No surprises as box-office turkeys badly hit Mollywood’s prospects in 2014.
Estimates by the Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce peg the loss at around Rs. 250 crore. Only five per cent of the nearly 100 movies released up to mid-December managed to sail through.
“Of this, the number of hits may not cross five. An equal number of films would have ended up on a no-loss, no-profit deal,” said K. Nandakumar, president of Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce, the apex body of organisations in the Malayalam film industry.
A decision by Malayalam entertainment channels to put brakes on soaring satellite rights came as a bolt to producers this year.
Mr. Nandakumar said the restrictions imposed by the television houses led to the drop in the number of releases in 2014. “It’s good in a way as the stakeholders would be vigilant not to churn out movies that lack quality content,” he said.
G. Suresh Kumar, president of the Kerala Film Producers Association, pointed out the industry could survive only by checking the soaring production cost. Actors and technicians claiming big pay packets must slash their fee to take the industry forward, he said.
M. C. Bobby, former general secretary of the Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation, said the number of fly-by-night producers may come down drastically owing to the cut in satellite rights. “But, it would affect the prospects of theatres as owners would have no other option but to screen other-language movies. Soon, the number of theatres closing down in the State will go up,” he said.
Mollywood’s finance model returned to the old days when producers depended on exhibitors to advance the production cost especially after the Kerala Television Federation, the apex body of entertainment channels, resolved to fund only select movies.
The case of Vellimoonga , the biggest grosser of the year, remains a classic example of how channels revised their business plans. There were no takers for the Biju Menon-starrer till it set the box-office on fire. Industry sources said the movie bagged an impressive Rs. 4.5-crore satellite right after it became a blockbuster.
