It's a healthy report card

Kollywood is limping back to normalcy. After a slew of welfare measures including tax exemption on movies titled in Tamil and cut in ticket prices in theatres announced by the State government, the industry is hoping for reversal of fortunes.

Thankfully, several movies this year have gone on to make it big.

This Tami New Year day saw five films hitting the screens - Mayakkannadi, Unnale Unnale, Arbutha Theevu, Madurai Veeran and Kanal Neer.

Unnale Unnale and Mayakkannadi carried good pre-release hype. Both the movies have lived up to expectations. They have managed to make a bumper opening.

Mayakkannadi, a typical Cheran movie, conveys a strong message for today's youth to develop a passion for their work and strive to make money in an honest and sincere way to come up in their life.

Unnale Unnale, on the other hand, is a feel-good romantic entertainer, shot in rich locales of Melbourne. Both the movies have reportedly managed to draw full houses.

Hopes are high on Jithan Ramesh's Madurai Veeran and Prithviraj's Arbutha Theevu. While the former is a commercial masala entertainer, the latter is a visual treat for kids. Both the movie opened well this weekend.

Bharath starrer Koodal Nagar (released on 6 April) still manages a good showing at the theatres in Chennai. The movie, which has won good reviews, features Bharath in dual roles. Sandhya and Bhavana play the heroines.

Still drawing good collection are Ameer's Paruthi Veeran and Prakash Raj's Mozhi. Both the movies run to packed houses. Different from the regular cliched masala films, Paruthi Veeran and Mozhi provided a whiff of fresh air in Tamil cinema. Vijay's Pokkiri has managed to run over 75 days in over a half-dozen theatres in Chennai.

With the release of Sivaji deferred a host of small-budget movies are expected to grace theatres in the coming weekend.

Bruce Wills' Perfect Stranger and the Bollywood movie Namesake also make a brisk business in theatres across the city.