Producer Council President Vishal and Raghava Lawrence amongst others have requested the media to post reviews for films after three days of release stating that a breathing space is required for a film to pick up at the box office. While this has received mixed reactions from the media persons and the public we are bringing out an analysis of whether reviews can really impact a film`s run more than its quality.

In the recent past films like Irudhi Suttru`, Kaaka Muttai`, Visaranai`, Aandavan Kattalai`, Joker`, Dhuruvangal 16`and Maanagaram` to name a few received the thumbs up in the print, broadcast and online media and this helped the films to do extremely well at the box office too. Decades back people shied away from critically acclaimed films, fearing boredom, but the media here, by elucidating the entertainment value while lauding the concepts put the audiences in the right frame of mind about these wonderful works of art.

The other extreme example is the media unanimously gave the thumbs down for films like Kabali`, Dharmadurai`, Iru Mugan`, AYM` etc but these films became successful. Again Uriyadi`, Kuttramae Thandanai` and Nisabdham` were highly lauded by the media but failed at the box office due to various factors. We can safely conclude from the above that people celebrate certain films that create the right buzz amongst them by way of trailers, the promotional activities and the trends of the times.

We live in a digital age where people need instant gratification. From a cell phone, to a restaurant to even which road to take the younger generation relies on google to unearth user reviews and expert opinions. As for the most preferred entertainment they expect a review of a film to be available early not to decide whether to watch it, but more to form an opinion about the genre and most come back to read the full reviews after the show to compare their opinions to that of the critic.

Hollywood reviews are available weeks and even months before a film is released and here too filmmakers who are confident about their products hold press shows days ahead of the release because early reviews actually help their causes. The writing that is on the wall is the film fraternity has to work hard on content first and then employ dynamic marketing plans to woo the viewer who already enjoys the luxury of all the entertainment he needs on his palm.

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