Kollywood is looking at an anti-climactic lockout as the ongoing strike extends to include film production too starting this Friday. It comes at a time when footfalls in theatres have reached a dismal low with the audiences moving away to video streaming platforms. There have been 34 Tamil releases this year up to February 28 and the lone film that managed to make a profit from the theatres is Sundar C’s comedy multi–starrer Kalakalappu 2 .
Tiruppur Subramaniyam, Theatre Owners Association chief, says, “ Kalakalappu 2 is a hit and the only film which is bringing in audiences in this no-new releases period. The film became a hit as the audience loved the multi–star cast and it provided value for money. None of the present day actors have that pulling power that extends beyond first day first show. Other than one or two stars, it is better for small and medium actors to bury their egos and come together in multi–starrers instead of doing solo hero films. Last year’s biggest hit, Baahubali 2, proved that and Vikram Vedha too was an example of how well a multi-starrer can perform.”
Actor Shiva, who got a new lease of life with Kalakalappu 2, says, “When Sundar C called me for the film, he said, ‘You are the only actor who in the sequel that was part of the first film.’ I trusted Sundar and it has worked like magic for me.”
An era of multi-starrers
The 1970s and early 80s saw a period when Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth came together and worked together in 13 films starting with Apoorva Raagangal (1975) to Geraftaar (1985). Later, they went their separate ways as they became superstars and they did not want their fans to clash. During the early 2000s, we had Vijay and Suriya doing Friends and Vikram and Suriya doing Pithamagan together. Take the history of Tamil films and one can notice that multi-starrers have worked to a large extent.
Multi-starrers are back in vogue now. Mani Ratnam has pulled off a coup by bringing together an ensemble star cast in Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (CCV) . The film’s starcast includes Silambarasan (STR), Vijay Sethupathi, Aravind Swamy, Arun Vijay, Prakash Raj, Jyothika, Aditi Rao Hydari and Aishwarya Rajesh. Thanks to its multi-star cast, the film has a lot of hype with Lyca Productions funding the film as co-producers.
The grapevine is abuzz that Rajinikanth’s new film for Sun Pictures, to be directed by Karthik Subbaraj, will also feature Vijay Sethupathi playing the antagonist. Similarly, for Kamal Haasan’s Shankar-directed Indian 2, there will be either a big south Indian star pitted against him or Ajay Devgn, to make it like a multi-starrer.
Gautham Menon too has announced a multi-starrer with leading stars from the four south Indian industries coming together. One of the hottest films now is Venkat Prabhu’s Party, a comedy which has half a dozen stars — Jai, Shiva, Sathyaraj, Jayaram, Shaam, Ramya Krishnan, Nivetha Pethuraj and a few others.
The economic side
It is easier to market a multi-starrer to distributors as well as television channels and streaming platforms. Sundar C explains, “ Kalakalappu 2 is now a franchise film and I will definitely come out with a part three sometime in the future with a new set of stars. The audience likes to see multiple actors together on screen but making a multi-starrer work is very challenging just because of the arduous task of co-ordinating their schedules and then to complete the film on time.”
As Madahavan said, “To start with, multi-starrers should be driven by the demand of the script. Pushkar and Gayathri had a bound script for Vikram Vedha and both me and Vijay Sethupathi knew exactly what we were doing and worked as a team to make it successful. There was no ego.”
The trade says the business of cinema is changing and the audiences are becoming choosy about the kind of movies they spend their money on. So it makes sense to make multi-starrers, which are easier to market, if made on a budget.
