Boom! Bhojpuri films are here to stay

New Delhi: After being ignored for years, the Bhojpuri film industry is finally getting its due.

Bhojpuri films are not only reaping rich dividends at the box office but also attracting the attention of Bollywood bigwigs like Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar and Jeetendra.

While the Amitabh starrer Ganga is doing very good business, thespian Dilip Kumar has written the script for a film to be produced by his wife Saira Banu and Jeetendra is in talks to star in a Bhojpuri film.

There are rumours Konkona Sen Sharma could also act in a Bhojpuri film.

"Around 50 Bhojpuri films are released in a year. Every week there is one release," Mumbai-based film publicist Ashok Bhatia said.

The industry, which is re-surfacing slowly, churns out moderate budget films that do well in the rural hinterland of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

These have benefited from the highly glamourised recent Bollywood potboilers, which are aimed at the NRI audience.

"Single theatres in small regions in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh don't run these big-budgeted Bollywood films as they focus on the NRI audiences. The B and C grade audiences don't like them. They prefer Bhojpuri films instead," said Bhojpuri filmmaker Alok Kumar.

Kumar has made two films Raja Bhojpuriya and Ho Gail Ba Pyaar Odhaniya Waali Se, which has completed 100 days in Mumbai.

"Earlier, it used to be family-oriented emotional dramas. But now the audiences like to watch masala flicks. So the current films are modelled on the Hindi hits of the 70s and 80s," said Kumar.

Making a Bhojpuri film is cheap compared to the crores spent on a single Bollywood film.

They cost around Rs 70-80 lakh and the biggest Bhojpuri stars like Ravi Kishan or Manoj Tiwari apparently charge Rs 25 lakh per film - a nominal amount compared to what the Hindi film heroes command.

"We have to keep the budget in control because we don't have access to all the theatres in the country. And we don't get instant results. We recover our cost, but not immediately," added Kumar.

Talking about the overseas market, Kumar said, "There is a demand for Bhojpuri films overseas but proper infrastructure is not there. I would love to screen my films there. Music albums of Bhojpuri films are going there and are very popular."

Bhojpuri film actors, following in the footsteps of Bollywood stars, are all set to woo global fans with live performances.

Members of the Bhojpuri film fraternity, which has seen a phenomenal growth in the last few years, have joined hands to organise their first star-spangled stage show called Bhojpuri Hungama with 20 shows planned in various parts of India and across the world.