Politics and showbiz make for strange bedfellows. No sooner had US President Donald Trump anno-unced a 100% tariff on all movies produced on foreign soil, alarm bells started to ring in the power corridors of India’s entertainment industry. While some Indian filmmakers and movie buffs were quick to term the latest Trump diktat as “Tariff Terrorism” and “Silly Trump Show”, most Indian film producers and industry insiders are worried about Trump’s 100% tariff threat!Desi Movie, Global Appeal India is the largest film-producing country in the world. It employs approximately 2,50,000 people. On an average, nearly 2,000 movies are produced annually in 20 different languages in India. Bollywood is the most prominent movie-making industry in the country, followed by Tollywood in south India. Although A-list actors are tight-lipped about Trump’s 100% tariff plan on foreign movies, Indian filmmakers are unhappy as it will hit India’s struggling film industry very badly. A miffed actor cum producer Prakash Raj called Trump’s latest directive “Tariff Terrorism.” There is a huge market and appreciation for Indian movies in the UK, US, Canada, Middle East, Singapore, Australia, Europe, and China. There is a sizable South East Asian diaspora in the US that enjoys Indian movies. The Indian movie industry earns approximately 40% of its overseas revenue from the United States alone. According to Shibasish Sarkar, president of the Producers Guild of India, Indian films gross around $100 million (over Rs 800 crore) at the US box office. The flip side of Trump’s 100% tariff on foreign films (other than those made on American soil) will be that many Indian filmmakers will not send their movies to the US market. Sarkar feels it is too early to comment on it. “But if it gets implemented, the first impact I foresee is on the theatrical business of our films in the US market,” Sarkar opines. The Trump Show Taking to his Truth Social platform on Saturday, President Trump lashed out at foreign movies, calling them a “threat” to national security. Trump wrote: “The movie industry in America is dying a very fast death. Other countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the USA, are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other nations and, therefore, a national security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorising the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100 per cent tariff on any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in foreign lands”. Many Indian movies are shot in the UK, Mauritius, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia and France, Poland because of the friendly policies and subsidies offered by the governments there. Terming Trump’s 100% tariff threat “ridiculous”, veteran producer Mukesh Bhatt of Vishesh Films explained that movies are not shot in the US because it is too expensive there. “If my film doesn’t release in one market (the US), it doesn’t make that much of a difference. It is a ridiculous thing he is doing. He doesn’t even realise he is killing Hollywood. We are talking for a reciprocal time, and this has happened,” Bhatt told PTI. The Movie Math The US is a huge overseas market for Indian films which not only include the Hindi language but also Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kanada. A 100% tariff will double the cost for the distributor / exhibitors. It will be difficult to screen Indian cinema and make it available at a reasonable cost for the audience in the US. Shamiraah Nambiar, an associate producer, Salman Khan Films Pvt Ltd, who has been in the Bollywood movie business for more than 20 years explains the movie math. “If the US distributor is forced to pay 100% tariff, he or she will have to increase the prices of the tickets. The audience will then hesitate going to the theatre to watch a movie because of the high cost,” Shamiraah says. Big budget Indian movies make anywhere between $2 million to $11 million, depending on the actor and budget of the films. “Indian producers will lose a major part of their overseas earnings and this will definitely impact big budget films,” Shamiraah adds. The movie maths is simple. The producer will sell the film to a US distributor at a particular cost. The US distributor/exhibitor will have to decide at what cost the film will be distributed across the country for screening to recover his/her money and make profit or else the distributor will have to bear the brunt and put up with the loss. Tariff-ic Effect Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, who made hit movies like The Kashmir Files and The Tashkent Files says that 100% tariff is a “disastrous” move. Taking to his X account, Vivek wrote: “Trump’s 100% Movie Tariff Threatens Indian Cinema: Trump’s 100% tariff on movies is a disastrous move. If this absurdity prevails, India’s struggling film industry will collapse entirely, with no one to save it. Indian film leaders must wake up, unite, and fight this threat instead of chasing paparazzi and self-glorification.” It is interesting to note that movies such as Baahubali, Pathaan, Dunki, RRR, Jawaan, did good business in the foreign markets. “If ticket prices are doubled (in the US), I don’t think anybody will watch them in theatres, especially when the films will be available on Netflix, Amazon, etc,” Agnihotri opines. As per IMDb data, some of the highest-money making Indian movies in the US include Baahubali 2: The Conclusion ($21.3M/`1,767 crore), Kalki 2898 AD ($15M/`1,245 crore), RRR ($13.9M/`1,154 crore), Pathaan ($11.4M/`946 crore), Pushpa: The Rule – Part 2 ($11M/`913 crore), Jawaan ($9.95M/`826 crore), Baahubali: The Beginning ($8.46M /`703 crore), Animal ($7.90M / `656 crore), Jailer ($7.70M/`639 crore), and Salaar ($7.29M/`605 crore). It is interesting to note that seven out of the top 10 highest-money making Indian films in the US are from the South. Industry experts say the 100% tariff will also have repercussions on the digital and OTT platforms for Indian producers. Show Must Go On Taking to his X account, Shekhar Kapur wrote: “Over 75% of box office Hollywood films come from outside the US. And a significant part of the budget of those films are spent outside the US. President Trump’s imposition of a 100% tariff on all films imported into the US may encourage Hollywood to move outside the US! Quite the opposite of what he intended.”
Source link
