Kamal Ghorui
The political uncertainty in Tamil Nadu is not just dominating headlines but is also casting a shadow on new film releases. Though Vijay emerged as the leader of the single largest party in the State Assembly elections, the ripple effects of the drama around his party’s attempts to secure the magic figure of 118 needed to form the government is now being felt in the Tamil film industry, too. With the public attention shifting almost entirely towards Vijay and the rapidly changing, twist-filled political developments, recent and upcoming film releases, including Suriya’s Karuppu and Dhanush’s Kara, have been pushed into the background.Don’t want political waves to wash over film’s buzz: RJ Balaji on Karuppu trailer delay.Though Karuppu is slated to hit theatres in four days, its trailer has not yet been released. Addressing the delay, director RJ Balaji clarified that while the trailer is ready, the team doesn’t want the ongoing political tension to overshadow it. In a video message, he said, “When all of us were happy that we voted for the people we wanted to, unexpected twists took place. But let us hope that good things happen in the end. Until that positive result happens, we want to wait because we don’t want to release a trailer only for the political waves to wash over it.”
‘MANY IN THE INDUSTRY EXPECTED KARUPPU TO BE POSTPONED’ Industry insiders admit that Tamil Nadu’s political landscape is indirectly affecting the theatrical prospects of new releases. A source tells us, “Grabbing the audience’s attention is a big challenge now as they are focused on political developments and the uncertainty in the formation of Vijay’s government. Many in the industry even expected Karuppu to be postponed by a week or two, but the makers are going ahead with a May 14 release. It’s a bold move, and the industry is praying it pays off.”Meanwhile, distributor and creative producer KB Sriram, while acknowledging the poor state of the box office, remains optimistic. He says, “Due to the current situation, audience turnout in theatres has been quite low for recent releases like Kara , Patriot and 29 . Many theatres are struggling to manage basic operational costs as apart from Youth , which was released in March, all recent releases have underperformed. However, Karuppu is expected to turn the tide. It has strong pre-release buzz, so the trade is confident that it will revive footfall across both multiplexes and single screens.”
