Mumbai: Bollywood is set to pack its bags for Britain again. In a shot in the arm for UK-India creative collaboration, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced in Mumbai that Yash Raj Films (YRF) will start work on three major productions in the UK from early 2026, a move expected to create over "3,000 jobs and boost the British economy by millions of pounds".

Starmer made the announcement on a visit to Yash Raj Studios, which marks 20 years of operations on Oct 12. He was accompanied by a delegation representing film powerhouses such as the British Film Institute, British Film Commission, Pinewood Studios, Elstree Studios, and Civic Studios.

Starmer spent time touring the studio - meeting actor Rani Mukerji, sitting in for a short screening at YRF's private auditorium, chatting with technicians, and even trying his hand at the studio's console board. Mukerji is wife of YRF chairman Aditya Chopra.

"Bollywood is back in Britain, and it's bringing jobs, investment and opportunity, all while showcasing the UK as a world-class destination for global filmmaking. This is exactly the kind of partnership our trade deal with India is destined to unlock-driving growth, strengthening cultural ties and delivering for communities across the country," said Starmer.

The UK PM's two-day visit to Mumbai comes as part of his first major trade mission to India, following the landmark UK-India trade deal signed in July. The trade deal is meant to lower tariffs on British goods, improve market access and raise bilateral trade by £25.5 billion a year, with UK exports projected to grow by nearly 60%.

The 125-member delegation accompanying Starmer includes CEOs, entrepreneurs, vice-chancellors and cultural leaders, marking the largest UK govt trade mission ever to India. Among the companies represented are Rolls Royce, British Telecom, Diageo, the London Stock Exchange, and British Airways, alongside growing SMEs and start-ups from across the UK.

An MoU between the British Film Institute and India's National Film Development Corporation is also proposed to encourage co-productions and sharing of resources.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy who visited India earlier this year said, "Partnerships between Bollywood and British studios make complete sense for our Creative Industries Sector Plan."

The potential is huge. Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire, made on a £12m budget, generated around £300m for the UK economy.

For YRF, the return to UK will mark the end of an eight-year hiatus in filming there. It also celebrates 30 years of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ), the cult romance that spanned England, Switzerland, and Punjab's mustard fields. "The UK holds a very special place in our hearts," said YRF CEO Akshaye Widhani.

Widhani added that the company is currently producing Come Fall In Love, an English stage adaptation of DDLJ, in the UK. "So, we are thrilled to join hands with UK again... and discuss how India and UK could come together to push the content landscape globally..."

Saiyaara has broken global records and won hearts over the past two weeks. The craze reached unprecedented levels, with people thronging the theatres, and the Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda-starrer transitioned from being a young love story to a phenomenon. On The Right Angle with Sonal Kalra this week, we got the captain of the ship, director Mohit Suri, to decode the film:

It feels good to receive this love. I have been spending time with my wife (Uditaa Goswami; actor) after the release, she’s been asking me to do household things (laughs). But I take some time for myself daily from 6.30 pm to 9 pm, as I get calls from all over the country. I’ve told her to just let me feel the love. It’s taken me 20 years to be here.

He has known me since I was a child, assisting on the sets of (Awara Paagal Deewana; 2002) with Vikram Bhatt (filmmaker). We tried to work together a couple of times, but things never fell into place. Even when Aashiqui 2 (2013) and Ek Villain (2014) had done well [he encouraged me]. He never lost faith in me. For him to come out there publicly... It’s something very few people do. What else can I ask for?

We were shooting the piano scene, when Vaani (Aneet’s character) gets Krish’s (Ahaan’s character) name wrong. The way Ahaan gave that shot, and the way Aneet spoke... that was the day. I turned to our creative producer (Sumana Ghosh) and said, “I don’t know about the fate of this film, but I know we are making a great one”. When Adi sir (Aditya Chopra, producer) saw the movie in its loosest form, he said, “No matter how much this opens at, it’s going to do at least Rs. 100 crore”. I was in class eight when I saw his movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) in the theatre. I said, “This is the kind of film I want to make someday”. For him to say this... that’s what an experienced producer should do. That’s when we felt we were making something special. While the collections are most welcome, this love is something I really wanted.

