We all know that an online business can generate significant income with minimal input from the business owner. This is because so many processes can be automated on the Internet, thus eliminating the need for an individual to carry out these tasks.

However, no online business can generate a worthwhile income without at least some hard work—usually several months’ worth at the bare minimum.

I often refer to myself as a lazy Internet marketer because I know that there are many things I could be doing to improve my business, but I often prefer not to. My problem is that I can always find something better to do than work! But it wasn’t always this way. In the early years of my online career, I worked some serious hours to get things up and running—certainly a lot more than I had ever worked in any job.

As many of you know, my offline career was spent in the banking industry, meaning I was no computer expert and had no particular Internet skills or abilities. Therefore, I spent days reading and learning how to do the tasks I wanted to do – how to build a web page, integrate payment facilities, send customers emails after purchasing, etc. While now there seems to be an online video or eBook about almost all Internet marketing topics, going back a few years, this wasn’t the case, and I often only discovered how to do something by trial and error.

So why am I telling you this?

Well, quite simply because of an email exchange I had with someone this week, which made me realize how lazy some people can be and how they genuinely expect to have an online business handed to them on a plate.

This person purchased a product from me that came with resale rights – nothing unusual there. I then got an email from them asking how to get the sales page for the product online. Again, nothing unusual in that; it happens quite a lot. I answered the question, and there then followed what can only be described as a barrage of further questions asking how to set up a payment processor, how to deliver the product, how to integrate an autoresponder system into the processor (the buyer even asked what messages he should put in the autoresponder!), how to market the sales page and how to get the page into Google!

I have had similar requests, and it is simply impossible to answer all of these questions in a single email (quite apart from the fact that it would take me an age). I, therefore, answered some of the questions and referred the buyer to my forum and some other resources that I knew had the answers to the remaining questions (as well as a lot more free information).

So imagine my surprise when my response was basically along the lines of ‘You aren’t helping me here—I have step-by-step instructions as to how to do everything that I have asked you.’

The fact that I had provided links to resources that answered his questions was not enough. Apparently, he didn’t have the time to read through those resources and wanted me to summarize everything for him!

Now, bear in mind that this guy spent less than $50 with me, and you might begin to see where I am coming from. Does anyone really think that $50 buys several hours of one-on-one consulting with anyone? Why do people believe they shouldn’t put effort into building a business?

How can someone expect to generate a living online when they can’t even be bothered to spend a few hours learning to do some of the most basic tasks?

You might think that you don’t need to know how to do some of the things involved with running an online business if you can get someone else to do them (even if you have to pay them), but there is no substitute for knowing exactly how your business works from the ground up. If you follow step-by-step instructions from someone else, the chances are that you won’t be taking note of what is happening, you won’t make mistakes, and therefore, you won’t LEARN.

I have recently hired a web designer to build a new site for me. This is the first time I have ever done this, and it tfelt very weird at first. The site in question is quite technically complicated – not so much the actual pages but the scripting behind the scenes that makes it work. Now, while my new web designer is very knowledgeable and capable of doing exactly what I want, the fact that I have a good understanding of how scripts/databases, etc., work and how it is possible to get things to happen on a website means that both of our jobs have been a lot easier than they might have been. I could go to him and say, ‘I want it to do this, and I think the best way of doing it is …….’. I can’t write the required scripts or software, but I have a pretty good idea of the best way for someone else to write them. How did I build up this knowledge?

Simple. I sit in front of my computer for hours, work things out for myself, and learn. Remember, your online business is more important to you than anyone else. Regardless of how much someone tries to help you, if you want it to succeed, YOU are the one who needs to put the effort in.

Suppose you operate a business where you schedule appointments, class attendance, consultations, seminars, workshops, or any other type of event from which you earn revenue. In that case, you must use easy-to-use yet powerful and interactive small business scheduling software.

If your business allows it, I also encourage you to look for scheduling software that enables your customers to schedule themselves.

