A few years ago, Tamil cinema was the toast of India. Bollywood remade Tamil films and there was a vibrant infusion of technicians and stars from Tamil Nadu working across industries. Today, it seems to have lost its lustre as there seems to be a dearth of quality films and most films are flopping or average. It’s mid 2024 but there have been very few hits, Tamannaah starrer Aranmanai 4, Soori’s Garudan and Vijay Sethupathy’s Maharaja were a few that made it big. Manujummel Boys and Premalu both dubbed from Malayalam were hits and then some old films like Gilli were re-released and ran housefull. We decided to meet with the industry and investigate.

Dr. M. Manoj Beno Head of Strategy, BTG Universal and COO, Ayngaran International says, “The slump is not only for Tamil cinema but all over India including even the suddenly being talked about Malayalam industry. Malayalam industry has been consistently like this over the years. They have continued to make quality movies, the movies are generally slower but since Covid, people have started watching them and accepted them. The slump is also because a lot of movies started being made based on the pre-business projection of digital, satellite and Hindi dubbing rights. Another factor is that all heroes want to go pan-Indian, Tamil film heroes go to Telugu or Hindi, so the number of movies that come out as straight Tamil films takes a beating. He also adds that the bankable heroes are doing lesser films and this too contributes to lesser releases.”

C. Ganesh Director Kamala Cinemas says, “In comparison to this year, last year there were a lot of good movies and they ran well. Starting from the last two months of 2023 and then 2024, there is a dearth of good films and many films are flopping and we don’t know why, we are waiting.”

K.S. Ravikumar Ace Director points out that, “Piracy is another reason for bringing down the number of people watching films at theatres and that’s why the format has changed of having more screens.”

R.V. Udayakumar Director-Actor who is also the President of Tamilnadu Film Director’s Association played the role of Minister Thangapandi in Garudan recently and his take on this is different. He says, “The numbers produced have not reduced but not every film is released. All films do not get theatres and distributors, only those with good content will get sold. Even if bad content is pushed, they will have to shell out more but even then there is no guarantee that the film will make returns.”

He also feels that the entry of corporates into the film industry has changed the equations, “Today, AVM, Vijaya Vauhini Studios and big studios are not producing films. It’s more of corporate companies with hero-director combinations based on calculations that have come in. They chart out how many crores they can make, they don’t get into the value of the subject. The day the hero and director rely on calculation, there is no quality. Earlier if one crore was invested, the makers planned how they could get back the returns. They are now no longer there. Corporate productions are under the control of mathematics, a small normal producer and director on the other hand are emotional people. Even if a film fails, a corporate will escape. When the directors and hero go to corporate, their money is guaranteed. The hero then never bothers with success or failure.”

Will only big hero films work?
Dr. Manoj says, “Wherever it is heroes have a larger-than-life image. You might get excited when you see a small hero and walk up to him but if it’s a super star you will run, if you see the superstar himself, you will yell at him from far. According to their stature, each has value.

“Today, on an average if a family of four goes to watch a movie, it comes to Rs.2000. So, that one the movie must be superb or my favourite hero. In a month, if you have to watch a small film and a big production the budget will be Rs.4000. If they see a big star even if the film is average, they will say it was not good but they went for the sake of the hero. If a small film is bad, they feel stripped of 2000, besides 70% hesitate to go thinking that in 28 days, this will come to OTT.”

Ganesh says, “Earlier in the city only 5 to 6 theatres should release a film, now its 80 theatres and 1125 screens. Today if I have a big and small screen and a big hero film releases along with a smaller film, the demand still is for the big hero film.” Director K.S. Ravikumar who has directed some of the biggest stars in Kollywood such as Rajinikanth, Kamal Hassan, Vijay and Ajith too is clear on that and says that when a big hero’s film hits the screen, naturally there won’t be any takers for the smaller ones.

When asked whether directors were out of tune with audiences, RV replied, “If you make films that you like, it won’t work. Those who decide the target audience and shoot films will win. During the eighties and nineties, almost all films were liked by public and ran without losses. When Ponnumani was released, 16 films were released on April 16, 1993, including Aranmanai Kili, Ulley Veliye and more and none faced a loss.”

The OTT factor
Ganesh points out, “During the lockdown, OTT had replaced cinema theaters. Two of Suriya’s films were released directly on OTT instead of screens. At one point, the Cinema Theatre Association said if you are going to OTT, go straight there. Then some went to OTT and others to theatres. OTT platforms initially purchased films without knowing whether they would be a hit or and when then film flopped they got stuck. Now, they gauge the revenue and buy them only after seeing how they fare at the box office.”

