Half yearly Report Card. 5/58
- IndiaGlitz, [Wednesday,June 30 2010]
Six months have passed this year and Kollywood is ready for the half yearly evaluation. A lot of water has flown down the Kollywood River. Expectations going sour, doubtful starters winning the race it all happened in the past six months.
January started with much expectation as one of the much expected and much delayed film ÂAayirathil Oruvan releasing on Pongal day. The very first day of the year had three releases but they werenÂt the harbingers of hope. Pugaipadam, Nil Kavani Ennai Kadhali and Thinichal opened on the first day of the year with much publicity but the advertisements werenÂt enough to life up the film.
All eyes were on Pongal day which saw only four releases. Brothers were pitted against each other with ÂAayirathil Oruvan and ÂKuttyÂ. But both the brothers lost the race. In fact there was no winner at all. Expectations turned out to be a burden and Selvaraghavan was named confusing director for his ÂAOÂ. The fate of the film even denied credits for the superlative performances of Remma Sen and Parthiban. ÂKutty was fresh but it wasnÂt a Dhanush film and failed for having spiced up with too much Telugu flavor in the Tamil version. The other two Pongal films ÂNaanayam and ÂPorkkalam were different but didnÂt have the star value to make it. ÂNaanayam was sweet, suave and savvy but still failed.
The other big day in January was not the Republic Day but January 29. Goa, Thamizh Padam, Jaggubai, Kathai and Dhairiyam. ÂGoa was a mixed wine and the debate is still on. But the dark horse ÂThamizh Padam was a hit and a massive hit. It deserved the success for introducing the genre spoof in a gravely polarized Tamil market. Kudos to the producer and director. ÂJaggubai was in news more for itÂs release on the internet even while it was in the labs. The proven successful duo of Sarath Kumar and K S Ravikumar sadly couldnÂt make it this time.
February had only four releases in the whole month and the month belonged to Gautham MenonÂs ÂVinnaithandi VaruvayaaÂ. The silky soft romance blew away all competitors including VishalÂs ÂTheeradha Vilaiyattu Pillai and SreekanthÂs ÂRasikkum Seemane that were released in February.
March saw the pouring of all that were delayed or postponed for ostensible reasons. Every body wanted to catch in the summer holidays. The twelve releases of the month were assorted. From stars to starlets to new faces the month had variety. From outright commercials like JeevaÂs ÂKacheri Aarambam and BharathÂs ÂThambikku Intha Ooru to offbeat ÂAval Peyar Thamizharasi and ÂKarunai to fresh ÂMundhinam Parthene and ÂYadhumagiÂ, the month of March had a variety. But but ÂAngadi Theru releasing at the end took all the cake and is still going strong. The Vasanthabalan film managed the rare act of striking a chord with both the masses and critics. Called a human film ÂAngadi Theru will cross 100 days in a couple of day.
April was a kind of significant month of the first half of this year. It started with LingusamyÂs ÂPaiyaa and ended with VijayÂs ÂSuraÂ. Both became diagonally opposite at the box office. ÂPaiyaa reiterated the stardom of Karthi and ÂSura questioned the box office power of Vijay. All the films in between these two in April were sandwiched including the legendary star cast ÂRettaisuzhiÂ. Some blamed it on the IPL Cricket matches between March 12 and April 25 for the poor show of films.
All those who feared the killer bite of ÂSura bravely showed up in May. Thirteen films were released in May and SuriyaÂs ÂSingam ruled the roost. The other one to make a decent outing was ÂIrumbu Kottai Murattu SingamÂ. The message here is even the summer holidays werenÂt attractive to film makers which is a dangerous signal to the Tamil film industry.
The last month of the first half June also wasnÂt a great shake. Other than the most anticipated film of the year ÂRaavanan the month had ten other releases. ÂRaavanan took a massive opening thanks to the hype and expectations created around it. The high run continued and ÂRavaanan remained on top with the help of unexpected holidays for the Tamil conference.
Of the 58 films released only five were unanimous super hits. That is not even ten percent success. And all the five winners were very different from each other. ÂThamizh Padam is a spoof. ÂVinnaithandi Varuvaya is a romance. ÂAngadi Theru is a reality. ÂPaiyaa is a road. And ÂSingam is a spicy hot masala. So you canÂt even say people like only a particular kind of film. Much expected films backed by big names like ÂAayirathil Oruvan and ÂRaavanan did not elicit the desired response.
On the whole the first half yearly report card of Kollywood has very little to cheer but a lot of introspect. Wishing a happy second half!