We are Chennai…

It was long pending but took a drive all the way up to the latest entrant in Chennai, the newly opened (partially though) VR Chennai, a Retail Centre spanning over 6 lakh square feet (in the first phase) adjoining the outer ring road, just outside the acceptable (hic!) city limits.  Planned and executed by Virtuous Retail, a Mall Management Company which has its Mall's presence at Surat, Bangalore and Punjab, the Centre is almost an oasis, what with a fantastic spread of Retail, F&B and Entertainment Opportunities in the anvil. 

The Mall is located north of Koyambedu, west of Anna Nagar and just after the Arumbakkam flyover. That this place existed for a huge strcture such as a Mall to come up came us a surprise to many in the city including a lot of Retail Professionals. 

So why does Chennai need yet another Mall while the existing ones are not providing double digit returns to Retailers? Why yet another Multiplex while the number of cinema goes has been steadily decreasing over the years, thanks to alternate entertainment options such as OTT Apps? Why should Brands invest heavily in yet another Retail  experiment (of sorts) while the existing Retail spaces are yet to be fully sweat?

Frankly, I have no answers on behalf of the whole of the Retail Fraternity. But here are my observations.

Chennai has historically been a high-street market, despite the so-called evolution and revolution of Malls and Shopping Centres in India since 2006. One of India’s first shopping centres came up at Chennai in the late 1990s – the iconic Spencers Plaza. It was a welcome break for shoppers who would otherwise throng the likes of T. Nagar, Purasawalkam fraught with heat and humidity while Spencers (as it was nicknamed) was the first a/c mall in India (Crossroads was just coming up in Mumbai but had entry restrictions while Ansal Plaza in Delhi was non A/c). Spencers was a super hit from day one with the second and third phases coming up in bursts but that’s when the High street Market continued to dominate and thanks to a property-ownership model at Spencers, leasing larger spaces was a challenge. And the mall slowly lost its sheen.

For a city of its size, there are just three malls of a reasonable size & scale -  Express Avenue, Phoenix Market City and Forum Vijaya Mall which together have about 20 lakh soft of actual Retail (minus the Cinemas). Interestingly, these three Malls form a nice Triangle while seen on a Map. The earliest entrant City Centre (Mylapore) failed due its own inefficiencies while the Ampa Mall (Arumbakkam) did quite well in its early years and slowly added fatigue & monotony; A suburban Grand Mall (at Velachery) sitting on a gold mine lost due to internal challenges of choosing the right sort of Clients. Then there is a Marina Mall on OMR which is yet to take off fully while the Spectrum Mall at Padi is a non-starter. MARG, the construction to research conglomerate lost out on a fantastic opportunity with it’s Mall structure half complete and lying idle for more than 5 years. 

So why a new Mall now?

I personally think that this Mall is a breather for Shoppers to avoid the congested bylanes of Anna Nagar and its periphery and head to this wonderful premises instead where they get an equal share of shopping, dining & entertainment.  For Retailers, this is a boon come true of sorts. Reason: The city had expanded in the deep south on OMR a decade back; it expanded towards Tambaram five years back. However, the western suburbs have been neglected for long. With so many thousands of people heading to work all the way up to Sriperumbudur daily, there is a huge chunk of middle class settlement happening in this part of the city. Also, there are very few options where a discerning Shopper gets satisfied with variety which VR Chennai is sure to offer.

I hope PVR Cinemas open soon, with a slew of films slated to release starting with Kamal Hassan’s Viswaroopam in August all the way up to November when Superstar Rajnikanth’s 2.0 will release after the recent Kaala. Now the question is will they be able to fill the cinemas, especially with newer challenges every day.

How Cinemas impact Malls

I have a lot of firsts to my credit. The most recent one was to see a movie on the opening Friday with friends, although that’s not a first. The “first” really was that we were only 14 people in an Audi which can seat 196 people, at Inox Cinemas located at Chennai Citi Centre, a Mall of yore located in the heart of South Chennai which has been operational for a decade now. The film, a fictional fantasy is about a unique stone which can cure any disease (sic). Yea, that’s right, we are in 21^st Century yet our film makers come up with such scripts. The film’s review itself calls for another article though. The lead actor is Gautam Karthik, who is the son of yesteryear chocolate boy of Tamil Cinema, Karthik who has acted in over 100 films as a Hero. Gautam’s first film “Kadal” was directed by Mani Ratnam, who also directed a film with Karthik in the lead in the mid-90s which went on to become one of his most popular ones – Mouna Ragam. After a few mediocre hits, Gautam is still figuring out his space in the Tamil Film Industry and his latest outing “Indrajit” is an apology for discerning film goers, even the once in a blue moon fellas like me. That the film was nauseating is an understatement. But we still hung on, with Pop Corn, Tea and Veg-Puff for company on a rainy day, which cost each one of us more than the cinema ticket price of Rs. 204. We sat through till the end-credits for the sake of – well, nothing. We were free that day and general time-pass types.