Mumbai: 2023 has been a golden year for the Indian film industry, in general and for Bollywood in particular, with four Hindi films crossing Rs 500 crore each in box office earnings and the gross box office collections projected to touch a new high of Rs 12,000 crore.

Bollywood's resurgence has been driven by diverse content offerings, innovative marketing, and pent-up demand among audiences for experiencing movies on the big screen notwithstanding the rise of streaming platforms, industry executives and experts said.

While star-studded films like Gadar 2, Pathaan and Animal did send the cash registers ringing, mid-budget films such as 12th Fail and Sam Bahadur have performed reasonably well.

After a challenging 2022, Bollywood delivered four films — Gadar 2, Pathaan, Jawan, and Animal — with box office earnings of over Rs 500 crore. In 2022, the gross box-office collection of Rs 10,637 crore was driven largely by South Indian films KGF - Chapter 2, RRR and Kantara, according to a report of consultancy firm GroupM-Ormax Media. The report said that the box collections of Bollywood films had declined 27% from 2019 to Rs 3,513 crore in 2022.

In 2023, industry executives project the box office collections of Bollywood films to touch Rs 5,000 crore.

PVR Inox executive director Sanjeev Kumar Bijli said Bollywood's growth in 2023 was driven by both blockbusters and mid-scale movies.

"Despite featuring renowned stars with massive fan followings, the success of these movies can be attributed to the resonating content that particularly struck a chord with the young audience," he added.

Bijli said the Indian film industry's box office collection is expected to reach an all-time high of Rs 12,000 crore, driven in part by the strong performances of films like Animal, Salaar and Dunki towards the end of the year.

Cinepolis India chief executive Devang Sampat said the overall box office collections grew by 10–15%, driven equally by Hindi and regional cinema.

"The rekindled audience interest in theatrical experiences can be partly attributed to a burgeoning sense of ‘OTT fatigue’, prompting moviegoers to seek the communal and emotionally rich experiences afforded by the big screen," he added.

While concurring with Sampat's take on OTT fatigue, director Nikkhil Advani said that there is a “post-Covid buoyancy” from audiences that has reflected in a return to cinemas and a waning interest in OTT content.

Screenwriter Anjum Rajabali feels the obvious conclusion is that spectacle, action and larger-than-life movies have a visceral reaction. "That habit of collective viewing of fans stands strong — you love going to the cinema because there is a seamless, exclusive relationship with your star," Rajabali said.

Yash Raj Films' Pathaan and Tiger 3, which together collected close to Rs 1,500 crore, fall in the larger-than-life category.

Akshaye Widhani, who is the YRF CEO, noted that 2023 has been one of the best years in the company’s five-decade-old history due to the performances of the two movies.

"As an industry, this year we have seen great content reap huge rewards, whether it is Gadar 2, Jawan, or now Animal. The entertainment industry rule book has changed," Widhani said.

Advani, who produced the hit Rani Mukerji-starrer Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway, said star power certainly has a key role to play in the success of films.

“It’s the stars we’ve grown up watching — Shah Rukh Khan, Sunny Deol and Rani — that still have that aura. You can’t deny the ingredients of a mass entertainer like Animal too," he added.

According to Zee Studios CEO Shariq Patel, big stars telling entertaining and emotional stories compelled audiences to throng the theatres in large numbers. He termed it a revenge-viewing phenomenon.

"The foundation of a good movie is a strong emotional story with stardom laced on top of it to deliver the knockout punch," he said.

Zee Studios' Gadar 2 grossed close to Rs 700 crore in global box office collections.

Viacom18 Studios chief operating officer Ajit Andhare said the box office resurgence in 2023 was driven by compelling narratives and star power woven into conversations resonating deeply with the audience.

Viacom18 Studios delivered multiple blockbuster films during the year, including Drishyam 2, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part One, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani and OMG2, he said. It is gearing up to the release Hrithik Roshan starrer Fighter, which is touted as the first-of-its-kind aerial action film.

Smaller films like 12th Fail and Sam Bahadur were the ones that worked on content and stellar performances. “There’s an earnestness that is missing in today’s cynical world and that connects to us,” said Rajabali.

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Film studio Yash Raj Films' revenue for the fiscal ended March 31, 2023, surged almost 2.5 times on-year to Rs. 1,508 crore on the back of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan's superlative box office performance.

