In these uncertain times at the box office, many studios are struggling to deliver a hit or a string of hits. But Jio Studios is an exception. All their theatrical films this year have worked big time. 2024 began on a great note for Jio with Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya followed by Article 370, Laapataa Ladies and Shaitaan. Their latest release Stree 2 has stunned the trade and industry and it might emerge as the highest Hindi grosser ever.
EXCLUSIVE: Jyoti Deshpande on Jio Studios’ winning formula & RECORD-breaking 2024: Stree 2, franchises and the future of Indian cinema
On the day it was announced that Stree 2 has crossed the Rs. 500 crores mark, Jyoti Deshpande – President – Media Business, RIL, spoke exclusively with Bollywood Hungama about their strategies, forthcoming films and a lot more.
All the theatrical movies of Jio Studios have worked and how this year. What’s the secret?
(Smiles) You can call it the grace of God or blessing of parents or luck. Without it, no success is possible. Also, there’s a little bit of method to the madness, in terms of what are the stories we greenlight and what are the makers we work with. I have always been a champion of content-driven films. I have spent three decades in this business, and I have had the pleasure of working with the biggest stars in the industry. At the same time, I have also worked on small, amazing films like English Vinglish (2012), Vicky Donor (2012), Newton (2017), etc.
Stree was the first film by Jio Studios in 2018. It was a small-budget film; we spent more on its P&A than its cost of production! It went on to do the business that it did. For its star cast, Stree 2 was not a small-budget movie. We always had conviction in stories and characters. If you pick up the films we backed this year and in 2023, the genres are totally different. I like to equate it with the stock market. When you pick up a portfolio of stocks, you do a deep analysis – what are the business fundamentals, what is the outlook, etc. In our field, filmmaker, story, genre and track record are what we analyze. We bet on people, and we bet on stories. And then comes the star cast, in terms of weightage. Like, we are also making Singham Again, which is the biggest assembly of stars today in Bollywood. We are very bullish about it but at the same time, we have not mindlessly backed it.
Stree, Singham and Son of Sardaar are your tentpole franchises. How are you looking at franchise development?
We have been building on the idea of franchise for five years, especially with the Stree universe. Now, you see them come together. Along with the horror comedy universe, we have the cop universe with Singham and now also the horror universe with Shaitaan. Very soon, we’ll do a comedy universe. But again, it won’t be just the names of films with part 2 next to them! There would be solid writing that has legs. Only then there would be fandom.
Stree 2 is the biggest example of it…
Yes. The producers have come up with an honest film. What has taken it beyond expectations is the fandom. How many films can boast of it which is not star-fandom but a fandom for a franchise? It is often said that ‘women breaking glass ceilings’. And it is so apt that Stree 2 is a film that has broken the glass ceiling at the box office (smiles). And this was done without stars. For me, they (the actors in the film) are all stars but they are not theoretical stars that we talk about.
The industry, trade and fans are excited to see where Stree 2 goes from here on…
Today, we announced that it crossed Rs. 500 crores. Let’s hope it goes to the next century!
Laapataa Ladies’s tickets were available for just Rs. 150 from the second weekend. It’s rare to see tickets of a film being sold for such cheap rates even on the weekends in the premium multiplexes. What was the thought process behind this strategy?
I root for movies like Laapataa Ladies. Typically, a producer would have put such a film on digital and skip a theatrical release. He or she will calculate that the film was made in X amount and earned Y. He/she will make a profit and will move on. But I believe that this was a story that I wanted to bring to the cinematic audience. However, we have taught the audience that in 8 weeks, the films would premiere on OTT. Hence, they are not incentivized to see them on the big screen, especially the smaller films, even if they are aware of their positive reports. We decided to give as much incentive as possible, so that moviegoers come and support these small films in the theatre.
When you put a high-ticket price, you are already making it seem like the film is only for the elite audience. Our point is that yeh picture sabke liye hai and hence, wanted to democratize accessibility to everyone.
Was it difficult to convince the multiplexes to adopt this novel strategy?
Not at all. For cinemas, it’s all about occupancy and they are data driven. The producers and the exhibitors both are running a business. You want to give value to the customer. At the same time, you want to maximize your box office and not leave silly money on the table. There’s a fine line between the two, which is the business call we take every weekend, wherein we decide whether the tickets should be sold at blockbuster prices, popular prices, etc. Hence, it wasn’t an uphill task to convince anyone. We were mutually aligned that for small films, we must not overprice the tickets.
Sky Force was all set to release on October 2, but its release has been pushed as per reports…
The film is getting ready. DNEG is handling the VFX and a lot of work on it is pending. It won’t be ready by October 2.
Akshay Kumar’s last few films haven’t worked. Does that worry you?
I have known Akshay Kumar for a very long time, and I think he’s one of the finest performers that the industry can ever have. I’ve had the pleasure of working on OMG! Oh My God (2012) with him, which was a big success, and I am looking forward to working with him on Sky Force as well as other films in the future. Each film should be judged on its own merit. We shouldn’t be quick to make generalizations. If Stree 2 has worked, for instance, there’s no guarantee that the next three films in the horror genre would also work. These are fads; if you can transcend a fad, you will have longevity. And if you try to ride a fad, you’ll get caught when the trend changes.
In Hollywood, merchandise and gaming also form part of promotions and revenue generation. That has not been the case with any franchises in Bollywood. Would you like to step into this territory?
Absolutely. You have to wait and watch to see where we take the horror comedy franchise. If there’s no fandom, how is anyone going to buy the mug of that series? Disney and Marvel films enjoy a solid fan base. A star-driven fandom is of no use when it comes to merchandise because the character has to outlive the star. Then you come up with mugs, T-shirts and even gaming. You can even connect the storylines in your games. It also comes as a test for your stories even before you make them.
