BĀHUBALI – LEADING THE WAY FOR OPTIMUM INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY EXPLOITATION IN INDIA

BĀHUBALI – LEADING THE WAY FOR OPTIMUM INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY EXPLOITATION IN INDIA

“Bāhubali” - the recent sensation that jolted the entire world cinema with its striking story line, screenplay and above all the mesmerizing character “Bāhubali” and other equally strong supporting characters are products of mind blowing creativity and intellect. The resulting intellectual property has been exploited wisely. This article aims to demonstrate the optimum utilization of intellectual property and the power of intellectual property to generate commercial results.

Hundreds of fictional characters have entertained the human race since time immemorial. Some of the well-known examples are Oliver Twist, Sherlock Homes, James Bond, Chacha Chaudary, Sakthimaan, Chota Bheem, etc. While many are in the public domain, many are still enjoying the protection accorded under the IP law regime. There are multiple Intellectual Property rights (Copyrights, Trademarks, Industrial Designs, Patents, etc.) that facilitate optimum exploitation of the given intellectual property.

A fictional character is like a real character. It has a life of its own.

Characters are used in relation to children's toys, posters, animated cartoons, Video Games, in menus of fast food restaurants, Board Games, adult and children's clothing and all other plausible forms of merchandise. Character development and exploitation of fictional characters are driven by commercial interest and profits.

It is pertinent to take note here that not all proprietors or authors of a fictional character may be aware of the diverse commercial prospects that the character is capable of; that can be achieved by optimum exploitation of the Intellectual Property (fictional character).

The Bāhubali franchise is a cluster of characters that has had a far reaching impact on the audience, shouting the apparent commercial prospects to the creator. Now let's see how these characters are being exploited. 

Firstly, the characters in Bāhubali might have been in the form of a story which itself is protectable as Intellectual Property. The story was then made into a movie which once again being a Cinematograph film is protected under Copyright. Seeing the popularity of the character the author wasted no time in further commercializing the Intellectual Property.   

The author has released the animation series in Amazon^® Prime. Now this is a wise decision that led to the creation of graphic characters of those fictional characters. This gives a longer life to the character and has increased the Intellectual Property potential of the fictional character and multiple episodes can be created.

The author has further released merchandise such as mobile phone covers, accessories, etc. There is an exclusive website selling this Merchandise.

A novel “THE RISE OF SIVAGAMI” based on the character Sivagami [Mother of Bāhubali] has been written by Anand Nilakantan and published by Westland (Tata Group). The novel is a prequel to the movie.

Likewise, each character in the Bāhubali franchise is an Intellectual Property in itself and is capable of leading to more Intellectual Property creations.

The recent video game is also an interesting addition to the Bāhubali Intellectual Property exploitation saga.

The whole movie consists of different creative elements apart from these fictional characters which can be a part of a different Intellectual Property discussion all together.

There may be numerous precedents of exploitation of Intellectual Property in a fictional character. Nevertheless, Bāhubali stands out as one of its kind, leading the way for optimum intellectual property exploitation in India.