This makes your life easier and is an outstanding website conversion tool. New customers to your website can instantly book themselves for your service without phone calls or any other obstacles that might prevent the sale.

Ask Yourself:

How much time does it take to book a customer? Scheduling customers and clients takes time – yours and your staff’s time. How about the time you spend playing phone tag to book an appointment?

That’s why if you can set up software where your customers can book their appointments, you’ll free up much of your time. You’ll also offer worthwhile customer service (and impress them). Even if only 1/3 of your bookings do it themselves, you’ll be ahead and probably book more clients than otherwise.

In today’s fast-paced world, customers want immediate gratification. If your phone line is busy or you have to put customers on hold, you could lose that booking. Why not eliminate those losses and poor customer service by implementing online scheduling?

How Does Online Scheduling Work?

It’s simple, and you don’t have to worry about giving up control of your schedule with the right business scheduling software.

There are different uses of scheduling software – it depends on your business

1. Simple Schedule Viewable Online

Some businesses, such as yoga studios, dance studios, martial arts schools, and health clubs, may wish to display class schedules on their website(s).

The key is getting scheduling software that makes it incredibly easy for you to change the schedule in one central location—which then appears on your website(s). Let’s face it—class times, instructors, etc., change regularly.

Instead of displaying your schedule in a fixed table on different pages in your website(s), which is inconvenient to change, use a central schedule dashboard where you can easily make changes.

Have you ever forgotten to change the schedule on your website? When you maintain separate schedules, it’s easy to forget to update your schedule on your website(s). I don’t have to tell you how customers feel about being misinformed and relying on an outdated schedule.

Solve this problem by using scheduling software you manage in one easy-to-access location. This software updates all your schedules wherever they are posted.

Moreover, look for scheduling software that lets you present pop-up descriptions of your classes and perhaps brief bios of the instructors teaching particular courses. The more information you place where it’s easy to find for your customers, the better your service will be.

2. Self-Booking Capability

Other businesses require customers to schedule appointments or reserve rooms/facilities. These businesses include hair salons, spas, tattoo parlors, massage therapists, physical therapists, etc. Take yourself as much as possible from the booking process by getting scheduling software that enables your customers to book their appointments.

The process is simple with the right software. Your customers register, and you provide them with log-in information to your online scheduling system. Once logged in, your customers see only availability and then book available time slots. Moreover, you add a contact to your database.

Online booking puts the scheduling power into your customers’ hands. They can easily do so if they need to change an appointment without taking up your time.

What Other Features to Look for With Business Scheduling Software?

1. Look Only For Cloud Computing Scheduling Software

The most important feature to look for in business scheduling software is that it’s cloud-based. This means the software you use is hosted by the service provider.

A classic example of cloud-based software is Google Docs. You log in to your Google account and use their fleet of document-producing software (word processing, spreadsheets, etc.).

I’ve used desktop scheduling software, and like most desktop software, it costs much more in the long run and is very difficult to add new users (i.e., adding computers to the network).

The bulk of the long-term cost of desktop software is paying a tech consultant to network it among your computers. Moreover, your scheduling software is not available anywhere—only on the computers on which it’s installed. Don’t even think about the cost when you upgrade computers or use a server.

Cloud computing solves all these problems because you only need an Internet connection to access your software dashboard. You don’t have to pay for networking, installation, and a server. Instead, most cloud-computing software services require a monthly payment for access. It’s easy to scale up – you add new users to your account. Your cost only increases as your business grows.

2. Get E-Commerce and Credit Card Payment Processing Integration

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if you could have customers pay upon self-booking their appointments? This would free up you and your staff from two time-consuming activities: booking appointments and taking payment.

Moreover, you can book appointments if you’re busy, thus reducing lost appointments. Saving one booking often pays for an entire month’s software cost. Not to mention gaining you another potentially loyal customer.

If you want top-of-the-line scheduling software, look for software that can process payments automatically upon a booking.

