Films of 2022, such as KGF: Chapter 2, Kantara, 777 Charlie, and Vikrant Rona, promised a new chapter in the history of Kannada cinema. While it’s unfair to expect an exact repeat of a remarkable year, the industry’s slump in form has indeed happened sooner than expected.
The failures of Kranti and Kabzaa exposed the perils of blind following of the pan-India genre. Kranti was a generic star vehicle starring Darshan and Rachita Ram, R. Chandru’s Kabzaa was a clear-cut move to encash the popularity of the pan-India model. Starring Upendra in the lead, Sudeep in an extended cameo and Shivarajkumar in a guest appearance, the gangster drama was short on story and imagination, and failed to offer a KGF-like experience.
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The reception to Hostel Hudugaru Bekagiddare shows how people, right now, are more keen on watching pure entertainers than films that engage but also take on a relevant topic. However, Gurudev Hoysala, a cop drama that addressed caste discrimination, and 19.20.21, a hard-hitting retelling of a student wrongly accused as a terrorist, were cold-shouldered by the audiences.
“The Kannada audiences are hesitant to pay and watch serious films,” says Mansore, the director of 19.20.21. Cinegoers also sidelined small-scale yet interesting attempts such as the musical drama Orchestra Mysuru, and the coming-of-age drama Hondisi Bareyiri.
“Watching films has become expensive post-pandemic. If you have to get people to theatres, it appears as if you must only make an extraordinary effort that fully entertains them,” said the director.
Debutant Shashank Soghal’s debut Daredevil Musthafa, based on Poornachandra Tejaswi’s short story on religion, succeeded enough to provide hope for newcomers. “Somebody from the industry told us that not even 5000 people are watching Kannada films in theatres this year,” says Shashank. “We went to theatres every day. Our movie was good, we were parallelly promoting it in creative ways, and the government made it tax-free. So, the film was in the news every week,” he said of his film’s 50-day run.
