ENTERTAINMENT
Tamil Cinema: Deja Vu
M. ALLIRAJAN
04 Apr 2008
Leaps in entertain- ment technology these days seem to be accompanied with creative deficit. Hollywood is in the midst of a sequel boom — Indiana Jones, Batman, et al — as contemporary America offers no new hero prototype. Back home, Tamil cinema is also buffing up old hits to pull crowds to the box office.
Billa 2007, the remake of Rajinikanth’s hit Billa of the 1980s, is one of the biggest grossers in the past few months. Naan Avan Illai, a remake of the much earlier Gemini Ganesan film, is a hit, too. This has made a host of producers toy with the idea of remaking old hits.
“People are playing it safe,” says director Radha Mohan, maker of last year’s critically acclaimed and commercially successful Mozhi. “They are remaking only old hits that jell with the audience.”
People are lapping up remakes. The presentation is different and refreshing. For instance, Billa 2007 is slick and scores over its original in production values, cinematography and amazing action sequences. Serious movie aficionados want old classics such as Server Sundaram, Maya Bazaar or Neer-kumizhi to be remade.
The Tamil movie industry turned out a record 31 releases in the first quarter of the year. Such profligacy must drain the creative juice of the industry.
With NRIs pouring in money and a host of small-budget films hitting screens regularly, there is bound to be a lot of clutter. The Tamil film cocktail is getting a lot of old wine, albeit served fresh.
(Businessworld issue 8 - 14 April 2008)
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