Regional is the flavour this season
Divya Unny
Tuesday, July 15, 2008: (Mumbai):
Bollywood seems to losing its loyalists. Here’s why it could be true, as die-hard Hindi film buffs - disappointed with the years fare- are looking further afield for more entertaining options.
“We prefer to watch a good regional film with subtitles, rather than a bad Hindi movie”, “I can’t understand Malayalam, but I went for the film because it got great reviews,” said a filmgoer.
Yes B-towns bumpy ride in 2008, has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for non-Hindi films.
Marathi, Tamil, Malayalam movies have emerged as some of the real box office winners in Mumbai.
“A film like De Dhakka has grossed 100 per cent collections in its opening week during the IPL, while none of the Bollywood films during that time worked,” said Shyam Shroff, a distributor. Marathi films like “Valu - The Wild Bull”, “Tingya”, “Sanai Choughade”, “Kadachit” have also got great response.
The unsung minibudget Marathi hit De Dhakka beat out mainstream fare like Don Mutthuswami, Dhoom Dadakka and Ghatothkach that released the same week.
Interestingly, Kamal Haasan’s Dasavathaaram, that opened with average ratings, has managed to surpass films like Mere Baap Pehle Aap and Dasavathar which were pulled out of multiplexes the very next Friday.
“Dasavathaaram is still running in theatres and most of the shows have at least 60-70 per cent viewership. I think people are preferring to watch good cinema these days, irrespective of the language,” said Rakesh Mehra, Manager, Cinemax Multiplexes.
And yet another film to have created records of sorts is Malayalam venture Katha Parayimbol, becoming the first Malayalam film in a long time to run in Mumbai theatres for over two months.
The film is now being remade in both Hindi and Tamil by Priyadarshan and Rajnikanth respectively.
“These films are not working just because of Hindi films doing badly, but also because they are offering quality Hindi films aren’t,” said Mayank Shekhar, Film Critic.
“We are looking at releasing as many regional films, it contributes immensely to our collections,” said Rakesh Mehra, manager, Cinemax multiplexes.
Coming weeks await numerous big starrer non-Hindi films like Galgale Nighale and Baap Re Baap in Marathi, Kuselan in Tamil and Madambi in Malayalam.
And while we hope as regional cinema market in Mumbai continues to thrive, Bollywood manages to pull up its socks in the next few months.