With just a month left for the year to end, the Kannada film industry has seen 107 releases.
On an average, there has been close to 10 movies releasing in a month and by the end of the year, there will be more than 120 movies hitting the silver screen.
Apart from that, nearly every week, there are new movies being launched,
rigorous shootings are in progress and many are being completed and going into post-production. On the whole, the industry is always abuzz with activity.
Every year, the industry gives more than 100 releases but the success and failure rate differs for each one.
According to the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC), this year has seen more success than failure. “Compared to last year, this year has been a far more successful one for the Kannada film industry.
Close to 60 per cent of the movies that have released have seen above average and average success. While there have been 107 movies released already, we still have 20 more movies waiting to be released,” says Gangaraju, the president of KFCC.
With an average of Rs two crore being spent on a movie, most movies this year have broken even and made money as well. “Interestingly, small-budget movies have worked this year with the audience and at the box-office,” adds Gangaraju.
The first film to have released this year was Galate but failed to create much noise at the box office. This was followed by a series of average films. It was left to young film-makers to bring in some freshness with different scripts, songs and fantastic picturisation.
The first hit of the year was the Prem and Meghana Gaonkar-starrer Charminar, directed by R Chandru.
This was Chandru’s third film in a row to complete 100 days at the marquee and all because of its strong story content.
Following Charminar was Nagashekar’s intense love story Mynaa starring Chetan and Nithya Menon. And Simple Aagi Ondhu Love Story (SAOLS) by debutant director Suni also had the cash registers ringing.
The film made huge profits and proved that for a hit, there is no need for big stars. It had Rakshith Shetty and Swetha Srivatsav. Other films like Googli, ‘Victory’, Brindavana and Bul Bul were also hits.
The highlight, however, has been Pawan Kumar’s Lucia. A movie that made news as the first Kannada movie to be made out of crowd-funding. “When we started Lucia, we were hoping to bring in a change into the industry but on seeing the kind of response we have received, it’s only been overwhelming,” adds Pawan Kumar.
And the success of Lucia gave encouragement and hope for other films too. Be it Santosh’s Gombegala Love or even Giriraj’s Jatta.
“But not every film can be Lucia. Unfortunately, multiplexes are still thinking twice before screening Kannada movies and makes it a struggle for new film-makers like us,” adds Giriraj, a director.
The huge openings for films of industry giants have a different story to tell. No doubt, a few films made profits or broke even but they were pushed out of theatres soon. Movies like Attahasa, ‘Director’s Special’, Sakkare and many more raised a lot of expectations but failed to impress the majority.
And some directors even tried their luck for the second time by re-releasing their films. Movies like 'Case No 18/9’, Anubhava and ‘Operation Diamond Rocket’ tested their fate again this year.
At the same time, the National Award-winning film Bharath Stores, PR Ramdas Naidu’s Hejjegalu, Girish Kasaravalli’s Kuramavatara, Kodlu Ramakrishna’s Manasa and Ramesh Kumar Jain’s Belakinadege, gained critical acclaim.
“More than looking at the success and failure of movies, this year has seen good original stories that have made their way,” says Yash, an actor.
Gangaraju adds, “While ours is a flourishing industry with so many releases every year, we still face tough competition with Tamil and Telugu film industries. But quality wise, this year we have grown a lot.” One will have to wait and watch to see how the year ends for the industry.