WHY IS TAMIL CINEMA IN THE DOLDRUMS?

WITH MOST FILMS NOT SHINING AT THE TAMIL NADU B.O., DUBBED FILMS AND RE-RELEASES SEEM TO BE RULING THE SCREENS, THE QUESTION IS WHY?

- DAYA KINGSTON

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

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