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Can we have some thrillers please?
 


Ramaa
Chennai
behindw@behindwoods.com

Tamil cinema has a long legacy. It has produced movies on historical events, personalities and contemporary social issues. Tamil films generally fall in the genres of musical, sentimental drama and comedy. A recent phenomenon in the past two decades has been the action film. This involves stunts and fights which have been increasing in complexity and

sequencing. Nevertheless, a missing element is the thriller for which there are only a few films worth mentioning like Sivaji’s Pudhiya paravai and Ravichandran’s Adhe kanngal. Although there have been talented directors and actors in the industry, they have stayed away from the thriller. Apart from the peerless Sivaji, only Ravichandran and Jaishankar come to our mind immediately when we think of suspense stories. Why is the thriller not popular with the Tamil audience? Why did the recent Shock fail to enthuse the viewers?

Films in Tamil have always been a provider of entertainment set in the own social milieu of the audience. That is why social films or contemporary stories have become mass hits. Historical films ran well because of the strong screenplay and excellent acting. Thrillers or suspense stories were generally felt to be difficult for audience

acceptance. Skilled directors concentrated on dialogues and acting abilities rather than on the build up and sustenance of the suspense. A few early films in the thriller category failed at the box office, prompting directors to dump the category as a whole. In such a scenario, Jaishankar and Ravichandran alone managed with a handful of murder mysteries. The intrigue in the screenplay was created well and so the audience liked it. With the modern age however, directors have decided to play it safe and these days not many thrillers are made.

Economics-wise also, thrillers are difficult to make because they call for extra expenditure in terms of actors’ remuneration required for longer schedules, camera placement, special effects and so on. Many heroes cannot afford to give such bulk dates in these days of quicksilver popularity.

Thrillers need not necessarily involve an urban set up. It can have a universal appeal irrespective of the setting. Only the presentation matters. However, Hollywood-style nuclear wars or oil rig adventures, may not appeal to our audience. But they would definitely lap up a good mystery film told with a punching screenplay. Our directors would do well to take a leaf out of Hitchcock. Is anyone hearing?

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