Film Business Plan

TITLE: DATES- Adventures of Zoya Ali SCREENPLAY WRITER: RAVI GURIA LOCATION (s): MUMBAI, M UMBAI, DARJEELING, CAMBODIA, THAILAND BUDGET: LOW TARGET MARKET/DEMOGRAPHIC FOCUS: GIRLS/WOMEN/YOUTH TIME PERIOD: CONTEMPORARY GENRE: MARTIAL ARTS ACTION/THRILLER

LOGLINE: The most feared underworld Don in Mumbai, Don Bade Mian has laid claim on the dates of Zoya Ali’s hero that were allocated to her debut film. Now if she has to make her film, t hen she will have to get her dates back. Her only chancske is to rely on her courage and her skills in Brazilian martial arts form Jui Jitsu.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS DATES is about Zoya Ali, a young debutant film-maker keen to make her debut feature film. But circumstances force her to take an unexpected detour, which turns out to be rather adve nturous. Mumbai’s most feared underworld Don, Bade Mian has seized the dates of her hero that t hat were allotted to her. Now if she has to make her film, then she will have to get her dates back. And thus starts an adventure that takes her to Cambodia and Bangkok. In the course of journey, Don Bade Mian falls in love with her; then tries to kill her. And in the end Zoya plays a pivotal role in bringing the curtains down on a major international arms-smuggling deal. She succeeds in her task  only through her sheer determination, intelligence, guts and expertise in mart ial arts.

“Dates- Adventures of Zoya Ali”, is a vision, which has all the ingredients of a successful feature film venture. In Bollywood parlance, it’s a small budget feature film, designed to accrue high returns. Besides, a film like this has never been made before in India. It is the first film that will look at women’s empowerment in a set -up that’s dramatic, humorous, adventures, thrilling and action packed. The film will be an Indian tribute to wonderful martial arts films produced pro duced in Hongkong.

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DIRECTOR’S

NOTE

‘Dates’ is dedicated to the girl-child of India. It’s an underdog story. And the protagonist of the film Zoya Ali exemplifies that status to its very core. First, she is a woman. Second, she comes from a minority community. Third, she is trying to succeed in the film industry where women are mostly relegated to being sexual objects. Fourth, she dares to take on the most powerful underworld Don in Mumbai. Nobody in his/her rational frame of mind would consider that a winning combination, atleast in the Indian milieu. But despite all odds she wins. And it’s the journey not the destination of Zoya Ali, which is worth capturing on celluloid. Zoya Ali reflects the changing aspiration of an Indian woman. The aspiration of  venturing into unchartered territory. The aspiration of finding a prominent voice in the man’s world. The aspiration of living a more worthy life than their mothers. The cases of rapes and sexual harassments are growing in our urban Indian society. Hence, a lot of young girls are getting drawn towards some form of martial arts in the cities and villages out of necessity for self defence. Zoya Ali is modelled as an inspiration for such girls. She will inspire the girls to take their martial arts training seriously so that they can walk securely without an escort even in the middle of the night. From the commercial point of view, there has never been a film made in India that is dedicated to martial arts, more specifically Brazilian Jui Jitsu. This film aims to showcase realistic fight sequences, as opposed to travesty we are used to in Indian films. And great fight sequences combined with a dramatic script that encompasses drama, action, humour, thrill and adventure, makes for a winning combination that is tailor made to provide supreme entertainment and success.

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BUDGET Production: Producti on: Feature Film Budget Top Sheet Title DATES- Adventures of Zoya Ali Language Hindi/English Length: 100 minutes Location: India, Thailand, Cambodia Shoot: 30 days appox.

Account # 001 002 003 004

Category Script & Rights Producer Director Cast

005 006 007 008 009 010 011 012 013 014 015 016 017 018 019 020 021 022 023 024

Background/Stunts Background/ Stunts Camera Sound Light/Grip Light/Gri p Electrical Electr ical Expendables Director Direct or of Photography First AD Film Crew Arts & Props Hair Stylist/Make-up Film or Tape Stock Lab Insurance Permits Locations Transportation/Tr Transportat ion/Travel avel Lodging & Boarding Food Set Design