When I was getting out of Inox, I saw an almost empty Mall, at 6.30 pm. This for a shopping centre located in the most prominent part of Chennai with a GLA (gross leasable area) of over 1.50 lakh square feet. The main anchor tenants are Lifestyle and Inox and honestly do not do justice anymore as Anchors, for they have tried every gimmick in the book to draw customers. Even onlookers and jaywalkers do not drop in to this Mall anymore and the atrium of 10,000 sft looks like a ghost town, no exaggeration. Even as I took the Escalators down each floor until the basement, my heart bled how the attitude of the Mall Owners has led to utter deterioration of the precincts. There is no Coffee Shop, no Restaurant, no place to sit for a while, no nothing. Just a few shops who sell some random stuff and somehow make ends meet.

Adding insult to Injury, I had to cough up Rs. 90 for Car Parking charges upon exit. I actually asked the Parking attendant if it is fair to charge me for parking when there were only a handful people in the Cinema and we still gave the Mall a business of over Rs. 2,000 by the three of us. This was about 10 days back. The guy gave me a puzzled look, guessing I must be yet another Mall ranter. He was perhaps not mindful that his job is at stake should the Mall shut down in the near future. Perhaps, they may not. The Dubai based Mall Owners would probably keep funding the business as long as they can.

On 5^th Dec. 2017, the Tamil Nadu State Government announced that Cinema Theatres must charge no more than Rs. 20 as Parking Charges for 4 Wheelers and Rs. 10 for 2 Wheelers. However, like any other G.O. this one doesn’t specify if the rate is per hour or for one show. The ambiguity is not going to help the theatres much, so they would perhaps choose what’s convenient to them anyway. The G.O. also doesn’t include Malls in to this order while there is already a local court ruling that Malls cannot charge exhorbitantly for Parking charges which has been further challenged by the aggrieved parties. The local Government has also said that next in line would be controlling prices of food items. Again, there is already a Court ruling that Prices cannot be different (more in this case) for branded products elsewhere other than Cinemas. This has somewhat been streamlined although items sold in loose such as Pop Corn & Nachos, food items like Burgers, Puffs, Samosas, etc. and aerated drinks sold by the Cup as well as Tea/Coffee do not fall in to this category. Some solace for the cinemas.

For over a decade and a half ever since the Mall revolution took over our lives in India, (Multiplexes which have been a part of it) it has been commonplace to see Cinemas charge heavily for the food and beverages sold to compensate the operating expenses. For Ex. Even though we were just a dozen plus people in the Audi, Inox had to still run the air-conditioning, have a person to issue and verify tickets, serve food and beverage and of course, clean the premises before the next show begins. Their costs do not come down with reduction (and vice-versa) in number of audience and therefore need to keep up with their costs.

This is somewhat akin to what the great Indian Democracy has been doing since Independence, with its somewhat socialist and communist ideals – Rob Peter to pay Paul. The Government subsidizes the poor by charging tax on those who can afford to pay and consume products and services. No wonder, India has one of the highest rates of Income Tax in the world (with less than 15% of the population paying Taxes!), and so are the Cinema Ticket prices. Unlike the USD 1 trillion Economy which the Indian Government manages, the cinema exhibitors as well as Mall developers and operators are not sitting on cash troves anymore. Each penny (they earn or spend) matters a lot and hence this concept of overcharging those who come to watch movies to counter their losses.

I have argued earlier that with the advent of OTTs, forget pirated copies, even new films unless they have top star cast or high budgets will not have takers at the Box Office. Veterans like Kamal Hassan have tried to release their films (Vishwaroopam as an example here) on Satellite Channels along with theatrical release which has seen stiff resistance. Recently, a short movie by the name “Lakshmi” released on YouTube and received rave reviews, giving the Director and the Crew enough exposure. Perhaps if the film is made full-fledged, it may attract more crowds at the theatre.

So who is to blame for this misery – of empty Malls and emptier Cinema Halls? Many people squarely blame the penetration of E-Commerce in India. By numbers, E-Commerce Retail accounts for just 1% (Yes, ONE Percent) of India’s total Retail business size. And for most Indians, watching a movie and shopping (in a retail store) is almost an Entertainment. They continue to spend their time on entertainment, but not anymore at Malls and Cinemas. 

