Long before actors became stars and every film became a vehicle to showcase their bravado, two or three films made on a reasonable budget would release on the same weekend and manage to make good money. It happened a year ago when Vikram Vedha and Meesaya Murukku released at the same time. Both belonged to different genres, but went on to mint gold at the box office.
This time, it’s the turn of Karthi’s Kadaikutty Singam and CS Amudhan’s Tamizh Padam 2. Both films have been holding up very well after an extremely good first weekend, and with no big film releasing today, they are almost assured of a good run for another week.
Director Amudhan says he’s received overwhelmingly positive feedback, and the film has appealed to multiplex audiences. “I’ve also been pleasantly surprised to see people watching it in what are famously called Category 2 theatres getting the references of Game of Thrones, James Bond, and more,” he says.
“After a long time, the family audience is back in B and C centres. This is refreshing and most welcome, because this is a category that filmmakers have been ignoring for long. There is tremendous response in Madurai, Tiruchirapalli and Coimbatore regions,” says B Sakthivelan of Sakthi Film Factory that has released Kadaikutty Singam. “Some of the latest films tend to force the lifestyle of cities on to those residing elsewhere. For instance, the pub culture. They almost convince you that it’s real and representative of a vast majority, when it is not. For a change, let everyone enjoy a rekla race,” he laughs, referring to a popular scene in the film.
Rajasekar Pandian of 2D Entertainment, which has produced Kadaikutty Singam, says that the film has had a wonderful connect with family audiences.
“I hear that after a long gap, families are going to theatres in smaller cities. I am happy the film has opened up the space for family entertainment once again. It helped that director Pandiraj created a good mix of drama, emotion, comedy, action, romance and a message that farmers have to be celebrated.”
The film had done a first weekend gross of Rs. 15 crores, he says. “It is doing very well, and we hope it will do well this weekend as well. All shows, except the noon show, are running at full occupancy, and that’s a positive sign.”
The Karthi-starrer, which released in Telugu as Chinna Babu, has been faring well there too, says Pandian. “It just shows that with the right content, nothing else matters. People will come.”
Interestingly, the teams behind both the successful movies celebrated their run at the box office, along with another occasion — on July 19, both Pandian and Amudhan rang in their birthdays!
Kishore Thallur, Head, Marketing and Distribution, Trident Arts, which bought Tamizh Padam 2, says all numbers will be released in a week’s time, during the success meet. All he’s willing to say is that occupancy for the first four days was 100 per cent, and it has dropped to about 70 per cent since. The film released in 348 screens across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and will release in 48 screens across Kerala today. “We are in the success zone, I’ll confirm that,” he smiles.
Veteran distributor Tirupur Subramaniam says these two films have rejuvenated the trade. “Tamizh Padam 2 was shot with a reasonable budget, and you can call it a blockbuster. Kadaikutty Singam is doing very well too, and Karthi’s performance has come in for much praise. The main learning from these films is that when you focus on the script and cast well, the film will do well. Instead, people choose to blame the audience. Filmmakers must understand they don’t come to the theatre to see stylish flicks anymore; they want a dose of realism too. Which is why they appreciate ‘regular’ fight scenes rather than graphically-enhanced ones. They don’t want a mass entry, they like a casual entry,” he says.
“Remember Dangal?” asks Subramaniam. That’s his favourite question. “Aamir Khan showed up in the fifth reel. And, how well the film did across the world!”
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Trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai says that rural subjects traditionally collect better at the box office, simply because they draw in the family audience. “City audiences are usually 90 per cent youth; the family audience makes up 70 per cent of the rural audience.”
Pillai says that following the success of Kadaikutty Singam, a hundred clones might be made, and bite the dust too. “They don’t understand that it is not just the rural subject that led to its success; it is a wonderfully packaged film that released at the right time.”
We must admit, he says that the movie audience is changing too. And, stars are taking cognizance of that. “Vijay might no longer do another Tirupaachi, which worked well then, but then, times have changed,” he says.
Read our reviews of Kadaikutty Singam and Tamizh Padam 2