The company had recorded revenues of Rs. 619 crore in FY22, according to its regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

"It's been one of our best years in our 50-year history," Akshaye Widhani, chief executive of Yash Raj Films (YRF), said about calendar 2023. "Our hits have been more than our misses due to our focused content approach," he told ET, referring to the performances of Pathaan and Salman Star-starrer Tiger 3, which was released in November.

Widhani refused to comment on the financials since YRF is a privately held company.

Global box office collections of Pathaan, which made its theatrical debut on January 25, and Tiger 3 stood at Rs. 1,100 crore and Rs. 480 crore, respectively.

Widhani said the five films in the YRF Spy Universe franchise have garnered close to Rs. 3,000 crore in the global box office.

The company's net profit for FY23 increased 10.3% to Rs. 117 crore, while expenses zoomed over 2.8 times to Rs. 1,375 crore, as per its RoC filing.

The surge in FY23 revenue and profit is despite the underperformance of Ranveer Singh's Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Akshay Kumar's Samrat Prithviraj, and Ranbir Kapoor's Shamshera last fiscal.

Widhani said the Indian film industry has bounced back in 2023 with highest-ever box office collections and addition of a record 250 movie screens. "The outlook for 2024 and thereafter is very positive," he added.

Fiscal year 2023 also marked YRF's foray into streaming with the launch of docuseries The Romantics on Netflix. The company this year produced a four-part thriller series, The Railway Men, which was released in November.

Mumbai: Yash Raj Films (YRF) is expected to exceed its revenue from FY22 and FY20 in FY23, driven by the superlative success of Pathaan, even as movies like Jayeshbhai Jordaar, Samrat Prithviraj, and Shamshera underperformed, said CEO Akshaye Widhani.

“FY23 will be bigger than FY22 and FY20 in terms of revenue,” Widhani told ET. He added the revenue growth will be driven by Pathaan, as the production house’s previous three releases had underperformed.

Pathaan has collected Rs. 1,047 crores in gross box office collections globally. In FY22, the company posted a net profit of Rs. 115 crores on operating income of Rs. 614 crores, according to an Acuite Ratings report. The production house recorded a net profit of Rs. 61 crores on revenues of Rs. 614 crore in FY20.

“All our revenue comes from new films and catalogue films. We have close to 80 films in our library. We are slowly going to amp up OTT content production, which will become a key contributor,” he said. Widhani said one of YRF’s key priorities going forward is to expand the theatrical reach of its films. 

Pathaan was released across 8,000 screens in over 100 countries. “We want to widen our theatrical reach and get more footfalls into the theatres. . . ,” he stated.

Widhani said the company would like to retain the intellectual property rights to the OTT shows that it will produce, just as it does with films. “We would like to retain the IP rights to all our future films and shows. Eventually, you will be as valuable as your content,” he said, noting that streaming platforms also want to own the IP.

In the film business, the Spy Universe will continue to be a big focus area for the company since all the films under this IP have done well.

The studio is in the process of firming up its film slate for the next two years. “We have never bound ourselves to a certain number of films that we will produce. It is not a number's game,” he said.

Mumbai: Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan has garnered Rs. 219.60 crores in gross box collections globally in the first two days of its release, a new record for Hindi films, data provided by Yash Raj Films (YRF) on Friday showed.

The film produced by Aditya Chopra under the YRF banner posted gross collections of Rs. 113.64 crores on its second day on Thursday, breaking its own one-day collection record set on the opening day. The gross collections from India touched Rs. 82.94 crores on Thursday while the overseas collection stood at Rs. 30.70 crores.

On the opening day, the spy thriller that also features Deepika Padukone and John Abraham had earned Rs. 106 crores in gross global box office collections including Rs. 68.50 crore from India and Rs. 37.50 crores from international markets.

YRF chief executive Akshaye Widhani said Pathaan’s success is significant not just for the company, but also for the Hindi film industry at large. “As an industry, we are rejoicing today. This is the most important sentiment emerging out of Pathaan’s success,” he said. “All of us at Yash Raj Films are grateful for the incredibly humbling support from the media, audiences, and the industry towards Pathaan. It is this unanimous love for the film that has resulted in Pathaan shattering all existing records and creating new ones.”