Is anyone hearing? I don’t think so. Can something be done about this – Umpteen stuff can be done. It wouldn’t cost a lot of money to draw customers and audience in to Malls and Multiplexes. Reducing Parking Ticket charges is just the beginning. There’s a lot more than can be done. 

Is there willingness to do so by the Malls Operators? Hell, Yeah. But what’s topping them? Even I am confused. Why would someone not want to welcome those who wish to be.

Chitti wears Ray Ban, drives a Bentley, shops at Joy Alukkas & Lifestyle

Chitti, the Robot created by its scientist Dr. Vaseegaran (both characters portrayed by the Superstar of Indian Cinema Rajnikanth) in the tamil film Enthiran (Robot in Hindi) that is directed by Shankar wears Ray Ban, Police and other designer sun glasses all through. There is a particular scene where the two of them shop diamond necklaces for their common girlfriend at Joy Alukkas, a leading name in ornamental jewellery in the southern markets in India. And the villainy Robot drives a Bentley, ransacks a Lifestyle Department Store only to stock up everything that’s needed for its lover. The scientist and his robot travel in a Mercedes CLK while the scientist’s home is shown as an exquisitely designed villa. All through the film, the leading characters including Aishwarya Rai wear designer stuff, exclusively crafted by ace designer Manish Malhotra who shot to fame since the late 90’s when he designed outfits for the likes of Shah Rukh Khan and his contemporaries of the Hindi film industry. This is Manish’s second outing in the South after the previous hugely successful Sivaji (2007) which had the super-hit combo of Rajnikanth & Shankar. Meanwhile, Salman Khan’s recent Dabangg portrayed him as a Police officer whose moustache and Ray Ban became more popular at some stage than the plot of the movie itself.

So, what’s with film actors and Brands? What is the underlining message? Well, there are two, in my opinion. One, that the film shows the characters as having been “evolved” using the latest – be it gadgets or cars, clothes or accessories. Second, “brand placement” or “product placement” is seen as a great opportunity by many brands (including retailers) to create aspirational value. While the trend has been popular in English and European movies for many decades (James Bond and his love for cars and gadgets, for example), the trend has been on and off in Indian movies. I remember another Tamil movie “Tenali” (2001) which featured Kamal Hassan as a “hyper” patient who is scared of almost everything in life, portraying Toyota Qualis as a very reliable car when it hits the edge of a mountain wall and nothing happens to its occupants. Shah Rukh Khan in the movie “Don” (2006) sported Tag Heuer watches which became hugely popular among the relevant target groups. Most recently, Sonam Kapoor in the film Aisha (2010) sported trendy bags and sun glasses while also shopping at Delhi’s DLF Emporio, the most upmarket Mall that houses Dior, CK, etc.

But the big question is do these product placements have any impact on “consumers”? Yes and No. While there is certainly an impact on the consumers about the awareness of the brands and products, the aspiration to own them is limited, given the fact that most of these brands appeal to the top-end of the society. As much as a Rajnikanth or Salman fan who pays over Rs. 300 for a movie ticket during the first week of release would love to own one of those sun glasses, he just can’t afford it. And it applies to clothes, accessories, and even cars. So, do these placements atleast bring walk-ins into the Retail stores? Ace designer Deepika Govind feels not necessarily as those who wear designer stuff may not want to wear something that’s very common. “Such clients follow global fashion and hence do not pick up something off the shelf worn by actors and actresses that are available off the shelf”, she says. It could be a bit different for street wear as promoted by the likes of Hrithik Roshan or Ranbir Kapoor but the following is limited and appeals mostly to the urban audience. Budding designer Aarti Tibrewal opines that the characters portrayed by films stars have indeed impacted what the audience what to wear. “At the same time, the commercial success of the movie has much to do with the brand recall,” she says. For example, the Anarkali dresses worn in them movie “Devdas” (2002) were popular also because the movie was a box-office hit, while Aisha didn’t fare as well as it was expected to be and hence the follow-up was also mute.

Retailers like Cafe Coffee Day and many other restaurants and bars allow a lot of movie shootings at their outlets so the audience are able to connect easily with their favourite hang-outs.  While some charge the producers for letting their “space on hire” a few exchange it for the publicity they would derive. Brands, on the other hand use this primarily as a promotional tool, taking their product range to a wider audience. While the topic of “success on product placements” can be debated a lot, immediate results vouch for its success. A quick check at the eyewear counters of Department Stores in Mumbai and Chennai / Bangalore confirmed that there were a number of enquiries for sunglasses after shoppers saw Dabangg & Enthiran respectively. May not be the same for the Mercedes and Bentley though. Anyway, I am planning to increase my Ray-Ban collection, so what about you?