Dr. Manoj says. “After OTT came in, first there was a demand for original content, then for series, then good movies as their subscriptions and subscriber base largely depended upon the number of movies and the quality and quantity of content that they could bring to the table for their viewers to see. So initially to build their database, Amazon, Netflix and other OTT platforms did this.

“Initially they had few movies in each language but now they have options under categories such as horror, comedy, drama, action thriller, sci-fi, they have acquired that much content. Acquired content vs adding new subscribers and retaining subscribers does not add up for most companies, that’s the truth. This includes top companies, for instance, they end up buying one particular hero’s movie for so many crores even before the movie releases. If the movie flops in the theatre, automatically, it will flop in OTT too, sometimes if there’s nothing else to watch, people will watch. However, now the mindset is that they would rather even watch a Korean superhit movie with sub-titles rather than a regional movie certified a flop.

“Viewership goes down drastically due to the wrong movies the OTT has acquired so they have cut down. Till now, producers were making calculations on the pricing for OTT based on factors such as hero’s salaries, budget, director, cast, technician, last movie, financial projections, Hindi dubbing, satellite rights and expectations. OTT platforms found that the financials involved vs returns don’t match. Now producers are not able to do a pre-business for the movie, it’s getting back to the old days where the theatrical run of the movie by and large decides how much profit you make. Offers vary based on this, they might buy it but only for six months then renew or drop. The other option is pay-per-view but this is not the ideal scenario that a producer wants. A producer’s concept is to make a movie, sell it and then move on to the next project. OTT and Hindi platforms are finicky now and so overall for everyone there is the fear, what if we shoot a film and then are unable to sell it?”

Can marketing save a bad film?
Ganesh says, “There is no connection between marketing and small movies. For example, Manjummel Boys came with a small budget and did not come with huge marketing. Once it was released in Chennai, we played it only after one week. Through word of mouth, it became a hit. Without this, no matter how many posters or publicity, it’s not going to work. I only feel we should not look at these as small or big films, for instance Dada and Ayothy, did not carry a big budget or marketing format but they did do well. Marketing is important but is not the only criteria for a big success.”

Dr. Manoj believes, “Marketing definitely helps whether the movie is good or bad. Even if you market the movie well ahead knowing it won’t run, out of the money spent on marketing, a fair share of the target audience will say that they are talking so much about it, there must be something and one section will come to see it for the buzz. If the movie is good, it’s a double bonus. Its’s mostly digital and social media which is being used for promotions now.”

The Re-release concept
Kamala Cinemas pioneered the concept of re-releasing old favourites to combat the drop in hits. On Vijay’s birthday, they released his big hits such as Pokkiri, Kathi, Thuppakki, Master and so on which was very successful. Ganesh says, “The re-release concept was brought up by my son Vishnu Kamal and he had planned to price each ticket at Rs.49. I did not understand it at all as these films have also been aired on TV repeatedly. He explained that today the target audience is 20 to 25. For example, Minnale is a college-based movie which was released around 15 years back, today’s students can only see it on TV but not on widescreen and as a youngster, I want to give youngsters a big screen feel with vintage classics. I said go ahead try it.

“There were also other unique elements, for example in Moonu, most of the audience knew the lyrics to the Why This Kolaveri song by heart. The operator would be interactive and cut off the music in between and the audience would have to sing, then the music would restart. He converted the theatre into a concert auditorium. Students from Ramachandra and SRM came in large numbers and were allowed to dance, celebrate and have fun at just 49 Rs. A live concert feel that made them happy.”

Director K.S. Ravikumar says, “Not all re-releases are a hit, blockbusters from yesteryears are the ones getting are-release to fill the gap between releases of star movies. Youth come in their pocket money. When big artiste films come there won’t be any re-release.”

The release day calculation
Ganesh points out, “Last year, somewhere between 50 to 80 movies released but 350 films were in production. Many of them are not released, so they find a really odd date, say if there’s a release of a Vijay film coming up in a week ahead, they release it. That empty time space is small and sometimes even 10 films are packed in one day so they don’t run, so release also matters.”

Manoj too stresses the importance of picking the right day for release as this definitely impacts the result.

RV ends on a reflective note, Once I asked AVM Saravanan, ‘After so many years of producing films, don’t you know which one will work,’. He replied that if he knew that he would be God.