How often have you seen independent filmmakers expressing their concern, that though they are confident about their script, they don’t get producers willing to fund it? Though Kollywood has been constantly reinventing itself by attempting different genres, the idea of generating crowdfunding for the movies is still only in the nascent stages. But, the immense success of Kannada movie Lucia, has given a new lease of hope to filmmakers as it not only set the trend by producing the movie by generating money from the crowd, but also was a blockbuster in terms of business. Even Kamal Haasan has talked about the importance of crowd funding in many instances. Ever since Lucia’s release, directors from our industry have slowly started to resort to the public to fund their movies! Various filmmakers and producers who’ve attempted this, discuss if crowd funding is a real possibility or just a good idea in theory.
Sadhuram 2, a movie which is inspired from psychological horror film Saw, is all set to release soon, and its director Sumanth Radhakrishnan, successfully managed to find the right people to fund his project. “When I approached several producers with a new genre called ‘philanthropical thriller’, they were hesitant. I didn’t want to compromise my script by introducing mood-distracting songs within the film. But, when I came to know that there exists an audience who wish to see a movie like Saw in theatres, I approached them and they willingly accepted to help with funding.” Further elaborating, he says, “The challenge for me was finding a cast and crew, that didn’t want to be involved in a project only for money, but out of passion. I was lucky to bring in established technicians who worked in big projects.”
Photographer Ranjith Kumar, who’s about to shoot his directorial debut Payanam Katru Mazhai, came up with an interesting concept to gain the attention — “In order to make people donate, we thought of giving them rewards. Hence, I started a website through which we campaigned for the film. Funders would not only get a blue ray disc of the movie, but also a documentary about their family. As we are only planning to mainly focus on international festivals, the budget wasn’t that high too.”
Simultaneously when Lucia was under production, there was a Tamil movie called Kurai Ondrum Illai (KOI), being made — the first prominent crowdfunded movie in Kollywood. Arun Rengarajulu, the Executive Producer of Pathway Productions LLP, who helped in generating money for the movie, shares the hurdles he faced — “The major challenge was gaining the trust of the public,” he muses. KOI’s director Karthik Ravi also expresses the same view, “In order for crowdfunding to be sustainable, we need to keep making good movies. Only then, people would actually come forward to help.”
Dinesh Babu Selvaraj, who worked as an associate director to Mani Ratnam in multiple films, came up with an innovative idea to make movie enthusiasts fund the movie. “I made a promotional video for my movie Naalu Perukku Nalladhuna Edhuvum Thappila. My idea was to get 100 investors, of which each would donate one lakh,” he says and adds that even when he becomes an established director, he would still stick to crowdfunding — “This is a boon for independent filmmakers, and I wish I could set a trend by making successful films!”
The biggest challenge is to convince an established actor to do small-budget films. Bobby Simha gives us his take — “It doesn’t really matter if it’s produced by an established banner or a bunch of new comers. A good script and meaty role is enough for me to commit to a project.” Would he be willing to take a pay-cut if he believes in the movie? “Obviously. I’ve already done a few films by accepting cut in my wages. All you need is a good story to lure me!”
