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Big B, SRK & Akshay Kumar buying rights to their films

A trend in the Indian film industry has started with a number of actors buying the rights of their own films.

According to DNA India, actors such as Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar have been slowly buying back some of their films. Not only is it lucrative but in doing so acts like an investment and has become more appealing since a shift towards a digital world.

Atul Mohan who is a Trade Analyst explains how the actors are business minded than before. He said, “Today, film rights are an asset because a remake of the film or telecast on a digital or satellite medium fetches the owner royalty money.”

Mohan then goes on to explain how the investment side works. “Actors buy the rights at a good price. As actors or producers get older and do fewer films or become inactive, they can generate an income by selling the rights.”

Amod Mehra, also a Trade Analyst says buying the rights will help create a library for the actors. In some cases it’s in their personal interest to acquire the film if they don’t want it easily accessible, especially if the film didn’t do very well. As an example, he says, “SRK wants to be remembered for his good films. He may have made a few bad films that he does not want exposed, so he can buy them for his personal library.” However the only film Khan hasn’t got the rights too are those made by Yash Raj and Dharma Productions. “He also wanted to buy the film rights of Anjaam, but the price he quoted was too little, so the producer Rahul Rawail sold it to someone else,” Mehra added.

Subhash Ghai who has been approached by channel distributors for his collection of hit films, says the business model in these circumstances are forever changing. A source said, “Mukta Arts has a library of over 40 films, with maximum blockbusters. Business models keep changing, and we will do to the best in the interest of the company.”