3. E-mail and Text Messaging Reminders & Notices

Do you and your staff send appointment reminders via e-mail and text messaging? This, too, is time-consuming. Maybe you don’t do this because you’re too busy, but you wish you had the time or resources to send reminders to reduce no-shows.

When deciding on scheduling software, be sure to opt for the capability of automated reminders. Yes, this is available. Once you have a customer’s contact information in your system and a customer books an appointment, you can set up the software to automatically send e-mail and text messaging reminders about upcoming appointments.

This serves three very important functions:

• You’ll provide a great service reminding your customers about their upcoming appointments;
• You’ll reduce no-shows; and
• If a customer realizes they can’t make an appointment, they can reschedule. This frees up appointment space, which you can fill from your waitlist.

Speaking of waitlists, with the right software, you can configure it so that once an appointment slot becomes available, e-mail notices are sent to your waitlist, giving them an opportunity to take up that time—all done automatically.

4. Additional Sale Opportunities

Recurring Bookings:

Small businesses earn most of their revenues from loyal, repeat customers (especially service-based businesses that book appointments). With the right software, you can make it extremely easy for customers to book recurring appointments.

Perhaps they would like to visit your business on the same day of each month. Instead of manually entering their booking information for each month, use software to automate recurring bookings. Better yet, with self-scheduling, make it easy for your customers to book their recurring appointments.

Packages:

Many small businesses that are appointment-based offer a variety of services. If you do, make it easy for your customers to create customized booking packages, or you can create pre-arranged packages for them to choose from and book. This is a powerful up-selling option to earn more revenues per customer.

Gift Cards:

Gift cards are a very powerful sales tool. Not only do you make sales, but it’s a way to attract new customers. If you’re looking for powerful scheduling software, look for the ability to sell gift cards within the system.

Referral Tracking:

Do you offer referral incentives to your existing customers? If not, you’re missing out on using an extremely powerful sales tool. If you don’t, it’s probably because tracking referrals is a hassle. You can automate referral tracking with some business scheduling software.

When a customer makes a referral, the software tracks that referral and credits the referring customer with whatever incentive you offer (i.e., discounts, free services, gift cards, etc.).

Online Point-of-Purchase Opportunities:

If you get scheduling software with e-commerce capabilities, you automatically have a shopping cart that your customers can access while booking an appointment.

Point-of-purchase works both in-store and online. Why not increase sales by making it easy for your customers to buy your services and products online while they’re already in your system and book an appointment?

5. User-Friendly

If your customers can’t figure out how to book their appointments online or read your class/event schedule, then you’ve wasted your money. Sure, automated scheduling software will save you time – but the main goal is serving your customers. Look for a user interface that is extremely easy to use and pleasing to the eye.

6. Centralized Contact Database

Integrating your scheduling software with your contact database is crucial to getting the most out of your scheduling software. Why? You can then use that contact database to manage your operations and financials and leverage it for marketing.

When a new customer signs up with your business, you want scheduling software that automatically adds their data and profile to your contact database. Once in your database, you can leverage that information throughout your business operations, from client management and report generation (to track your sales, attendance, etc.) to your marketing campaigns.

Impress Your Customers with Your Scheduling Software

You’ll impress new and existing customers if you offer self-booking capability and extremely informative, up-to-date schedules on your website. When they get reminders, they’ll be delighted. When you send them notices for openings, they’ll think about the world of you and your business.

Even if you’re a small business, the right software doesn’t need to break the bank to appear and offer a level of service large, resource-rich companies provide. When you deliver high customer service, you’ll build trust and make dealing with your business a pleasure.

Look for scheduling software that makes it extremely easy for your customers to use your services. You’ll not only attract more customers but also regularly attend to them.

How Much Should You Pay for Business Scheduling Software?

This will depend on the size of your business and how many users you’ll need. Most cloud computing software pricing is based on the number of users. If you’re looking for some or all of the capabilities set out above, expect to pay at least $40 per month for a starter package.

