Kollywood's giant strides!

Over the course of the past 11 years, Kollywood has seen some exciting and refreshing transformations – independent movies flourished, experimentation has been widely accepted and actors are donning various avatars. We bring you 11 such significant trends over the course of these years.

Remakes of Tamil movies
Earlier, a lot of Bollywood films were being re-made in regional languages, but now this trend seems to have been reversed. Most of the superhit films in Hindi film industry are now remakes of hit South Indian films — Aamir Khan’s Ghajini, Ajay Devgn’s Singham and John Abraham’s Force are examples. Singham even spawned a sequel. Thuppakki came to Bollywood as Holiday while Pizza was remade two years back in the same name.

The nativity factor
Films like Veyyil, Subramaniyapuram and Aadukalam were received well. Though their content was simple, the filmmakers succeeded by geographically targeting people. They were set in a local milieu. The local factor was a big reason for the success of the films.

Horror rules the roost
The horror genre clearly has been ruling the roost for some time in Tamil cinema. In fact, horror-films have sub genres like rom-com, action, and family-oriented films. Ragava Lawrence’s series of horror comedies have all been huge hits, with Kanchana-2 being the biggest among the rest. Aranmanai, Aranmanai 2, Pisaasu, Yaamirukka Bayamey, Darling, Strawberry, Nayanthara-starrer Maya,  Srinath Ramalingam’s Unakkenna Venum Sollu and Demonte Colony and the latest release Zero!

Dhanush, the trend-setter
Though the Tamil audience is receptive to heroes with a boy-next-door image, this hasn’t been the case with other industries, especially Bollywood. But, Dhanush, with Raanjhanaa and Shamitabh, proved that talent is the most important thing irrespective of looks. Adding to this,  his plunge into Hollywood, with the movie  The Fakir, alongside Uma Thurman  has now made him a national icon! 

Start of private screenings
Filmmakers in the north hold private screenings for the public to gauge the response the film is likely to get once it hits theatres. Rajkumar Hirani, one of the producers of Saala Khadoos (Irudhi Suttru),  held private screenings to gauge the audiences’ views before release. At home, Ramprakash Rayappa, director of Jiiva-starrer Pokkiri Raja did the same.

Tamil culture in Bollywood
Though people all over the country are well aware of the uniqueness of Tamil culture, the recent trend of portraying lead characters as Tamils, or showing our traditions in Bollywood, has now become pop culture. Shahrukh Khan started it by playing a nerdy Tamil scientist in Ra. One and followed it up with Chennai Express. Alia Bhatt won hearts by playing a Tamil girl in 2 States. Apart from this, movies like Aiyaa, Badlapur and NH10 have had one lead Tamil character!

The Thala-Thalapathy phenomenon
The fan following for both these cult actors continues to grow, so has the rivalry between their ardent followers. This decade also saw both the heroes’ movies, Jilla and Veeram, releasing on the same day after a long time, and both sets of fans were battling it out to see who was superior. Starting with the mention of Thala-Thalapathy in Boss Engira Baskaran, the trend has now transformed to an extent that movies are being made about their fans.

The influence of social media
At one point, the audio release was seen as the most important promotion for a film. But over the past few years, filmmakers and producers have taken to social media to increase the anticipation of movies with the ‘first look’, teaser, trailer, and the release of single tracks. The influence of such publicity has grown to such an extent that the fate of the movie depends on it, with movie lovers sharing movie reviews instantly online!

The age of multitasking
Directors turn producers, lyricists turn actors, music directors turn actor-singers and actors turn directors. It’s not a new phenomenon though! Heroes aren’t only heroes. They produce films, too. The idea of a producer too seems to have changed in recent times — Suriya, Vishal, Dhanush, Silambarasan, Arya, Vijay Sethupathy, Siddharth, Atharvaa and Arun Vijay are prominent examples.

Prominence of Gen-Y filmmakers and movies
After Pizza, Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom and Kaadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Eppadi, the makers of short films have grown in number. We could say the sudden rise of non-mainstream cinema made low-budget films becoming very popular. For instance, Karthik Subbaraj got noticed through a short filmmaking contest on a television channel. This trend of finding producers easily for quality films opened the doors for many to make feature films. With young and often unknown actors, such films are being released to both critical acclaim and commercial success. Anyone can be a filmmaker now, which was not possible before. More examples: Aaranya Kaandam, Jigarthanda, and Kaakka Muttai.