Mindless action films kill thematic films, dent collections?
New-age filmmakers are a tad disappointed since three big films ‘Double ISmart’, ‘Mr Bachchan’ and ‘Thangalan’ dented the chances of new-age films like ‘Committee Kurollu’ and “Aay” since they were made by young makers and actors. “Distributors and exhibitors fascination for star movies is spoiling content-driven movies in Tollywood,’ rues a distributor who adds, “For instance, ‘Committee Kurrollu’ with young Turks was doing well, and also collections were picking up on word-of-mouth publicity., But it was removed from some theatres to screen ‘Double Ismart’, ‘Mr Bachchan’ and ‘Thangalan’ from August 15 and dented their collections which would have doubled its collections, if it had more screens during 5-day holidays,” he adds.
Similarly, another content-driven film ‘Aay’ also received good critical acclaim but it didn’t get enough theaters during the August 15-20 holiday season. “Thematic films have to get more theatres and have to stay longer in theatres to make good money. But it wasn’t possible because more than 700-odd theaters were given to Puri, Harrish Shankar, and Vikram movies, so it has to contend with lesser numbers. If not for the movie being made by Geeta Arts, it would have faced even more difficult times. However, it has emerged as a good film and received critical acclaim but the collection didn’t match up to its good talk,” he adds.
Nonetheless, both the honest movies which harped on crucial ‘caste reservation’, pure love and friendship and hailing relationships have reportedly collected Rs 5 crores plus net collections together and are still counting. “These two films were again screened in theatres after Double iSmart and Mr Bachchan bombed, but it was too late as the momentum was lost. Hence, they couldn’t make more money, which young directors and producers truly deserved. Bigwigs should seriously think about encouraging new talent, otherwise, only rotten movies will flourish," he concludes.