025 026 027 028 029 030

Editing Music/Score Music/S core Post Sound ADR Titles Mix

Actual Cost $10,000 $25,000 $20,000 $350,000 $405,000 $250,000 $25,000 $2,000 $15,000 $10,000 $5,000 $15,000 $15,000 $50,000 $10,000 $5,000 $5,000 $3,000 $10,000 $10,000 $15,000 $15,000 $10,000 $25,000 $45,000 $540,000 $10,000 $15,000 $5,000 $5,000 $5,000 $15,000 $55,000

 Above-The-Line  Above-The-Line Below-The-Line Post-production GRAND TOTAL In words: One Million Dollars Only

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$405,000 $405,000 $540,000 $55,000 $1,000,000

FINANCE PLAN

1. The Financing: I’m seeking to raise $1 million from an investor or group of  investor(s) or a Film Producer.

2. Industry Analysis: Analysis: Both "Udaan" and "Tere Bin Laden" Laden" had nothing nothing to boast off in old-fashioned Bollywood terms: neither the blitkrieg of big stars nor the big budgets that bracketed unreasonable sums of Rs 5-10 crores for songs alone. All they had was a smart storyline, an intelligent approach to filmmaking and a bunch of actors who were willing to infuse soul rather than image in their characters. If "Tere Bin Laden" scores with its comedy track that doesn't rely for its laughs on the laugh-when-I-slipon-the-banana-peel style of comedy (so typical of traditional Bollywood), "Udaan" enters completely new territory by dabbling in teenage angst for the first time. 96 per cent of the big budget movies made in the last two years have sunk without a trace. Hence, remarkably large number of film-makers have concluded that the best way forward is to play safe and produce low-budget films that cost anywhere anywhere between Rs 3 crore and Rs 5 crore . The success ratio of a small film is high as the costs are low and therefore risks are mitigated. Most of these are targeted at niche audiences in the metros. They even have a theory for it “Small is bountiful”.

3. Customer Profile: The target audience for this small film is vast and varied. It has all the entertainment quotient. Action, drama, comedy, adventure and thrill. But since it is dedicated to the Indian girl- child, it’s targeted at Indian girls/young women across demography.

4. Marketing Plan: Marketing campaign intends to target young girls and women. The Film Production intends to exploit various social media such as facebook, twitter, youtube etc to enlist as many young girls and women in metros and town as possible. The marketing campaign will start during the pre-production of the film. The target audience will be kept abreast with each and every development in the process of filmmaking. It is important that every girl and young woman identify with Zoya Ali. Zoya Ali is not only the protagonist of the film; she is what every young Indian girl and woman wants to be.

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SYNOPSIS

Zoya Ali works in the Hindi film industry as a Stunt double for female leads. Her training in martial arts equips her to handle handle even the most tricky stunts. But her raison d'être is to make her debut feature film. A dream she has cultivated since the time her world-view opened up by the films of Ray, Kurosawa and Scorsese. Resistance from her father only made her resolve stronger. So much so that she walked out of her house in Lucknow to chase her dreams in Mumbai; an unthinkable act in the conservative Muslim society she comes from.

ACT 1: Zoya walks out of the film set where she was supposed to perform a stunt because her Stunt Director wouldn’t adhere to her request of having a broken safety cable replaced. She has tolerated his total lack of concern for safety, but not anymore. She is distraught, and out of sheer impulse lands up in the office of a Movie Producer Bommie Chopra. She is so desperate that against her grain she is willing to give-in to any demands of the Producer. And her desperation desperat ion endears her her to Bommie. He agrees to produce her film, but for a condition. If Zoya could enlist the latest heart-throb of  Bollywood, Rishabh Kapoor, then she will have her film. It’s a feat as onerous as climbing Mount Everest; because Rishabh Kapoor is currently the busiest star in the Hindi film industry. Never-the-less, she travels to Darjeeling where Rishabh Kapoor is shooting for his latest film. Her friend and guide resourceful Production Controller Tukaram, who considers her as his sister, gets her a meeting with the star through his contact in the film unit. But Rishabh refuses to listen to the story citing date problems. Zoya employs all tricks to narrate her script to the hero, but fails miserably each time. In a do or die attempt, she waylays him on highway en route to Sikkim, through a devious plan resulting in him being stranded with a couple of flat tyres. And the plan worked. The flat tyres save Rishabh’s life. Otherwise he would have been a victim to landslide up ahead, had he continued his journey uninterrupted. Being a superstitious man, Zoya becomes a beacon of light for Rishabh, and he happily allots her dates out of  gratitude from his extremely chock-a-block schedule. But her pre-production has to be twice as fast to start production in as short a time as this. That’s not a problem for  Zoya. Major hurdle has been surpassed and conquered over. Now it’s all about making the film. So she dives into her pre-production in full steam. When everything everything was going smooth for the t he shoot to start in a few days, Rishabh drops the biggest bombshell that shatters Zoya’s dream and life. The biggest underworld Don of Mumbai, Bade Mian has seized all his dates for his own film that he had allotted to her. He is a sitting duck if he doesn’t adhere to his demand. Now if Zoya still wants to make her film with Rishabh Kapoor, then she will have to wait atleast a couple years. Tukaram explains to Zoya that this is an impossible situation she has in hand this time, and she should simply forget about her film for the time being. But he underestimated her resolve.

