2012 First Quarterly Report – Tamil Cinema
Already one quarter of a year over. So, it’s time to look back at the good and bad happened in Tamil Film industry.
2012 has been good year for Tamil cinema at Box-office even though there are only very few hits so far, but a bad year for Tamil film industry as TFPC-FEFSI wage war begun and still no permanent solution has been worked out.
First, let’s take a look at the Tamil films released in the first three months of 2012 and its box-office performance.
A record 44 straight Tamil films released in the past 3 months excluding 3 re-releases and more than a dozen dubbed films. Out of that, a mere 5 films were profitable which means success ratio is just around 10%.
January ( 9 releases: 1 Super Hit – Nanban and 1 Hit – Vettai)
2012 started with a bang at the box-office! The most bankable director at BO, Shankar joined hands with the most bankable actor Vijay for the first time in “Nanban”, which is a remake of Bollywood blockbuster ‘3 Idiots’ and came triumphs. Industry insiders and audience were skeptical initially as why Shankar opted for mass hero Vijay for a classy script and whether it will work out. Proving them wrong, Vijay’s athletic physique and his unique charm brought freshness to the film, combined with Jiiva’s comic sense worked wonders on screen. The film opened in highest no. of screens (600+) for a Tamil film ever for a couple of days and has beaten Enthiran’s opening day collections in few areas. It went to collect a record 50+ crores within a week worldwide and turned out be a Super hit. Once again Shankar proved that he is the undisputed king of box-office in South India.. Next ‘Vettai’, an out and out Lingusamy style entertainer, too set the cash register ringing at the box-office. It collected around 15 crores worldwide in 4 days and declared hit. Both films got the 30% ET exemption from the TN govt. which is a boost for the industry. Small film ‘Kollaikaran’ released between these two biggies and sank almost without a trace. Though, the film had an engaging funny script, it failed mainly due to the bad timing of its release. Ramarajan’s comeback film ‘Medhai’ is a disaster and he joined the industry’s special coveted list of people like ‘Power Star’ Srinivasan, T.Rajendar, etc.
February ( 15 releases: 2 Hits – Marina and KSY)
Pandiraj’s “Marina” released first and the film’s a winner before release itself as the film made on a shoe-string budget sold out for good price in all areas of Tamilnadu. The collections break-even in no time and made distributors happy too and quickly declared hit by trade. The film set an example for small time film-makers on how to make a small meaningful film with no stars and yet come out successful. Next, two romantic entertainers “Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi” and ‘Muppozhuthum Un Karpanaigal’ clashed at the box-office during Valentine weekend and both films opened well with KSY doing wonders at multiplexes whereas MUK did well in single screens. But ultimately KSY emerged winner for its innovative film making and smart marketing and turned out to be a hit and MUK ended up as average grosser. Then, Tamil’s first 3D film “Ambuli” released with decent opening without much buzz and hold on well in few screens too. Also ‘Uchithanai Muharnthaal’, about Srilankan sentiments re-released but failed again as it couldn’t get proper screens.
March (20 releases: 1 Hit – Karnan)
Vasanthabalan’s “Aravaan” released big with high expectations but the film bombed at the box-office as it didn’t have the emotional connect which is well portrayed in his previous films. Small film “Kazhugu” had a limited release initially, picked up through word of mouth and no. of screens increased. The film got raving reviews from critics especially about its new milieu and it had break even for few distributors. Sivaji Ganesan’s epic film “Karnan” was digitized and re-released. Much to the surprise of everyone, the film ran full house even in the weekdays in multiplexes and single screens alike and turned out to be a classic hit. Also another film ‘Vengayam’ about fake god men and superstitions, re-released. In spite of Cheran’s effort and marketing with industry’s eminent personalities, the film didn’t click. Last, but not the least Dhanush’s “3” released with sky high expectations after his single ‘Why this Kolaveri di’ went viral and had more than 50 million hits online. Although the film had a thundering opening of 6 crores in a single day in TN alone (thanks to the hype), collections faltered in the second week, especially in ‘B’ and ‘C’ centres. It made losses to few distributors who purchased it for huge minimum guarantee.
This quarter also helped few films to get national acclaim. Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s “Aaranya Kaandam” won him best director in a debut and best editing too at 59th National Awards. Suseenthiran’s ‘Azhagarsaamiyin Kudhirai’ won 2 National awards in Best entertainer and supporting actor category and Sargunam’s ‘Vaagai Sooda Vaa’ won best regional film. Also ‘Mounaguru’, which released late 2011 survived the Pongal biggies and went on to become a sleeper hit. The exemption of service tax in addition to entertainment tax by the central government also brought cheers to the industry.
On the downside, the wage war between FEFSI (Film Employees’ Federation of South India) and TFPC (Tamil Film Producers Council) started way back in January 23. Due to that, many films’ shooting stopped for almost a month, post production delayed and hence almost all the biggies scheduled for Summer have been postponed to July and later. Even the intervention of TN government’s Labour commission didn’t help and things got worse when Ameer stopped the shoot of Karthi’s “Alex Pandian”. Immediately, TFPC president SAC hit back by canceling all shooting for a day. The wage war between the unions narrowed out to 2 people’s ego clash and continued. After fail in further talks, FEFSI declared an official strike from April 7th whereas TFPC’s trying to form a new union. Finally, FEFSI called off strike on April 10th.
Summer starts with Rajesh’s Romantic Comedy “Oru Kal Oru Kannadi” starring Santhanam, Udhayanidhi & Hansika, on Tamil New Year. Only 2 biggies slated for release this quarter – Ajith’s most anticipated movie “Billa-2” and Karthi’s ‘Saguni‘. Let these films set the box-office on fire!
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