UNIVERSAL CLASS AND MASS DIVIDE

By Behindwoods Visitor Hari
The views expressed in this column are that of the visitor. Behindwoods.com doesn't hold responsible for its content.
In recent times there has been much discussion about the realistic, classic films against the mass commercial films. Recently director Lingusamy when quoting about the success of “Paiyaa” referred that people where happy to see a film without any dirt or filth.

Though I like to see both realistic movies and mass commercial movies, I give preferences to either of them based on my mood on the day when I am hitting the theatre. When looking at bigger picture, the distinction between realistic, award based movies and commercial films exist not only in Kollywood, but also in Bollywood and Hollywood.

Many of the small movies with innovative concept and barring big stars find limited release in Bollywood. Examples being “Little Zozu”, “Welcome to Sajjanpur” have got limited release. I am not sure if they were released in Chennai. A recent good movie “City of Gold” was released in Chennai, but it just had one week run in Chennai. Definitely it deserved much better response.

In Hollywood, the way it works is more different. If the concept is new and if there is no mass element, the movie will start with limited release in big centres, followed by wider release, in spite of the big star case. Recent example being “Up in the air” starring George Clooney. Though it had a A+ star cast, it got a limited release, won critical acclaim, became a hopeful Oscar nominee (which later turned out to be true) and went on to become a hit move across US. Another movie which went big from small release to blockbuster is “Slumdog millionaire”.




The only difference between all these woods is that, in other industries people agree for the market for realistic movies and mass movies and acknowledge the skill required to create good movie. This somehow is missing in Kollywood. In many interviews, veteran K.S.Ravikumar and Hari have openly congratulated realistic movie makers and are confident on the mass market which is their forte, but somehow still exists a situation where realistic movies are typecast in rural milieu etc.

Hopefully there exist a more amicable condition (without pirated CD's, good reach for small movies, giving some breathing time for small movies to garner public attention and revenue) for both these kind of movies to co-exist in Tamilnadu.

thank u
gk