Pathaan's net domestic box office collection from the Hindi and dubbed versions jumped to Rs. 127.5 crores in two days as the film broke its own record to collect Rs. 70.50 crores on the second day.

YRF said Pathaan has become the first Hindi film to breach the 70 crores net collection in a single day.

Earlier, Pathaan recorded the biggest ever opening day collection for a Hindi film with net earnings of Rs. 57 crores from the Hindi and dubbed versions. Pathaan is the third in the series of YRF Spyware Universe films after Ek Tha Tiger and War to set an opening-day box office record.

IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond said, “Pathaan delivered the biggest opening-day ever for an Indian film in IMAX and is another great indicator not only of the strength of Indian moviegoing, but of the huge demand for blockbuster Indian filmmaking around the world.”

INOX Leisure chief programming officer Rajender Singh Jyala said Pathaan’s performance on the first two days demonstrates that the extended weekend will be like a one-movie film festival celebrated across the country.

In November, mid-day had reported that Yash Raj Films, one of Bollywood’s premier studios, was gearing up to set foot in the field of digital entertainment (YRF goes OTT, November 12). Through his web offerings, head honcho Aditya Chopra wanted to take stories rooted in India to the world, and he has remained true to his vision. For YRF Entertainment’s debut OTT series, the makers have gone back to one of the bleakest nights in Indian history — The Railway Men offers a retelling of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy with the focus on the railway workers at Bhopal station who saved countless lives.

Revisiting the world’s worst industrial disaster will be an uphill task. Chopra has placed his faith in debutant director Shiv Rawail, son of veteran filmmaker Rahul Rawail, for the job. The limited series will be headlined by R Madhavan, Kay Kay Menon, Divyenndu and Babil Khan. A source reveals, “While Yash Raj movies are known for their star-studded cast, Adi knew that the show, given its subject, hinges on rock-solid performances. After months of discussing names, the team zeroed in on Madhavan and Kay Kay, two of the finest actors we have today.”

The narrative will take viewers through the late hours of December 2, 1984, when methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the Union Carbide Corporation’s pesticide plant, injuring more than half a million people and claiming over 5,000 lives. The series — mounted on a budget of Rs. 100 crore — went on floors yesterday in Kalina, Mumbai, where a large set has been erected.

Yogendra Mogre, producer of House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths, will creatively supervise the project. Currently serving as executive producer at YRF Entertainment, Mogre says, “We won’t leave any stone unturned to ensure that The Railway Men reaches out to worldwide audiences so that they can understand the devastation that this tragedy caused in India.”

The series will mark the first of five OTT projects slated for 2022. Akshaye Widhani, senior vice president, Yash Raj Films, adds, “This is our tribute to the unsung heroes of the tragedy who, despite saving thousands of lives, are unknown to people across the world.”

The drama is slated for a December 2, 2022 release, with the makers currently locking the streaming platform.

Earlier this week, mid-day reported that Yash Raj Films’ head honcho Aditya Chopra has pledged to sponsor the vaccination of 30,000 film workers (Follow the invisible leader, May 5). Even as he awaits Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s permission to implement the drive, the filmmaker is launching the Yash Chopra Saathi Initiative to support daily wagers who are struggling under the weight of the economic strain brought on by the industry shutdown.

As part of the programme, the Yash Chopra Foundation will initiate a direct benefit transfer of Rs 5000 to the women and senior citizens of the industry. They will also distribute monthly ration kits, each sufficing a family of four, to workers through their partner, Youth Feed India. Those in need can apply on the foundation’s website to avail support from the production house. This initiative comes on the back of the financial aid that Chopra had provided to the community last year. A source reveals, “During the 2020 Coronavirus lockdown, Aditya had credited money directly into the accounts of 3,000 daily wagers, thus helping them tide over the turbulent times. Now, he has stepped up again to ensure the vulnerable sections of the industry are not left to fend for themselves.”

Confirming the latest development, Akshaye Widhani, senior vice president, YRF, states that the studio is committed to being a support system to the Hindi film industry. “The pandemic has pushed the daily workers, who are the backbone of our industry, to breaking point. The initiative is aiming to provide support to the pandemic-hit workers who we urgently need to focus on,” he says.