Imphal, Dec. 23: The Manipur film industry never had it so good. After yanking Hindi films off the screen following a ban by an outlawed organisation, most cinema halls here have been screening only Manipuri digital films, rejuvenating an industry that was floundering not long ago.
The first feature film in Manipuri, Matamgi Manipur, hit the big screen in 1972 and several talented filmmakers from the state have emerged since then. But despite winning national and international awards, including a Grand Prix for Imagi Ningthem, the Manipuri film industry did not become financially stable until the advent of digital technology.
As many as 40 digital films have been made over the past couple of years and all of these have done well. The producers are happy and so are the viewers.
Meghachandra Kongbam, who is on the board of directors of the Manipur Film Development Corporation, said a digital film could be made with a shoestring budget. The only major piece of equipment required is a relatively inexpensive digital movie camera. The films are transferred to CDs for home viewing.
?A digital film can be made for as little as Rs 1.5 lakh. The maximum budget is Rs 2 lakh, as against the minimum of Rs 10 lakh required to make a film for the big screen,? Kongbam said.
An investment of Rs 1.5 lakh on a digital film usually fetches a profit between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh. Those cinema halls that have switched to holding digital film shows are still in business, but the rest have gone out of business because of the ban on Hindi films.
The state had 60 cinema halls and most were doing good business by screening popular Hindi films until the outlawed Revolutionary People?s Front stepped in a few years ago.
Imphal, which had 10 halls, now has only four. Three of these hold digital film shows, while the fourth screens third-rate, A-certified English films. The other halls have been either converted to educational institutions or shopping complexes.
Set up with a loan from the National Film Development Corporation, the twin halls Asha and Jina have become an educational institution.
The manager of one of the surviving halls said the digital film boom was good for Manipuri cinema, but exhibitors have nothing to cheer about.
?Hit English films are available in CDs. So, cineastes no longer come to the halls. We now depend on low-budget Manipuri films for survival,? he said.
As cinema hall owners bemoan the ban on Hindi films, companies and independent producers specialising in making digital films are laughing all the way to the bank.
The best part of the trend is the easy availability of technology, which has led to enterprising businesspeople setting up editing laboratories in the state. Unlike in the past, producers now do not have to take their films to Calcutta, Mumbai, Chennai or Bhubaneswar for post-production work.
The only sore point is that the government makes no mention of the digital industry in its film policy draft.