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STAR POWER BACK AT THE BOX OFFICE
The biggies are back in fray the coming season
Srinivasa Ramanujam
What was the last big-star film that you watched? Well, perhaps Billa 2. But before that? If you can't remember, fret not as it's been a while since a movie featuring a big star released in Kollywood.
But starting this September, all that is set to change as three films featuring three of the biggest stars in Tamil are readying for release. While Vikram's Thaandavam is set to hit screens on September 28, Suriya's Maattrraan will follow soon, releasing on October 12. Kamal Haasan's Viswaroopam is in the fray as well, aiming for an October release too.
An industry observer says, "The last few months have been full of small films, some faring well and some not so well. Despite some interesting subjects coming up, Fridays were looking dry and dull due to the lack of star power. The coming months promise to fulfill the expectations of fans of big stars in the industry whose films are ready for release."
With a lot of festivals scheduled in the season, audiences can look forward to extended weekends and theatres can look forward to mass crowd-thronging that was missing in the last few months. "It's exciting times ahead," says Abirami Ramanathan, well-known exhibitor and distributor, "Small-budget films had their day in the season gone by and now, it's time for the bigger players to enter the market."
With a four to five-month period of big films and the rest of the year filled with small and medium projects, revenues even out for theatres, he feels.
Apart from the proposed lineup, there's also talk of Sivaji 3D hitting the screens. With the opportunity of watching the Superstar taking on baddies in 3D promising to be a big experience, fans are eagerly awaiting this one as well. And then, there are a number of medium and small films slated for release.
But will theatres find it difficult to accommodate so many big films this season? "The makers of the films should ensure that there's no clash," says G Dhananjayan, producer, "That's how it works in Bollywood too. So, the big films should be released with at least a weeks' time between them."
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A still from Sivaji
A still from Thuppakki
A still from Viswaroopam
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