The Kannada film industry is reeling in a year it produced its highest ever number of films. MiD DAY investigates what went wrong, and predicts things may get worse towards the end of the year
The Kannada film industry is reeling in a year it produced its highest ever number of films. MiD DAY investigates what went wrong, and predicts things may get worse towards the end of the year
The Bangalore film industry is coming to the end of its worst year, and regular producers are blaming real estate businessmen for its plight.
A total of 105 films have been released in 2009 so far, the highest for any year, but only four have recovered their money and four others have earned profits.
Regular producers believe real estate tycoons who ventured into films ruined the industry for everyone.
N M Suresh, who lost Rs 2 crore on his last film Kaaranji, said, "The Kannada film industry has collapsed while other language films are making good money."
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Real estate money increased the number of productions, and made the industry unviable, he believes.
"With two to three films releasing in a week, the movie buff just had too much coming at him," he said.
Producer K Manju says four of his films flopped this year. "I have lost about Rs 3.5 crore," he told MiD DAY.
Rockline Venkatesh, whose Manasaare is one of the more successful films this year, said, "Real estate tycoons don't know a thing about films, and throw their money around. Cinema halls, artistes, and technicians have become unaffordable because of that."
Producer Ramesh Kashyap can't fathom what is going wrong. He said, "My film Bhagyada Balegara was made for a family audience, but it just didn't work." It had one of the Kannada industry's most saleable heroes, Shivarajkumar.
Kashyap sprinkled consecrated water on cinema halls in the hope that it would help the film run, but nothing helped.
Crime connection
Prem, director of the lavishly produced Raj The Showman, believes real estate money also brought with it the hint of crime.
"They come with a bad reputation, and that kept the audiences away from the halls. They treated the business like a gamble," he said.
By his own estimate, Prem's film has made the maximum profits this year (Rs 25 crore), but industry insiders believe that could be an inflated figure.
S V Babu, a land developer, produced two movies this year, Sangama (with the top-selling star Ganesh in the lead) and Josh (new artistes).
He said, "We are confused about what the audience want. Josh completed 100 days successfully." Sangama flopped.
Babu said land developers weren't coming to the industry now like they did earlier.
'Not our fault'
But E Krishnappa, the real esate tycoon who produced the industry's biggest ever hit Mungaaru Male, believes regular producers are themselves to blame for the present misery.
"Artistes are demanding more, and producers are wasting money on foreign locales and mindless publicity," he told MiD DAY.
He argued that regular producers had no taste, and were throwing their money down the drain.
"They create scripts for actors. It shows that their intention is to make money and not to make good films," he said.
Krishnappa read several scripts this year but did not feel like producing any of them.
The actors don't agree they jacked up their rates because the producers were from the real estate business.
"I get paid the same, whoever the producer. I think many real estate businessmen got into movies inspired by E Krishnappa, and lost their money," said Radhika Pandit, who won the national award for the film Moggina Manasu (2008), produced by E Krishnappa.u00a0
Hits
Ambaari, Jangli, Veera Madakari, Savari, Josh, Eddelu Manjunatha, Raj the Showman and Manasaare.
Flops
Circus, Kaaranji, Yodha, Vaayuputra, Namyajamanru,Hodi Maga, Bhagyada Balegara, Rajani, Dubai Babu, Kiran Bedi and Bellary Naga.
Hit actors
Aindrita Ray, Vijay, Puneeth Rajkumar and Yogish .
Flop actors
Pooja Gandhi, Ganesh, Vishnuvardan, Shivarajkumar and Darshanan
>>A record 105 films till date in 2009
>>Just 4 make money, 4 break even
>>'Real estate money ruined industry'
>>Big heroes, big banners bite the dust
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