Getting desktop software, usually a one-time payment, seems more attractive cost-wise. However, you’ll give up features, and in my experience, the cost of maintaining and upgrading desktop scheduling software costs much more than the initial purchase cost.

I know because I’ve used desktop scheduling software, and the cost alone for my tech consultant over the years is staggering.

Think of your “on-the-cloud” scheduling software as an investment. Better yet, if your software, because of its automation in booking and sending out reminders, saves you one sale, that sale likely pays for your entire month’s cost of the cloud-computing solution.

As you can tell by reading much of the other content on this site, I’m in tune with many software applications available for small businesses. I’m a small business owner and am always looking for ways to improve my customer service with technology (and automate processes to save me time).

I’ve used many business scheduling software applications, including Google’s online calendar. The problem with many scheduling software services is they are limited in features.

Sure, you might be able to integrate it with other software applications you have, but the ideal software has all the features you’re looking for built into the system itself. Integration sounds great on paper but can be a real nightmare.

Cashing in on the buzz around Diwali, filmmaker Rakesh Roshan will unveil the teaser of his Republic Day release’ Kaabil,’ starring Hrithik Roshan and Yami Gautam today at 11 am.

The audio-visual presentation will be released digitally, followed by teasers, posters, and motion posters daily till October 26, when the full-length trailer comes out. Given the increasing power and reach of the internet medium, unique activities and innovations have been queued up with leading platforms.

‘Kaabil,’ directed by Sanjay Gupta and released on January 26, 2017, is the story of a man who lived his life in darkness until a tragedy fuels the flames of vengeance.

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New Delhi: The news of Sussanne Khan and Hrithik Roshan’s separation shocked the whole Bollywood industry, but now it seems the actor has buried his past and is ready to move on.

Rumour mills are abuzz with the speculation that Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan has found love again. Wondering, who’s the lucky girl?

If reports are to be believed, the actor has found solace in Bollywood actress Neha Dhupia. Leading entertainment portal Zoom quoted a reliable source saying, “Hrithik Roshan and Neha Dhupia recently went to perform at a marriage out of Mumbai, and the two, after their performance, were spotted spending some quality time together.”

Neha Dhupia is hosting a show titled #NoFilterNeha, which has hit the fans. However, nothing has been confirmed, as neither Neha nor Hrithik has commented on the issue.

Recently, Hrithik and Kangana had been at loggerheads since the ‘Queen’ star purportedly referred to the actor as the ‘silly ex’ in an interview.

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Hrithik, who was the first to send the legal notice to Kangana, has demanded that she apologize publicly and clear the air about their alleged affair, which he firmly refutes.

Award-winning singer and music composer Papon, who became a member of Saavn’s Artist-in-Residence (AiR) program this month, said that Indian music has gone beyond classical and Bollywood. Talking about the constantly changing world of music, the singer said: “Indian music is changing, and people have a new idea of India through the music that is coming out of the country. Globalization has made people more aware and more accepting of new trends. Indian music is no longer just classical or Bollywood.”

When asked about choosing Papon as the singer of this month, Gaurav Wadhwa, Vice President of Entertainment and Original Content at Saavn, said, “Papon is an icon in the Indian music scene. We trust his unique ability to transcend traditional music genres will resonate with our fanbase and continue the AiR legacy.”

Supporting the Saavn initiative, Papon said, “The idea is to come together and work on interesting projects and make them possible. I fully support their idea of enabling artists to translate ideas into music and helping it reach an audience worldwide. This association has also come at an important time as I am ready to release some new music.”
Papon, who has sung some super hit Bollywood songs like Moh Moh Ke Dhage, Kyun, Jiyein Kyun, Bulleya, and his folk-fusion band The East India Company, believes it is equally challenging to be an established singer, whether in Bollywood or independent music.

