Can Tamil cinema produce a Pulimurugan?

Compare that with Malayalam industry’s biggest hit Mohanlal’s Pulimurugan in 2016. While the entire Kerala box office size is around Rs 350-400 crore per year (from 160 films), Pulimuru gan alone collected Rs 90.5 crore at the Kerala box office, in its 100 days of run. At an average ticket price of Rs 80, the film was viewed by 11.25 million of 35 million Kerala population or 32% percent in theatres, while an all-India blockbuster like Dangal could only reach 4 to 5% of population. This is a case study for Indian cinema, not just Tamil cinema. 

The Malayalam film industry is able to consistently achieve this feat for many years, while both Hindi and Tamil cinema are fighting the piracy war. Hence, Malayalam is delivering many Rs 50 crore and above box office hit films, recent one being Mammootty’s The Great Father (2017), which grossed Rs 50 crore in 20 days, without any piracy issue. Pulimurugan ’s huge box office success was due to various factors, apart from the audience loving the film and its grand making. Firstly, Pulimurugan was not available through piracy in any form until the original DVD was released. The film was released on October 7, 2016 and the official DVD was released on March 3, 2017, 145 days after film’s release. 

Pirated DVDs started coming out only after the film was released in original DVDs. The satellite telecast took place on April 14, six months after film’s release. Hence, as window for other modes to view the film was long (145 – 180 days), the film had clear run in theatres for 150 days. 

Though a month after the release, a pirated version of the film appeared on the internet, Cyberdome, the cyber security wing of Kerala police traced the web links  using the ‘piracy tracker’ software and foiled the attempts made by cyber intruders to download the movie. “All the links were removed within minutes”, said a cyber expert, working with Cyberdome. 

A team from their firm and Kerala police ensured the film was not available in pirated DVDs, cable TV or online. Due to this zero piracy achievement, the film earned Rs 49.5 crore in overseas markets, the highest- ever for a Malayalam film as even there the audience had the opportunity to see it only in theatres. Clearly, Pulimurugan impresses upon the need to control piracy in any form to enable a film’s unhindered run in theatres and make it a box office success. There is a revenue opportunity available at box office in India, if piracy and other alternatives to view a film is controlled by film industry with  the government’s help. 

The biggest box office hit so far in Tamil cinema is Enthiran (2010), which earned around Rs 100 crore in Tamil Nadu. Even then, it was viewed by only 13 million (out of 78 million), just 17% of TN population. The rest viewed the film through piracy and other modes. If Kerala model can be enforced in all states of India, we can certainly witness more case studies like Pulimuru gan in Hindi and Tamil films. For that we need the resolve and support of state governments as provided by Kerala for many years.