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ACT 2: Zoya meets Bade Mian and asks him to return her dates back. Bade Mian finds it amusing because no one has ever dared to speak to him like this. His cronies are also taken aback, and then break into peels of laughter. But before Bade Mian could snub Zoya, an assassination attempt on him takes place. His own bodyguard tries to kill him. At this moment Zoya’s presence of mind and agility saves his life. She kicks the rogue bodyguard to miss his target. Bage Mian’s loyalists immediately take him out of there through a back door. But Zoya gets trapped in the cross fire. She immediately immediately hides in the only almirah in the room which is big enough to accommodate her. As a result she happens to witness the man who attempts to kill Bade Mian, but in bits and pieces. However, his face eludes her. Tukaram is relieved that Zoya is alive. But Zoya is disappointed that she couldn’t make the most of the meeting with Bade Mian. And as luck would have it, she gets another opportunity to meet the Don; and this time at his bidding. Bade Mian is eager to know if Zoya saw any one at the location after he had escaped. He suspects someone from his own gang is trying to kill him. Zoya has had a glimpse of Bade Mian’s killer in portions. But his face still eluded her. She may or may not be able to recognise him. However, she gives the impression that she has indeed seen his killer clearly and could recognise him well. Bade Mian orders Zoya to describe him immediately, but she plays her cards here. She tells Bade Mian that she will identify his killer only when he agrees to return her dates as a quid pro quo. Bade Mian tries to intimidate her and even gets his men to teach her a lesson. But they get a taste of  Zoya’s martial arts fighting skills. Bade Mian’s frustration knows no bounds. He cannot kill Zoya because she is the only one who claims to have seen the traitor in his gang.

Bade Mian capitulates. He agrees to return Rishabh kapoor’s dates provided she identifies his attacker. He shows her all the photographs of his gang members. But Zoya tells him that she will have to see his traitor in person to be able to identify him for sure. So Bade Mian invites her to travel with him to Cambodia where all his gang members are gathering for a major arms deal. But before leaving for the trip she enlists Solanki and Naidu, members of a rival gang with the help of Tukaram, who would get her out should anything anything goes wrong. wro ng. In return, she would give t hem regular updates of the arms deal. In Cambodia Zoya is introduced to Shivam, who is like Bade Mian’s younger brother  and he looks after his work in South-east Asia. Shivam and Zoya instantly dislike each other. Shivam thinks Bade Mian is hiding the true nature of his association with Zoya, which is true. The arms deal in Cambodia goes through well, but Zoya’s zealous updates to the rival gang about the deal throws a spanner in their mission. They had to overnight relocate to Bangkok. In Bangkok, Bade Mian and Zoya get some time to get to know each other. Bade Mian is impressed with Zoya’s fighting skills and in jest even offers her to work for  him. On the other hand Zoya discovers that Bade Mian is not as ruthless as he projects. He is actually a very emotional man. He has an unrequited love story. Zoya reminds Bade Mian of Ruksana, the woman he loved. He grows fond of Zoya and develops an infatuation towards her. But Shivam has a problem with this chemistry

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 between Bade Mian and a nd Zoya. One day da y he discovers discover s Zoya’s association assoc iation with the rival r ival gang and exposes her. Bade Mian is shattered. Shivam wants to kill her outright, but Bade Mian stops him. Bade Mian orders Shivam to lock Zoya till he decides what to do with her. And at this juncture, Zoya discovers that it’s none other that Shivam who is the traitor in Bade Mian’s gang. Now she has to find a way to tell Bade Mian and get her dates back. But he won’t believe her now.

