Theatre owners in the city are reluctant to screen Kannada films as these movies perform poorly at the box-office. With non-Kannada films such as Magadheera, Ek Niranjan, Kurradu in Telugu, Kaadal Kathai in Tamil and Palasi Raja in Malayalam being screened in as many as 32 theatres in the city, Sandalwood producers are finding it hard to release their films here. Even producers of much-awaited Kannada films such as Abhay, Devru, 3 Guttu 1 Sullu 1 Nija, Manasare could not finalise theatres for their films easily. So, producers and distributors of upcoming films such as Porkhi, Raam, Hey Sarasu, Yogi and Parole are literally in competition with non-Kannada films to rent local theatres.
Jayamala, chairman of KFCC (Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce) says that local filmmakers should make quality films to woo theatre owners. “If there are no takers for Kannada films, then why would a theatre owner exhibit them? Besides making quality films, the producers must also learn to market their films properly, like Bollywood does,” says Jayamala.
Majority of the theatre owners believe that the Sandalwood industry is limited by its meagre budget in comparison to non-Kannada films. Anaji Nagaraj says, “Kannada film-makers can’t invest crores to make films like Bollywood or Tollywood does. And since these films are not even marketed properly, they lose out in comparison to the other regional films,” says Nagaraj.
Recently, Telugu film Magadheera has completed 100 days in the city and two more films Ek Niranjan and Kurradu are set to complete 50 days. But not a single Kannada film has completed two weeks in the last four months.
Rockline Venkatesh, chairman of KFCC Producer Association, opines that it will take time for local film-makers to make quality films to compete with non-Kannada films. “Our filmmakers should come up with more creative scripts to carry forward the legacy of old Kannada films which never faced any problems in getting theatres for a Friday release,” says Venkatesh.Producers should get their act together fast or the loss will be entirely theirs.(DC)
No comments:
Post a Comment