Maanikya created history in Kannada cinema

Bengaluru: The above comparison is made by none other than Pawan Kumar, the director of Lucia! Admitting that the box office is the forte of the stars while the directors retain only the creative part of it, Pawan has made a candid admission of how the Sandalwood industry works.

Pawan has posted on his social web page, "Just got to know from a reliable source that number of admits in 100 days of Lucia = 1 day of Maanikya. Its so fascinating right? Bcoz even before the audience know whether the movie is good or not, they decide to watch it. That's truly the power of a star. Content oriented films can never ever come half way to that."

According to initial reports, Maanikya has been watched by more than 5 lakh people on the first day of its release on Thursday, making it the biggest draw for a Kannada film. However, Pawan has admiration for the star power.

He recalls veteran director Nagabharana's statement recently when he said, "the art aspect of a movie is the director's forte... wherevas the business aspect is solely the stars power."

That Kannada films have the audience that can bring in the money for film makers is still good news. It still gives hope that many of them in the days to come will appreciate different efforts and not just 'star' films.

Pawan rounded of his comment saying, "Its great news that there is such a large audience who are willing to hit the theatres on the first day. I guess this a record in terms of first day collections."