ACT 3: Zoya escapes Bade Mian’s captivity. She tries to get in touch with the rival gang, but fails. She has no money and no where to go. An old Thai lady who sells Kababs in her van comes to her rescue. Zoya narrates her tale to her and she is immediately impressed by her courage. Thai lady provides Zoya with shelter. Zoya works in Thai lady’s van and makes some money. But her mind is working overtime to figure out how to expose expose Shivam infront infront of Bade Bade Mian. She needs needs to have have incontrovertible evidence in order to convince the Don. She shares her predicament with Tukaram on phone, and inadvertently comes up with an ingenious idea. She decides to do a sting operation on Shivam. Tukaram arranges a crew for her in Bangkok through his contacts. During the sting operation, Zoya discovers that Shivam is doing his own arms deal bypassing Bade Mian, at the end of which he will kill him. He also has a partner in this whole affair who remained obscured from their camera. Once she has enough proof, Zoya decides to confront Bade Mian. Tukaram enlists Solanki to accompany Zoya because he is afraid of her safety.

While showing the sting operation footage Zoya discovers that Shivam’s partner is none other than Solanki himself. She remained elusive of this fact because she hadn’t checked the latter part of the t he footage. And she realises that she has become a pawn to a well thought out plan of Shivam. They are in the mercy of Shivam and his men. Tables turn and Bade Mian manages to grab hold of his gun. He shoots Solanki, but also gets shot. Even his men have all been shot. Zoya urges Bade Mian that he should die with a good deed. He should call up Rishabh Kapoor to return her dates. Bade Mian does so because Zoya has fulfilled her promise of identifying the traitor in his gang. Shivam takes Zoya captive. He wants to give her an honourable death. And his version of honourable death is that she will have to fight the best fighter in his gang, Chan. The fight will be unto death. Chan is a much superior fighter than Zoya and has beaten her convincingly on a previous occasion. But Zoya has no way out but to fight to survive. And she fights. Even though Chan beats her to pulp initially, she finds strength through her determination to succeed in her goal. And she fights like she has never fought before and wins.

Shivam doesn’t accept her victory and would’ve killed her, if Naidu wouldn’t have made an appearance at the right time with Thai police. Naidu is actually a RAW officer who was trailing Bade Mian’s arms deal for a long time. He attached himself  to Solanki’s gang as a means to an end. Shivam and his men are arrested. Zoya makes her film and wins a national award for it.

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DIRECTOR’S PROFILE I have been working in the television industry for the last 15 years.

Currently, I’m based in Delhi. I am working independently on various government film projects as a Director. DATES-Adventures of Zoya Ali will be my first full length feature film. I have done my diploma in film production from Xavier Institute of Communication (XIC), Mumbai; 1999-2000 batch. Beside, I have done various film related professional workshops, such as Kodak Cinematography workshop; scriptwriting workshop with experienced Hollywood scriptwriter Tom Abrams; and cinematography workshop with famous Hollywood cinematographer of famous films like Black Hawk Down and Harry Porter, Po rter, Slawomir Yitziak. Yitz iak. My foray in film production started with films for N.C.E.R.T. I wrote scripts for them for their fiction/non-fiction series targeted at rural girl child. Then I joined the prestigious team of award-winning cultural series on Doordarshan called Amul Surabhi as a Team Director. During my three productive years with them I travelled a lot and experienced many cultures and traditions in India. This was followed by Ad films. I directed ad films for some of the prestigious brands on Indian horizon such as Dettol, Kwik, Henco etc. We worked with some of the best technical crew and facilities available in India. Considering my impressive profile, Zee Network offered me to establish a Promo & Commercial department for them. I worked with them three years. To explore work scenario in Dubai, I joined an established Production house called Studio52 as a Creative Director. I handled film and event based projects for their international clients in Middle-east and Africa. I shifted back to India in 2009. And sin ce then I’ve been working as an independent Director for government, corporates and television channels. Even while working for others, I never lost my zeal to find an independent voice through cinema. So I indulged in several independent productions such as a Digital feature film called “Delhi Chills”, and many short films under my production company, Creativeadda, founded in 2003. My Ad commercial for Surf Excel won first price at Mofilm Goa festival 2010.

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