We’ll definitely work on it and what better company for it than Jio? We have our own gaming development. We are the biggest retail chain in the country. Hence, the impediment was not the access. The impediments were – one, fandom has to be created first before the merchandise and not vice versa. Secondly, the lead times for these aspects are very high. For merchandising and gaming, you need to plan two years in advance. If I plan for Stree 3 right now, I can parallely work on the movie, merchandise and gaming. Only then, it’ll work. You can’t release the film and then wander here and there hoping that the sales of your merchandise will pick up. That’ll be for the announcement value. The market exists. One has to figure out a correct strategy to tap it.
Is Jio Studios looking at entering Hollywood?
I am very much a made-in-India person! I don’t have aspirations to make a Hollywood film. However, I have two ambitions. I’d like any Indian film to be watched by all Indians. I hope Stree 2 is seen not just in the Hindi-speaking markets but across the country. I also feel that a film should not be remade in other languages. For instance, we are making Raja Shivaji in Marathi. I’d like it to be as accessible to all India as it will be to the Marathi audience. Ardaas Sarbat De Bhale Di is a Punjabi film, but its message is so universal that it’ll be great if it can grow, albeit gradually. That is what I aspired for at first – that all Indians should watch Indian language films.
And secondly, our movies should be on the world map. Films like The Lunchbox were still niche, but our films need to break out into the mainstream. Stree 2 did a certain business. But it hasn’t collected Rs. 1 billion at the box office, has it? Our stories need to be relevant to the world audience and the production values, characters, marketing, distribution, etc. and a combination of all these factors would also come into play (for our films to grow).
We also aspire to win an Oscar. We’ll keep batting for it. I know a few documentaries have made inroads. Guneet Monga has managed to carve a path.
How profitable is Jio Studios? How much money is currently invested in content?
Given the extremely large and successful blockbuster theatrical slate plus the digital performance of our stories, most definitely we are a very profitable business. At any given time, Rs, 1500-2000 crores is invested in the business.
It recently came to light that OTT players are dictating theatrical release dates of films. Is it happening and if true, what are your views?
I can only speak for myself. We have had a very collaborative relationship with Amazon Prime, Netflix, Jio Cinema, etc. We have not faced any inconvenience with release dates from any of our partners. We are releasing the films on the dates that we want. In fact, Stree 2 was supposed to be released initially on August 30. We advanced the release by two weeks and (Amazon Prime Video) was on board. The streaming platform pays the amount to the producer in advance. If the film earns Rs. 500 crores at the box office, it becomes more valuable to them. Logically, why would an OTT platform set up a film for failure? One has to ascertain where it’s an excuse and where it’s really the reason. In my experience, I enjoy open, transparent relations with my platforms.
The Sanya Malhotra-starrer Mrs is making waves across the world. When will it be released, and will it be in cinemas or OTT?
It’s a brilliant film and will not come on the big screen. If there’s any sadness from last year to where the world is this year, it is that I have had to pivot my strategy to theatrical films. The quantity of small films has reduced in terms of the platforms. That capacity to accommodate these smaller films is what has suffered. Theatrical films are being sold. We released Tikdam on Jio Cinema on August 23. It’s beautiful but sadly, it doesn’t have a voice which it should have got in the larger scheme of things.
When I announced 100 titles, we intended that 30% of them would be theatrical while 40% of them would be OTT releases. The balance titles were series. I had a healthy mix. Now my mix is skewed to theatricals. We market the small films with love and with our own money. The effort we are putting into finding good homes for them is much higher.
Besides Mrs, another high-concept film Sector 36 releases next week. Then, a film that we don’t have a date yet, but we really love is Dhoom Dhaam on Netflix. That film could have been released theatrically.
The intriguing trailer of Baramulla was attached with Article 370…
It’ll also be an OTT release. It is a big film and shot very well. But it has a certain audience, and I feel it’s suited for direct to digital release. If the OTT partner and we believe that we need to do a theatrical release as that would help the marketing and the film’s reception on OTT, then we’ll figure out a way.
Which are your Hindi and regional releases in 2025? Can you list some of them?
We have Sky Force. Nakhrewaalii releases on Valentine’s Day. At the moment, we are looking to release Son Of Sardaar 2 in summer 2025. Dhurandhar will arrive in December. We have a few more films from the franchises that will be released next year.
As for regional, Raja Shivaji will see a release in cinemas in January along with Khashaba, the story of India’s first Olympic medal winner. Then there’s Aaipan Bhari Deva and Kirr Kaata Kirrr. Sangeet Manapmaan will blow your mind. Ideally, it should be released during Diwali but there’s no room for it. It’s got 14-15 songs and is a period film that celebrates Marathi culture.
This is our slate and it’s one of the biggest by any studio. We don’t have any calculation that we need to produce a certain number of films in a year. After all, I am greenlighting stories, not projects (smiles).
Any final thoughts?
We are very proud of where Jio Studios has reached today. Our work has spoken for our brand more than our words. I’d like consumers to feel over time that if a film or a show is backed by Jio Studios, it’ll surely be worth it! Our partnerships are all win-win. Our partnership with Maddock Films is an enviable one where we set them up for success, resulting in victory for all. That’s why it has lasted for so long. And if people can strike such partnerships, then nothing can stop them from making magic. Having that acumen and being on the same page is very important. Even if you disagree, then finding a middle ground and having that equation to do so is also crucial. The resulting positivity is reflected in the product. I believe that if people enjoy the journey, the outcome will always be good.
Also Read: Aparshakti Khurana’s PJs steal the show: Stree 2 star’s hilarious reel goes viral
More Pages: Stree 2 Box Office Collection , Stree 2 Movie Review
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