Zee Studios targets up to 40 movie releases per year

Zee Studios, the movie production and distribution arm of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, is looking to release 35-40 movies across platforms in FY24. It expects to sustain the efforts in the long term as part of its plan to build its film business. The company had released 36 films last year.

The company said 20-25% of these will be tent pole films exclusively made for theatres, including Salman Khan’s Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, Ajay Devgn’s Maidaan and a sequel to a 2001 hit Gadar. Its annual slate will have 6-7 films each in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, and Punjabi as it seeks to strengthen its play in regional languages.

Furthermore, Zee Studios sees itself as a content creator and is open to making shows for OTT platforms other than those owned by its parent. “It is a question of whether we want to slot a film for theatres or for direct-to-digital, especially for titles in Hindi, though it isn’t as much of a challenge in other languages,” Shariq Patel, chief business officer, Zee Studios, said in an interview.

Bigger-budget movies will obviously go to cinemas, Patel added. There should be one of these every 2-3 months since they require significant time to shoot and market, but in case of other films, such as Taapsee Pannu-starrer Blurr, the genre might be better suited to OTT.

The year has started on a positive note for the company with H. Vinoth’s Tamil heist thriller Thunivu, starring Ajith Kumar, reaping in ₹61 crore in the domestic market in opening Pongal weekend. Farhad Samji’s action-comedy Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, starring Salman Khan, is due in April, followed by Maidaan with Ajay Devgn in lead, in May and Gadar 2, a sequel to Anil Sharma’s 2001 film Gadar starring Sunny Deol in August. Deol also stars alongside Sanjay Dutt, Mithun Chakraborty and Jackie Shroff in a film titled Baap while Rani Mukerji’s Mrs. Chatterjee v/s Norway, Richa Chaddha’s Covid Stories, Yami Gautam’s Lost and Rahul Bose, Ishwak Singh and Aparshakti Khurana’s Berlin are among other Hindi titles lined up.

Zee Studios‘ Tamil-language slate includes Muthaiya’s Kather Basha Endra Muthuramalingam, starring Arya; and Kishor Pandurang Belekar’s dialogue-free film Gandhi Talks, featuring Vijay Sethupathi. Apart from this, Dulquer Salmaan headlines Abhilash Joshiy’s Malayalam-language King of Kotha. Marathi-language films include Paresh Mokashi’s Vaalavi and Ashish Bende’s Aatma Pamphlet, while Nagraj Manjule stars in Hemant Awtade’s Ghar Banduk Biryani and Vikram Patwardhan’s Frame.

The Punjabi line-up includes Pankaj Batra’s Uchiyan Ne Gallan Tere Yaar Diyan and Godday Godday Chaa, starring Gippy Grewal and Sonam Bajwa respectively.

To be sure, the biggest challenge in the movie industry remains rationalisation of budgets and talent costs, Patel said. “The box office is not firing the way it used to and a lot of satellite and digital platforms that had agreed to acquisition deals, are therefore questioning why they should pay big amounts,” Patel said. The company that saw a sleeper hit with political drama The Kashmir Files last year, is hoping for the overall revival of the theatrical business. It is also looking at developing regional markets like Malayalam by backing big tent-pole films there especially since the surge in demand for films made in the language on OTT platforms during the pandemic.

A film trade analyst who did not wish to be named said the studio should be making an annual investment upwards of Rs. 600 crore and is wisely looking at a mix of Hindi and regional language films.

“It’s a good thing that they’re looking at creating volume. The added push to southern content should be an advantage given how fragmented that market is and there is a need for organised players,” the person said.

Zee Studios that has sold films like Gunjan Saxena- The Kargil Girl and Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi to other streaming platforms, is open to creating original content across services too. Patel said the company is in talks for the sale of Brown, a show starring Karisma Kapoor directed by Abhinay Deo.

However, the theatrical business remains a focus. “We’re hoping the mid-range films make a comeback. Right now, the only benchmarks are big-scale films like Brahmastra, KGF and RRR. But the overall base has to increase, we can’t just live between 0 to 100 with nothing in between,” Patel said.

The Punjabi line-up includes Pankaj Batra’s Uchiyan Ne Gallan Tere Yaar Diyan and Godday Godday Chaa, starring Gippy Grewal and Sonam Bajwa respectively.

To be sure, the biggest challenge in the movie industry remains rationalisation of budgets and talent costs, Patel said. “The box office is not firing the way it used to and a lot of satellite and digital platforms that had agreed to acquisition deals, are therefore questioning why they should pay big amounts,” Patel said. The company that saw a sleeper hit with political drama The Kashmir Files last year, is hoping for the overall revival of the theatrical business. It is also looking at developing regional markets like Malayalam by backing big tent-pole films there especially since the surge in demand for films made in the language on OTT platforms during the pandemic.

A film trade analyst who did not wish to be named said the studio should be making an annual investment upwards of Rs. 600 crore and is wisely looking at a mix of Hindi and regional language films.

“It’s a good thing that they’re looking at creating volume. The added push to southern content should be an advantage given how fragmented that market is and there is a need for organised players,” the person said.

Zee Studios that has sold films like Gunjan Saxena- The Kargil Girl and Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi to other streaming platforms, is open to creating original content across services too. Patel said the company is in talks for the sale of Brown, a show starring Karisma Kapoor directed by Abhinay Deo.

However, the theatrical business remains a focus. “We’re hoping the mid-range films make a comeback. Right now, the only benchmarks are big-scale films like Brahmastra, KGF and RRR. But the overall base has to increase, we can’t just live between 0 to 100 with nothing in between,” Patel said.