Khan Saheb Kamal Haasan's Jamaat/Jeba Koottam/Devasthaanam - Part 8

[tamizharasan]

Idhula i know for sure the grand successes of

1. 'Moonram pirai' (remember seeing it in Salem as a kid with family, some 120 days after release and it was a houseful evening show !!),

2. Thoongadhey TT (had to get tickets through 'influence' at Sapna in Salem again! and i still recall the sea of crowds outside the hall, matched only by the crowds for 'mundhanai mudichu' and 'moondru mugam'),

3. Aboorva Sago (watched it first time in Tirunelveli - theatre was 3/4th full for a friday morning show! by the time we came back to chennai, it was a patti thotti hit! later on when we moved to hyderabad, i came to know that the telugu version ran for six months and over in the hyd-sec'bad twin cities alone!! later on, in bangalore, I learnt that it ran for a year in a hall located between Bangalore and Hosur, and each time it was re-released it was running to packed houses for weeks together in Bangalore as well as AP!)

4.SKV - no two ways abt it - a garam masala film that elders winced to look at - it ran, ran, ran and ran for months together!

5.Kuruthipunal - traffic jam near Devi complex first week of its release !! managed to see it only after it completed 70 days!

6.Thevar magan - saw the trailer during ROJA screening and thought 'what the heck ? is kamal going the bharatiraja way ? i hope there are no white saree clad dancers in the background while kamal dances' - it picked up through sheer WOM and a big success in one of the largest halls in South India, DEVI cinema, Chennai

7. Nayagan - thiruttu video available within a week of its release! entire family shocked to watch the film - but, first 20 days, theatres la 'ee, kaakkaa' illai! adhukkaappuram, WOM, plus anantha vikatan/kumudham reviews sent the film's BO sky-rocketing! most interestingly, it was re-released in 1988 at Nagesh theatre (near Pondy bazaar) and ran for a month!!

8. am surprised there is no mention of 'sigappu rojakkal' which am told was a cult classic hit in 1978 when it was released ! 16 years later in 1994, it was re-released in Pilot theatre, Chennai, and run for 3 weeks!

as for the other films, i think some digital silmisham has been done to make them look like they were hits! GUNA was a total washout in AP running for exactly 3 days in hyderabad! MAHANADHI 'mukki mukki' 100 days odichhu!

almost everyone of Kamal's 'masala' films were blockbusters! and his offbeat attempts juxtaposed between masala films were average hits

Nayagan producer released original vcd within week of release. BTW nayagan had a great opening and it did not have to wait for 20 days because all Rajini Kamal movies had grand opening because of fan base irrespective of the end result.