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“Both are challenging for different reasons. When you’re an Indie musician and wish to make your own music, you put it out for people to discover. Bollywood doesn’t allow you that freedom. You have to work hard to get noticed and get work.”
Saavn already featured two very distinct singers in its Artist-in-Residence (AiR) program earlier —EDM artist Nucleya and Raghu Dixit—and this is the third program they are hosting.

The world is a vast cauldron of violence where an insatiable lust for power, supremacy, and brutality exists. Trust and betrayal exist simultaneously, and energy flows from the barrel of a gun. It is a world where crude human nature exists in virgin form.

The extravagant fictionalization of an underworld, actors, and actions has been portrayed in mainstream Hindi cinema since immemorial. Shakti Samanta’s China Town aptly portrays the underworld in the 1950s. For the last four and a half decades (from the 1970s onwards), this hidden, invisible world of smuggling, dacoity, burglary, horror, bloodbath, and terror associated with it has been exposed to us in the form of entertainment utilizing Hindi films such as Deewar, Don, Amar Akbar, and Anthony, Don, Shakti, Hum, Vastaav, Satya, Gangster, Once Upon a time in Mumbai, Sarkar, Ek Villain, etc., etc.

The audience is thrilled to view such films in the cloisters of theater halls. Noted journalist Hussain S. Zaidi has immortalized the underworld in Mumbai through his well-researched books, such as Byculla to Bangkok, My Name is Abu Salem, Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of Mumbai Mafia, Mafia Queens of Mumbai, Black Friday, Mumbai Avengers, Headley, and I.

In Bengal, too, the underworld, both colonial and post-colonial, has been researched. Suranjan Das and Jayanta Kumar Ray’s book The Goondas: Towards a Reconstruction of the Calcutta Underworld and Sumanta Banerjee’s book The Wicked City: Crime and Punishment in Colonial Bengal are seminal works on the underworld in Kolkata.

Basudeb Chatterjee’s work covering police in Bengal also has facts and information on the underworld. Debraj Bhattacharyya’s article Kolkata Underworld in the Early 20th Century, published in Economic and Political Weekly in 2004, is well-researched and worth reading. Kudos to Srijit Mukherji for endeavoring to unveil this ‘invisible’ world through his latest directorial venture, Zulfiqar. The teaser on social media mentions that in the land of bridges, Rabindranath Tagore, there is another land where illegal activities and parallel economy reign.

In the City of Joy, the crime syndicate operates in full swing. The film has a port area comprising the majority Muslim population and a considerable section of the Hindu population. It has dominant Muslim gang members with a Hindu Villain and their turf war for supremacy. Along with land-grabbing, extortion, smuggling, drugs, and prostitution, the director has included the jihadi-terrorist aspect. Such a context, especially when India and Pakistan are on the brink of an undeclared war, will escalate the TRP of the film, draw crowds, and make the movie more palpable to the audience Jav Leech.

The film has many emotions: hate, friendship, betrayal, death, revenge, lust for power and carnal instincts, supremacy, fights, actions, etc. However, the ‘real’ underworld is where quintessential traits such as specialization of skills, intelligence, information networks, human resource management, and organizational ability are required to survive. However, the film fails to hint at these aspects. The underworld subculture, including the code language used by gang members, has not found visibility or audibility in this film. It has failed to grasp and portray these inner, subtle nuances prevailing within organized crime and among its main actors.

Though dockyards are an important area for such illegal activities, the historiography of the underworld in Kolkata includes places such as Cossipore, College Street, Taltala, Baranagar, Thakurpukur, Haridevpur, Rajarhat, etc. Though geographical ghettos exist, their associated inherent violence lies mostly in the human psyche. The crime syndicates are not geographically positioned but scattered throughout the length and breadth of the city. The areas indicated in the film are mainly Kidderpore, Metiabruz, and Garden Reach, different from the glitz and glamor of mainstream Kolkata. However, this area has its local history, apart from illegal activities. According to information on Wikipedia, Kidderpore – ‘this’ part of Kolkata produced three jewel poets: Rongolal Bandhopadhyay, Hemchandra Bandhopadhyay, and Micheal Madhusudan Dutta.

