New Delhi: Hollywood blockbusters like Star Wars, King Kong, The Incredibles have all been made into computer games.
Not to be outdone, the desi film industry is now designing mobile games based on popular Bollywood films.
From Rang De Basanti, to Sarkar, even Home Delivery, are among the 60-odd movies that have been converted into mobile games.
The idea is nothing new for Hollywood hotshots like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, who have done it several times like for the Indiana Jones series, Star Wars and Jurassic Park films, though of course as computer games .
However, in Bollywood it's mobile games.
"It all started with Sholay, which made it to the top of the download charts setting a completely new record in Bollywood content download with the game crossing the 150,000 downloads mark on GSM operators and 800,000 on CDMA phones," says Mobile2win's Rajiv Hiranandani.
"Indians are crazy about movies and music especially that of Bollywood films. Mobile content and gaming companies are now tapping this target audience. Infact, games based on Bollywood movies also serve as a brand extension," he adds.
"Mobile gaming in India is a Rs 70 crore market today and out of that Bollywood constitutes nearly Rs 10 crore. However, the Bollywood segment is expected to touch Rs 30 crore in next two years," he says.
Downloading each Bollywood game costs anything from Rs 50 to Rs 150 per download, so the revenue module is gaining in popularity, says Arun Gupta of Mauj, another gaming company.
On average, a movie sells 7,000 to 10,000 copies with more popular movies even going up to 25,000 downloads.
However, how well the game would be received depends on how popular the movie was and how well the game has been made.
"The potential of the industry is very vast. As the technology evolves, the format of the games will also evolve. Already there are games being made based on Tamil and Bengali movies," says Gupta.
"Multiplayer games are also being designed, wherein two people citing in distant places can play a game together. However, it would depend on 3D networks," says Hiranandani.
He says the real market for Bollywood games lies in rural areas.
"Just a beginning has been made. As rural connectivity gets better and mobiles become more common in rural areas, games will pick up in a big way there."
"In smaller towns and villages, the entertainment avenues are very less and people are very fond of movies or any other event related to films," he says noting "the real growth of gaming industry would come from there."
"The games can also be promoted overseas in countries with substantial Indian population. They too are very fond of Hindi movies and games based on them would be welcome," says Hiranandani.
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