Every film personality has a tale to tell – of struggles, rejections, depressing thoughts and moments they almost gave up along the rough road to realise their dreams. But all those sink into oblivion once they taste success; hardly does any film personality come forward to support passionate newcomers who have no banner or godfather to boast of, but a good project which badly needs a little push.
Himalayathile Kashmalan is one such movie produced by a bunch of 52 debutant cinephiles who put their whole heart, money and creativity to bring out the movie. Since its release last Saturday, the movie has been garnering excellent reviews. However, the makers are miffed by the exhibitors’ adamance to limit the screening to morning and noon shows despite the good response. The movie has been released in 38 theatres across Kerala.
The premiere was screened to a packed house and the comedy entertainer received a lot of online publicity. But that was not enough. Sounding devastated, director Abhiram Suresh Unnithan, who has also co-produced the movie says, “The theatres refuse to give the movie a primetime slot however hard we plead; the most we could get was a 5pm slot in a multiplex in Kochi and a 6.45 pm show in a theatre in Thiruvananthapuram. Now, with one more day to go for the release of other movies, including big budget films, we are worried about the fate of our dream project.”
Resonating similar views, Anand Radhakrishnan, a co-producer who has also played a small role in the movie, says, “The exhibitors make funny excuses – like the name of the movie lacked ‘punch’, a movie of debutantes can’t be a crowd-puller, so on.”
Abhiram rues, “We don’t want a huge screening. Just a little consideration would be enough. How many people will watch a movie at the 10am or 10.30 am shows? Despite that, the movie is being watched and hailed much. I have lost hope in all associations. All the persons behind our movie are registered members of one or the other association. But the exhibitors deny us a chance.
We too are filmmakers. It is just that we have no backing of a brand name. Even word of mouth publicity can’t be of help when there are no proper show times.”
