'Lost' Films

Mobile has made everyone a film-maker. Instagrammers with 100,000 followers take pride that they are 'influencers'; of course in India even the number of 1-million is not-an-influencer! This background was important to rally home the point of 'Lost' Films.

Talking in Indian context, we have many films till 1950's, even 1980's that have been lost. With the renewed interest in 'Devdas' the most famous is K.L. Saigal's Devdas which many historians aver was the best take on the classic novel. Of course, the version is available, but not in it's entire glory as a full-film - 'Lost Film'.

'Lost' Film, however, in this article is for those films that are being made, I will use the term churned out, today. Yes, even today's films are lost!

These films are not backed by studios, are mostly made by first-time producers or repeat-producers trying to establish themselves. With hardly any footfalls in cinema, after the one-week show, rather no-show, these films are not available anywhere. No satellite channels, no OTT's, not even on youtube.

In last three years, since 2020, around 30 of my friends made movies as producers and/or directors; where are these thirty films after their one-week limited cinema-release. Nowhere.

Mind you, the budget of these films together with P&A and release ranged from US$1million to US$10million, may be more.

Always said, no one can tell whether the film will make money; but smart film-making can ensure visibility and outreach. Various studies and stats have shown that only 7% films made worldwide reach more than 10,000 audiences. That is not even .001% of India's population.

Next time you make a feature-film, short or content, do the back-calculation. Since there is no guarantee a film will make money; figure out, how you will ensure your film reaches atleast 100,000 audiences to give your piece of art or fart, as the case may be, the much needed visibility.