BEHINDWOODS COLUMN

 

Likewise at the box-office, we have several genres of films being dished out every other week. For the action buffs we have the racy fare, for the masala lovers we have the commercial crackers, for the romantically inclined we have the sweet love stories and so on and so forth. And the complete 'movie maniac' would schedule his appointments and check out all these kinds.

 

This past Friday on the 17th of April, we had two diametrically opposite films - Kanchana 2 and OK Kanmani, clashing for a share of the audience's limited attention span. The beauty about this clash was that both the films were lapped up by their respective dedicated target audience and also by the movie buff who just wants some quality time at the cinema hall.

 

Kanchana 2 had everything going in its favor ever since the film was announced - it was an extension of the successful Muni franchise, it belonged to the preferred horror-comedy space, it had the backing of Sun Pictures and Thenandal Films and the subsequent release of the promo posters and teasers did the trick big time in pulling in the audience by the droves to theaters. Initial reviews were decent to good, but importantly the movie connected big time with the common man. A,B,C and every other class has been flocking to theaters since Day 1 and the first 4 days gross in Tamil Nadu reportedly exceeded 20 crores. Given all the main single screens and the big screens in multiplexes across the state, Kanchana 2 registered a blockbuster opening and continues to hold very firm on the weekdays as well with more and more Housefull shows. No mean feat this! The film has been outperforming outside Tamil Nadu as well, and Malaysia in particular has been humongous.

 

OK Kanmani on the other hand was a progressive take on modern day romance, and at the same time didn't compromise on old-school values regarding relationships and marriage. The youth, upper class and upper middle class audience who form Mani Ratnam's core visitor base loved the film and this group was exactly the intended audience. The hardcore movie buff was also glad that Mani Ratnam was back to his preferred turf and had made a breezy feel-good product. The first 4 days TN gross was reportedly around 7.5 crores and overseas markets such as the US, UK and Australia were also very welcoming of the film.

 

We spoke to Mr Rakesh Gowthaman, Managing Director of the popular Vettri Theaters in the outskirts of Chennai to get a perspective on the performance of the two films

 

"OK Kanmani is performing well to its potential and in the intended target group. The film is a success to that end.

 

On the other hand, we are experiencing tremendous pressure for tickets for Kanchana 2. The pressure for tickets on the first Monday was in fact more than even Enthiran. By default, the first 3 days go full in our complex but even from Monday, we have had mostly full shows. Yesterday's noon show and today's noon show have gone for around 90% occupancy and the rest of the shows have all been completely Housefull. This is more than just a benchmark and in recent times, after Kaththi and 'I', Kanchana 2 has been the best performer in our complex. And it has done all this without any star power or director's brand. If there hadn't been other releases, we would have given all the shows in both our screens and still gotten full houses. Ladies and kids are just loving the film and we expect the film to run for a few more weeks at least, irrespective of other releases. Generally we don't run new films for more than 2 weeks, but Kanchana 2 will most likely be among the Top 5 grossers ever in our complex.

 

On the whole, a great week for us with the incredible Kanchana 2 and the good enough OK Kanmani. We can't expect every film to be a Kanchana 2 ! ", sums up Mr.Rakesh. Enough said, right? 

 

Kaushik.L.M