'Kaaka Muttai' kids met MS Dhoni
It looks like Tamil audiences have started appreciating good films which are content driven and not star-studded biggies. The old saying-'Content is king', is true these days. In the last three weeks small budget content driven films-36 Vayadhinile, Demonty Colony and now Kaaka Mutta have worked wonders at the box-office.
The message is loud and clear that if your film has good content and solid entertainment, with the backing of a good marketing strategy and decent screen counts,it can never be a failure at the box-office.
The producers of 36 Vayadhinile, Demonte Colony and Kaaka Muttai have have earned profits through the theatrical collections alone while the remake rights and satellites rights are a bonus.
All these three films were made in the Rs 2.5 to Rs 4 Crore budget and some of the producers have got back double their investment.
But not all the content oriented films are clinching big success at the box office, Kamal Haasan’s Uttama Villain which was appreciated by the critics for its brilliant screenplay and intelligent execution but turned out to be a colossal flop as budget was too high. The film lacked entertainment quotient and was badly marketed.
Another motto which should be followed in Kollywood is ‘Know thy audience’; good examples are Raghava Lawrence’s Kanchana 2 and Mani Ratnam’s O Kadhal Kanmani. Though Kanchana 2 was trashed by class movie lovers, it was embraced by the masses and it has grossed more than Rs 100 crores at the worldwide box office.
Though Kanchana 2 was not as entertaining as Kanchana,it was marketed well and created great expectations. Also, the release strategy during summer holidays has certainly helped the film to mint money.
Similarly Mani Ratnam’s O Kadhal Kanmani was made at a smart budget and they targeted only the A and B centre audiences. The film did not even release in C stations in rural areas. The team had done aggressive marketing in social networking sites and found their target audiences.
In 2015, among big hero films, only Vikram has managed to give a hit through ‘I’. Ajith’s Yennai Arindhaal, Suriya’s Masss, Karthi’s Komban and Dhanush’s Anegan were not profitable from theatre collections alone.
Some of the above said films were break-even if you take into consideration their satellite, overseas and other rights, a few of them have incurred minor losses. All stars who get salary of more than Rs 15 Crores, need to take a cut, as trade feels that they are highly over priced. In Tamil Nadu, there is a ticket price cap and high 30% entertainment tax.
Though Vijay’s Kaththi was a big hit in 2014, one should wait and see how his upcoming big budget film Puli is going to fare at the box office, especially with unfavorable trend prevailing for big stars’ films.
Today some big Tamil heroes are paid whopping remunerations ranging from 20 -25 crs which is actually 50-60 percent of the film’s budget and if the film fails to get tax exemption, it is doomed. In recent times, the only big budget film which managed to get decent profits without tax exemption is Vikram’s ‘I’.
Top stars should either start getting their remuneration on profit sharing basis or the film should clear the tax exemption. Otherwise such biggies are risky propositions.
