The eight-decade old Kannada cinema which lost benefits of what is being dubbed as ‘protectionism’ being enjoyed from the past few years, is trying its best to ‘re-invent’ itself in terms of content and production and looking for market outside Karnataka, and abroad as well.
Kannada cinema was enjoying protectionism in terms of entertainment tax, unofficial ban on dubbing films from other languages and restriction on number of screens for the release of other language films. While the unwritten agreement on the restriction of screens nullified few years ago, entertainment got subsumed with rolling out of GST regime. Pro-dubbing lobby is making every attempt to screen block busters from neighbouring Tamil and Telugu film industries.
Dayavittu Gamanisi , an experimental film, directed and co-produced by Rohit Padaki, drew appreciation from local audience and is also being widely appreciated in the west. The film was released across the United States on November 2 and also released for the first time in 15 different centres across Australia.
Saad Khan's debut directorial venture Humble Politician Nograj , starring Danish Sait will be simultaneously released in US and Karnataka in December. Ondu Motteya Kathe , the film that dared cast a man with a bald pate in the lead role is running to good response in theatres: it was first watched by audiences in Chicago, Detroit and Dallas in May before its release in Karnataka.
Though this was unthinkable a decade ago (with very few exceptions like Mungaru Male and Kotreshi Kanasu ) the last few years have seen an increasing number of Kannada films trying to make a mark in foreign shores and in screens outside Karnataka.
Kannada cinema, which is cribbing about its limited market compared to market possibilities of neighbouring Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films is in market expansion mode. Film makers are looking for new pastures both inside the country and abroad and reinventing themselves to the changed scenario.
New breed of film makers are trying to unshackle films from their conventional making by exploring new possibilities; including opening doors for the future of Kannada cinema in the global market.
It is a known fact that few content driven Kannada films embedded with social message have crossed the seas earlier too. It is needless to say that New Wave movies made by B.V. Karanth, Girish Karnad, Chandrashekhar Kambar, Girish Kasaravalli and others in 70s were screened in various International Film Festivals. But those attempts were not aimed at expanding the market.
“With a change in the situation, film makers are trying seriously to explore market both outside Karnataka and abroad. At least 25 per cent of Kannada films produced are being screened in foreign shores now. But only a few are getting returns. The success of those films that release abroad depend on market potential,”says S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu, Chairperson, Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy.
Now star-studded blockbusters made with huge budgets, shot in foreign locales and films made by new breed of directors with shoestring budget, opting for new avenues such as crowd funding are being released in other parts of the country, especially in Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi to meet the demand of Kannada diaspora. Besides their “all India release” producers have found market for their films in foreign shores too.
Kirik Party , the recent box office hit is being screened in more than 50 plus foreign countries. “The film created a record of sorts by collecting Rs.38 lakh from 20 plus screenings in just three days,” claims Pushkar Mallikarjunaiah, one of the producers of the film. The film saw a strong opening in USA, Singapore, Japan Germany, Israel, besides other parts of Europe, he adds.
Earlier, Rangi Taranga by Anup Bhandari made with a budget of Rs.1.50-crore, was released in a record 11 screens in Maharashtra and ran successful shows in Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Chandigarh, Kochi, Kolkata and Coimbatore. This was the first Kannada film to make it to the list weekend box-office list of The New York Times and grossed Rs.1.30-crore in three days. Rangi Taranga was also released in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Malaysia.
Mungaru Male, Aatagara, Plus, Airavata Ugram, Maanikya, Lucia, Ulidavaru Kandante, Uppi2, Godhibanna Sadharana Maikattu, Last Bus, Thithi, Karva, Care of Footpath-2, Dodmane Huduga, Mungaru Male-2, Idolle Ramayana, Zoom and the recent Hebbuli are some of the films that are being screened in various parts of the globe. Ugram was the first film to be screened in Tokyo and Manikya made waves in UAE.
Nagatihalli Chandrashekar's award winning Kotreshi Kanasu may have started the trend of screening Kannada films in foreign shores way back in 1995, but since then the demand for Kannada films has boosted significantly, according to Darshan S. a distributor with Overseas Kannada Movies. While releasing Kannada films is a common feature in USA, Australia, London, Hong Kong, the new screening locations are Japan and Ireland, he adds.
Release of Kotreshi Kanasu did not make any noise when it was released in USA. But people started identifying the trend after the release of America America . “As digitalisation of films had not commenced, I used to carry spools of film weighing 40 kg. Recently, I took a small hard disk to screen Ishta Kamya,” says Nagatihalli. According to industry sources Mungaru Male by Yogaraj Bhat created interest among Kannada diaspora in foreign shores.
Film industry sources agree that it was Rangi Taranga which has paved way for Kannada cinema abroad in the last three years. Earlier Kannada films in foreign shores were being released by few Kannada organisations, now few film distributing companies are showing interest in screening them.
Pawan Kumar argues that people are looking for content and not interested in action films, as they get stuff of the kind from Hollywood. “There is a market for Kannada films abroad, but it has to stabilise further. There is a need to create audience for Kannada cinema through better content,” he said.
Following a meeting with Virendra Sharma, the Member of Parliament for Ealing Southall in the UK, a delegation of Kannada film industry decided to float a platform with the UK Karnataka Business Chamber. “The intention is exploring possibility of co-production, funding and distribution of Kannada films in UK and Europe,” says award-winning film maker B.S. Lingadevaru.
