been taken for a royal ride by the reclining rupee. Despite most of our films lately are centred in the small towns and rural places within India, there still are some big budgeted films that rely on overseas locations for a greater impact. But between budgeting the film’s shoot overseas and the actual shooting costs, the decline power of rupee has seen the shooting budget of the film skyrocket double or triple fold burning the pockets of the producers. This has compelled most producers to rethink their strategy to shoot their films overseas or rework the script to make it feasible to shoot in India.
If the film is shot overseas in the current scenario, the producers and exhibitors will have no options but to increase the prices of the tickets during the film’s release and this will impact the audience directly.
However, these very filmmakers have the advantage of raking in more money if their film does well overseas as has been the case with the latest blockbuster Chennai Express. For every US dollar the overseas box office, the producer gets a higher exchange rate and hence more profit. But it’s only the Khan powers that propel their films to do well overseas as has been the norms lately.
If the film does well at the domestic box office, the producer will be a happy man and if not, the film industry will be slain at the hands of the rupee and the US dollar will triumph once again.
It’s time the Finance Ministry takes a hard look at the growing power of the mighty US dollar and stabilize the Indian economy.
