Reaching out to larger audience

Entertainment redefined

Bilinguals may seem to be the tweedledum and tweedledee of one storyline. But they have their own charm in the world of cinema. And on more occasions than one, the version in one language has walked away with all acclaim, while the one in the other language has got all flak, like what happened in the case of Raavan and Raavanan.

The directors, who have ventured out into making bilingual films say they love it, notwithstanding the huge logistics involved. The actors see in them a vehicle to overcome the barrier of language and covet the virtual doubling of the target audience. The producers relish the idea of making two films in the budget of one film. So, one wonders if bilinguals are here to stay and whether they would replace remakes altogether?

Metrolife interacted with a few directors to gauge their views on the same. Some of them observed that more bilinguals would be made now, others argued that the huge logistics render it almost impossible to make bilinguals a regular feature.  Bilinguals double the budget. The movie has to be remade into another language and portions of the film may have to be cut or shot all over again, just to suit the ethos of another culture like in the case of Raavan and Raavanan.

Actor-turned-director Prabhu Deva says it’s impossible to make bilinguals, considering the huge cost and star cast involved, “the director must be big and the cast must be even bigger. It surely increases the popularity of the actors and the director but they must be willing to bear the risks involved,” says Prabhu and adds, “while the director gets to make two films with a single script, he or she may have to work extra hard to tweak portions of it to suit different aesthetics.”

Kannada director Yograj Bhat thinks it’s impossible to make a bilingual in Karnataka, “When Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam movies are doing so well in Karnataka I wonder why the need of a bilingual here?” he asks. He reasons that a successful film like Magadheera could easily be remade. “You have to have two sets of casts, the ambience needs to look totally different and the network has to be perfect. It’s tough to get all of this together,” he says.     

Director Susi Ganesan thinks while bilinguals pose a real challenge to a director it is burdensome as well. “You could double and triple the profits with a bilingual but the percentage of profit is based on the percentage of risk you are willing to take. Now with technology bilinguals aren’t impossible anymore,” he says.

Hariharan, the director of Pazhassi Raja feels producers would pool in a huge investment only if the director and casts have a worldwide reach, “it’s too much of work and when you can comfortably remake films why opt for a bilingual,” he wonders.