The general population will admire the film with claps and whistles. It will make the movie a commercial success. Yet, for people with intellectual understanding or English literature students, ‘Zulfiqar’ as an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra will be a bolt from the blue. In 1981, Shashi Kapoor produced a film, Kalyug. As the film’s director, Shyam Bengal had masterfully borrowed and captured incidents from the epic Mahabharata. He delicately touched upon human relationships’ nuances, crafting moving scenes. However, such crafting of characters or scenes that touch our hearts is not found in Zulfiqar.

The posters of the film, especially Nusrat Jahan, wearing a blue sari with a rose in her hand, appear obnoxious. Even the poster Prosenjit as Zulfiqar (Julius Caesar) surrounded by gang members with guns failed to capture the curiosity, thrills, and horror of a film on the underworld. A larger-than-life image of Zulfiqar in the movie is not established. Prosenjit as Zulfiqar (Srijit’s take on Julius Caesar) is full of mannerisms.

His costumes, especially using shoe laces for kurta buttons and make-up in the form of jatra-type beards, are a total misfit. The scene where he is gunned down by Basheer Khan (Brutus) and other syndicate members appears too simplistic. According to Syed Tanveer Nasreen, Professor in the Department of History, University of Burdwan, ‘the film points out how little two communities in Bengal know each other. People do not attend a janaza with their shoes on. Covering just the head is not enough.

Dev, the ‘Mahanayak’ of Bengal, as Markaz Khan, is a mute character. Years ago, in a Hindi film, Khamoshi, Nana Patekar enacted a deaf and dumb role. But Nana Patekar’s expressions and acting skills were impeccable even in that mute role. Dev lacks Patekar’s acting skills. He appears very muscular, with monotonous facial expressions and eye movements. Parambrata Chatterjee, as Tony Braganza, has played his character, though we expect more from him as the audience. Kaushik Sen, a theater personality and a seasoned actor, modulating his voice, making it husky, simultaneously portraying the negative and positive shades in the form of Basheer Khan, is appreciable.

Srijit always gives Jisshu U Sengupta a complete makeover with a different role from the rest, and this film is no exception to the general trend. Sengupta, as Kashinath Kundu, with a paunch and marks all over his face, enacts his wicked, wily, manipulative character with subtlety and intelligence.

One fails to understand why Ankush, as Akhtar (Octavius) from the next generation, who takes charge of carrying the family legacy of crime, adopts the stereotypical clothes and make-up of his previous generation. The director fails to portray him as a modern gangster. Hence, the image and character building with time does not happen as the film comes to an end.

In a film such as Zulfiqar, where the heroes are the protagonists, heroines appear to serve as interludes and mannequins. Nusrat Jahan, who plays Rani Talapatra (Srijit’s take on Cleopatra), appears more of a model than an actress. She is very stiff, unable to express the most complex emotions of suffering, helplessness, loneliness, and longing through her silence and eyes.

Some of her scenes with both Zulfiqar and Markaz appear too theatrical. Shedding the sari and showing cleavages are not enough to portray molls. Emotions of suffering and sensuousness were required simultaneously, which she failed to enact. However, in special appearances, Paoli Dam enacting the character Karishma Ahmed (Caesar’s wife), hallucinating, deserves praise.

The script, as well as the story-telling, could have been better. The director shows bike racing, but such a scene could have been more realistic had the bikers jumped over burning tires (in reality, this is practiced at night in many places of Kolkata). A few of the fight scenes appeared to be amateurish. It could have been well-directed. The audience in Bengal has viewed slums and dilapidated buildings.

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Only the Swing Bridge, a crucial link between Garden Reach and the central and eastern part of Kolkata that opens at an angle of 60-70 degrees between midnight and dawn to allow ships to sail, perhaps has been shown for the first time in the history of Bengali films. The present generation of youngsters will admire Anupam Roy’s songs, though the background music is too cacophonic. The photography is above average.

