Why Uday Chopra chose to turn producer with a Hollywood film

The term “small fry” isn’t one that’s usually associated with Yash Raj Films, but in the big, brash world of Hollywood, that’s exactly what YRF Entertainment is. Started in 2011 and helmed by Uday Chopra, YRF Entertainment is looking to play the international game. Considering the fact that in India, YRF is one of Bollywood’s plays, Chopra’s company sounds like a step towards world domination, but Chopra insists that YRF Entertainment is more his dream project than a calculated corporate move.

“The idea isn’t a strategic thing,” said Chopra in an interview with Firstpost. “It’s more personal. Like so many people, I’ve grown up watching American movies and around 2010, I started thinking about it and it seemed like an interesting idea — to try and make films in Los Angeles.”

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The basics are in place: YRF Entertainment has a Beverly Hills address, it’s got two projects in development and one high profile release, Grace of Monaco. The Nicole Kidman starrer was the opening film at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and is releasing this week in India. “I came in as the equity partner,” said Chopra, explaining YRF Entertainment’s role in Grace of Monaco.

“At the time I got the script, Nicole was being confirmed. It was a pre-packaged project, but I read the script and I loved it.” Audiences and critics haven’t felt the same way about Grace of Monaco, but Chopra is unperturbed by its dismal box office performance internationally. “The whole idea behind Grace of Monaco was getting my company’s name out,” said Chopra. There’s no arguing that he fulfilled that objective. The opening film slot in Cannes is a very glamorous debut for a production company that is barely three years old.

For a film industry that has for decades looked to American studios and foreign producers for money and appreciation, it’s almost surreal to think that an Indian film company would be the one to step in and provide the money for a glossy film starring the likes of Kidman. However, with companies like Reliance Entertainment, Mumbai Mantra and now YRF Entertainment hungry for a slice of the international film pie, it looks like this is going to become a more regular feature.

While Reliance Entertainment has co-produced mainstream films like Scream 4 and Cowboys and Aliens, Chopra wants YRF Entertainment to carve a niche for itself in the independent film industry. “My focus is not on selling Indian cinema to the West,” said Chopra, who is spending much of his time in Los Angeles these days. “I’m just looking for good stories, in English.” On his slate is a film based on actress Ingrid Bergman’s love affair with photojournalist Robert Capa and an action thriller. He’s keeping his fingers crossed that good stories make for good films.

However, the independent film industry in America isn’t sure whether that’s enough to survive. There’s a lot of interest in independent films — as torrent sites will attest — and many who want to make them, but at present, the earnings aren’t enough to sustain the industry. At the American Pavilion in Cannes this year, producers and distributors gloomily concluded that indie films have to look at star power in order to make money. “In the US, the majority of films at $4-5 million dollars have a long shot at making money back,” said Nick Schumaker, the acquisitions manager at a Paris-based sales agency. “This is because of the way the domestic market is working these days – it’s also the way the international numbers are coming in. You need a Nicolas Cage or a Matthew McConaughey.” The budget for Grace of Monaco was reportedly around $30 million.

As this Salon article details, independent cinema’s earnings are not looking good:

Without documentaries and Bollywood blockbusters, the performance of indie films is quite bleak, especially given the number of indie films released. The same is true for video-on-demand. If, like the box office, studio fare accounts for the 90% of the market, that means indies generated about $125 million on VOD last year. Indies that went straight to VOD, along with those that were theatrically released, are all vying for that pot. The truth is that the vast majority of indies are lucky if they can earn $25,000 on VOD.

On the basis of his experience so far, Chopra acknowledges that the way the industry works in Los Angeles is “very different” from what he is used to back home, but Chopra doesn’t feel he is at a disadvantage. “In terms of the creative process, because of my background here [in Bollywood], it wasn’t much of a learning curve,” said Chopra. The challenge has been in making inroads into the indie film circuit. “It’s easy to raise money for an indie project in America,” said Chopra. “But it’s getting the right people, getting artists of value attached to your project that is difficult.” Despite all this, Chopra is confident about YRF Entertainment’s prospects. “Of course it’s very competitive [in America] but it’s also a much bigger industry industry than ours. So why not?”