TV premieres - new window for movie business?

After two months of its theatrical release, Jayam Ravi’s Comali is set to be aired on Vijay TV this Diwali. Not only that, Suriya’s NGK and Mohanlal’s Lucifer are also being broadcast by the same channel.

Whereas the Sun Network  will be telecasting  films like A1 of comedian Santhanam and Ragava Lawrence’s Kanchana 3 as Diwali special releases.  

Apart from these TV premieres, new channels like Zee Tamil and Colours Tamil, who headed to south from Bollywood, are broadcasting Ajith’s Nerkonda Parvai and Amala Paul’s Aadai respectively. It has become a trend these days and these TV channels shell out hefty amounts to bag these movies.

Similarly last year’s blockbuster film 96 was telecasted 33 days after theatrical release, a new record for a hit film, which normally has a 60 to 100-days window between the theatrical and television premiere. The satellite television market for Tamil films with commercially viable heroes went on a dream run after that.

Since these TV channels offer varieties of films to watch with their families, theatre owners wonder whether it will affect their movie business as big films like Vijay’s Bigil and Karthi’s Kaithi are set to hit the theatres this Diwali.

“It will not affect the movie business; we have 960 theatres with 500 seats in Tamil Nadu which can accommodate 4.8 lakh people at the same time. Therefore it will be 24 lakhs per day which is enough for the movie lovers to watch the films.  The TV broadcast is complimentary for the public and it’s a bonus for the rest of the people,” says Dhanajayan, film producer.

The leading channels in Tamil Nadu are currently in an aggressive mode for acquiring hero-based films. The channels are expected to garner record TRPs for this ‘super exclusive’ telecast. Kalaignar TV which had no new releases in last year’s Diwali schedule, is now telecasting the film Pernabu starring Mammooty as the lead.

Shakthi Girish, a film analyst, says, “People were waiting to watch the new movies for years those days. The new age medium has grown faster and it is also useful for the people who cannot afford to watch it in theatres. But this doesn’t really affect the films with a star value; they will definitely run for a week as the tickets will be booked in advance.”

Nevertheless, watching a movie on the Diwali day has become a tradition for all the people in Tamil Nadu

though we have a bunch of films to watch in the TV channels.