Small is no longer beautiful in Kollywood. During the first four
months of 2016, up to April 30, 75 Tamil films have been released. 40 of
these films were, in trade parlance, small films in the Rs. 3-4 crore
budget, featuring newcomers. None of them were commercially successful,
and had limited release restricted to Chennai city, slotted in
non-primetime shows. The producers of such small films are unable to
break even, as the theatre owners do not patronise them by screening
their films and the satellite TV market is almost nil. Last week, a
heartrending message from veteran actor Delhi Ganesh on Whatsapp went
viral. Ganesh had produced
Ennul Aayiram to launch his son Maha
as hero, and the film released on April 22. Ganesh lamented that the
film did not get a proper theatrical release and was given only noon
shows in limited screens in Chennai, and almost no shows in theatres
outside the city.
Delhi Ganesh explains, “The Whatsapp message was
blown out of proportion. I did not break down, as made out by a section
of the media. My point is that
Ennul Aayiram was appreciated and
liked by those who saw the film, but others who wanted to view it were
not given a chance, as it was removed. The situation today in Tamil Nadu
is that low-budget Tamil films of newcomers are not being encouraged,
while movies from other languages, mainly English, Hindi and Telugu, are
given prime shows. I have no complaints about the money I lost, as my
son Maha is getting more offers.”
The situation is unforgiving for newcomers struggling to make a mark
in Tamil cinema. Jayendra Panchapakesan of Real Image Media Technologies
says, “Digital production and release have democratised filmmaking and
anyone with an idea can make a film today.” The boom in production is
mainly due to digitisation, which has brought down production and
exhibition cost.
Social media has made Kollywood and its stars
popular worldwide, making it the second-biggest industry in India after
Bollywood. Affluent NRI Tamils come forward to produce films, along with
hundreds of local businessmen, politicians and bureaucrats of all hue
and colour. In the last two years, nearly 150 young men have debuted as
heroes, by producing their own films.
Says P. Madan of Escape
Artists Motion Pictures, “This is the only industry which does not have
any licensing or apprenticeship. Today, anyone can produce a film. Do
you remember the name of any other film that released this Friday along
with Suriya’s
24?” The exhibitors association in Tamil Nadu refers to these small-budget films as
upma padam.
A spokesperson of the Tamil Nadu exhibitors association says, “In
today’s digital world, there is a mad scramble to make Tamil films,
without any background check on the commercial viability of projects. It
has resulted in a boom in production and releases. The audiences prefer
to sit through a star movie a second time rather than watch a
newcomer’s film.”
A spokesperson of a multiplex says, “Running a
multiplex is like any other kind of business. If a film cannot sell even
25 tickets on the opening day, in a 120 to 160-size screen capacity, on
what ground should we run these small films? Forget staff salary, it
does not even recover electricity and housekeeping charges!”
Outside
of Chennai city, theatres do not screen these films, and prefer films
from other languages instead. A Chengalpet exhibitor confesses, “We made
more money out of the sale of just the 3D glasses for
The Jungle Book than from selling tickets for an
upma padam
that released along with it. Often, we are forced to give at least one
show, because the hero of the film may be related to a politician, cop
or a bureaucrat.”
Top exhibitors and distributors say that
audiences across the state prefer a star movie or a film which has
strong word-of-mouth recommendation.
Out of the 200-odd Tamil
films released a year, only 30 to 35 get a good theatrical release,
mainly due to star value or the clout of the distributor/production
house.
Theatres have their own list of 10 stars and two or three
directors, who they view to be brands with a minimum-guarantee opening.
Theatres regularly update this star list, depending on the box-office
success of the actor’s last release.
Producer G. Dhananjayan says, “Recently, I had a bad experience after producing a critically-acclaimed film like
Zero.
The theatres just killed it by giving non-primetime shows. Is this the
way to support good films in Tamil Nadu? I’m keeping away from
production for some time.”
The Tamil Film Producers Council can do
little about it, as anybody with money can turn producer. The theatres,
for their part, are now demanding rentals in advance to screen these
films.
But the boom in production continues, as every youngster’s
dream in Tamil Nadu seems to be to become a hero in Kollywood. The
number of acting and film technology-related schools mushrooming is
proof of the lure of stardom.