There is no shortage of gangsters in Kolkata. Gopal Pathak, Hemen Mongol, China, Jishnu, Ghutghutey, Phata Kesto, Idris Ali, Sridhar, Swapan Saha, Gabbar…the names are endless. Each life is a tale of the emergence and decline of a gang lord and has the potential to be made into a feature film. The director could have fictionalized such characters. But the incident that received huge media coverage and is etched in the minds of people is the IPS officer Vinod Kumar Mehta and his guard Mokhtar Ali, getting butchered in the by-lanes of the port area in 1984.

Srijit Mukherji or any new genre of director trying to make films should consider the 1984 incident, a watershed incident in the history of the underworld in Kolkata. In the annals of Bengali film, Zulfiqar will be regarded as a mediocre film but marketed very well by the director and the production house. Srijit Mukherji, through his star-cast storyline, once again proves that he remains a popular filmmaker but not a serious one.
And Tollywood still lacks a realistic gangster film.

New Delhi: Mumbai Film Festival, the seven-day star-studded extravaganza, wrapped up last week. Organized by the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI), the widely publicized festival saw about 175 films screened from 54 countries worldwide, besides sessions and appearances by popular faces from the Indian film industry. For the ailing Indian film festival market, MAMI truly upped the game, having a budget equivalent to that of “a small film.” The presenting sponsor for the event was the digital services company Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJio), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL); Star India was the associate sponsor, and many brands, including PVR Cinemas and JW Marriott, was supporting partners and collaborators.

“When we began, it took us 6-7 months to get (investor) partners on board,” said MAMI Smriti Kiran, creative director. “We wanted people who believed in this because film festivals are a very tough space regarding returns on investment. We’d forever be grateful to Jio and Star because we had knocked on every door, and they saw potential and merit in creating this legacy and cultural space, which many others didn’t. Whatever we built in 2015 is going to show in 2017. In traditional terms of returns, these people have none for three years.”

Not everyone has been as lucky as the MAMI team. The only sponsor for the Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) scheduled for 3-6 November 2016 is Large Short Films, a digital platform for short films by Royal Stag.
“We find that very difficult (getting sponsors),” said Ritu Sarin, festival director at DIFF, adding that their maximum support comes from grants and some from the state. “And I think that is because we are in a Himachal Pradesh town, and sponsors don’t find the value they need to come to us. We always thought that once we pass the three-year mark—and this is our fifth year—we would have more sponsors coming on board, but we’ve not found any. We reached out to all kinds of brands, but they look at it in terms of their marketing budget in Himachal Pradesh, which is very limited. However, we can add much value because we get people from all over the country. So yes, it’s a challenge.”

A few others have discovered other ways, though. The Jaipur International Film Festival, scheduled for 7-11 January 2017, charges for delegate registration and film submissions and doesn’t focus on sponsorships. “We may charge Rs.10,000-30,000 for a film screening depending on the theater rate. About Rs.500-1,000 per delegate makes for another Rs.4-5 lakh. Then some people book booths or pay for advertisements in catalogs—anything from Rs.50,000 to Rs.1 lakh. The government may sometimes give Rs.10-20 lakh,” said Hans Roj, head of marketing and corporate communication, invitation, and media at JIFF. “But there aren’t many private sponsors because there is no film industry culture (Jaipur). They may give a maximum of Rs.25,000-50,000.”

Film festivals in India face many challenges. First, most events, like those in Kerala, Goa, and Pune, are organized by the government and remain embroiled in administrative hassles. Second, it is difficult to monetize these festivals because, unlike many countries, laws in India require a ticketed film first to be censored, diluting the entire spirit of the kind of independent cinema that comes to these places.

“If we draw an overall conclusion on the film festival market in India, things are at a very nascent stage at both organizational and management levels,” Roj said. “We have so many different kinds of cinema and festivals. If the government controls things properly, much can be done. Because of these hassles, it creates an impression globally that some random festival started in India that shut down. Another festival that crops up will have to deal with that negativity, and people’ll take much longer to come to it.”

