Lacklustre debut, blockbuster comeback

CHENNAI: It has been raining re-releases during December and the trend does not show signs of waning before the arrival of big-ticket movies this year.

From vintage movies such as Ragasiya Police to 2000s and early 2010s movies, there is something every generation could cheer for in cinemas.

While the huge number of re-releases in such a short span of time is something to reckon with, also, a sizable number of not-so-successful films having a great run in theatres, is equally worth pondering over. Film buffs are divided whether the content had a delayed positive reception or they were here just for cheers and whistles.

While speaking to us, Aalavandhan’s director Suresh Krissna said the film’s content was way ahead of its times and today’s generation, conditioned by international films through OTT, would appreciate his film better.

Despite agreeing with that point, film producer and distributor G Dhananjayan said it was the case only with Aalavandhan. “Taking other movies too into consideration, the perception of the audience towards the contents of other films haven’t changed over the years. The audience flocked cinema halls purely to have fun. Being subjected to a theater experience for just Rs 50 is a tempting offer for the audience and that’s the reason for the record footfall,” he quipped.

Making a bounty out of re-releases, Ganesh of Kamala Cinemas tells us how they pick a film to screen again. “Our primary target is people in their early 20s. They may have liked a film but would have been too young to process it or the film that they enjoyed watching on OTT could bring them back the lost theatre experience. Those are the kind of flicks we choose for such an audience. Makers of Vaaranam Aayiram and Moonu (3) had doubts when I wanted to screen these films. Following the rave reception the films garnered upon re-release, actors Suriya and Dhanush thanked me,” Ganesh said.

When we asked him how they package an old film to make it look fresh, Ganesh took Moonu’s example, “Moonu’s album was and is still a rage among youngsters, we wanted to create a concert-like ambience. So we would switch on and off the sound box when songs are played to engage the fans in a sing-along session. We use this as a means to keep the fans entertained.”

Taking us through the process of re-releasing a film, theatre owner and distributor Tiruppur Subramaniam says chances of making a loss are slim. “A film’s rights holder can re-release whenever they wish to. It takes Rs 10-20 lakhs to re-release a film, and since the investment is less, tickets are priced at a lesser amount,” he adds, saying the terms of profit-sharing will change from the time a film was initially released.

The stupendous success of re-releases is a clear indication that the new releases have underperformed at the box-office. We asked if the coping mechanism of cinema halls to screen old films to make up for poor new releases augur well for the business, Dhananjayan says theatres are making good use of the window of opportunities that is open till big films release for Pongal. “People being happy to watch movies they missed in theatres for a nominal cost and cinema halls making a profit out of it is indeed a good news,” he added.