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None of these festivals are currently looking to recoup any of their investment. Not just because the gestation period for their recovery is long but because they’re inherently meant for community and cultural benefit and work as non-profits. “India doesn’t have a film festival identity. You’ve got Goa, Kerala, Kolkata, etc., but it’s not like any of these are the prime destinations for a festival person abroad. None of our festivals are on the world festival map because this is the go-to festival in India. So it’s a tremendous opportunity to create some identity globally,” Kiran said Media Focus.

“Film festivals should ideally not be money-making; they should be self-sustaining. So the point is if everybody begins to grow and make their pace robust, India will begin to have a cultural identity which is very important for it to have because it cannot just be known for Bollywood, food, and monuments.”

CHENNAI: When the public mood in the city was turning to one of dread over four murders in as many days, the Chennai police said on Friday that they had cracked all of them.

In six days, police have solved eight murder cases and arrested 28 suspects. On Friday, six people were arrested for three murders. The Teynampet police arrested Gorak Singh, 34, and his friends Maan Singh, 36, and Lalit Kohli, 30, all from Nepal, for murdering 60-year-old Shanthi at her Habibullah Road home.

In a few hours, the Thousand Lights police announced the arrest of S Suganthi, 35, and her boyfriend, A Yohan, 26, for the murder of Suganthi’s house owner Dhanalakshmi, 48. She was killed for asking the tenants to vacate the house. Almost simultaneously came the arrest of a 34-year-old man for the murder of a 58-year-old woman lawyer in Kumaran Nagar on Monday, My general.

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This week, police arrested 11 people for the murder of three ganja peddlers in Kannagi Nagar on October 30. The next day, a gang chased and murdered a history-sheeter at Vyasarpadi. Six people were arrested in the case. On November 2, five others were arrested for murdering revenue inspector Manimaran.

After awarding subsidies to half a dozen films shot in Uttar Pradesh in 2015, the state government is all set to present cheques of subsidy to 15 more films in a few days. “After being screened through the script and finance committees of the Film Bandhu, we have processed around 15 films for the subsidy. The films shortlisted include ‘Masai’, ‘Thoda Ishq Thoda Lutf’, ‘Bandhan’, ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’, ‘Majaz-E-Gham’ and ‘Hum Hain Jodi No. 1’, among others,” informs Gaurav Dwivedi, vice chairman Uttar Pradesh Film Development Council (UPFDC).

Films like ‘Nil Battey Sannata’, ‘Aligarh’, ‘Babumoshai Bandookbaaz’, ‘JD’, and ‘Jolly LLB 2’ have been cleared by the script committee of Film Bandhu, the nodal agency for handling the film policy that has been formed to ensure the availability of all film production-related facilities under a single roof.

The state government awards a subsidy of up to 2 crores for a film shot in the state. The number of days a movie is shot determines the amount of subsidy it gets. While 30% of the amount is given after the film gets a certificate from the censor board, the remaining is awarded after the movie is released or gets the release certificate.
The scheme, which came into effect in October 2015, has proved to be quite a hit with filmmakers and has managed to attract many films with big-ticket stars to be shot in UP, including Salman Khan’s Sultan.

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Akshay Kumar’s ‘Jolly LLB 2’, Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s ‘Freaky Ali’, and ‘Babumoshai Bandookbaaz’. The scheme has also prompted Hollywood and other foreign filmmakers to send their proposals for shooting in UP, of which Victoria And Abdullah will be shot in Agra this month, Hollywood-based Indian producer Swati Bhise will be shooting a film on Rani Laxmibai in Jhansi next year. In contrast, British filmmaker Colin Burrows will shoot Daku Sultana, a movie based on dacoit Sultana, in the Chambal Valley and its adjoining areas next year. Around 180 films have been registered with the script committee in a year, out of which some have been shot, some are being shot, and a few more are yet to start filming.