How pan-India releases like RRR, Pushpa are playing villain to the Kannada industry-Entertainment News , Firstpost

Clash between movies of same language and also others aren’t a new thing. But, the situation now is different and strange. In Karnataka, it is Kannada movies versus Pan India movies.

What is a Pan India Movie?

A movie that is made in one language but dubbed in various languages (generally 5 languages) to reach the viewers of the respective state is termed as pan-India. The making of such movies is so huge that the makers grab maximum number of theatres across the states.

Let’s take the example of the largest pan-India movie of our times: Baahubali. Baahubali, though a Telugu original movie was dubbed into several languages but was released in Telugu in Karnataka. Karnataka has a large viewership for Telugu cinema. So a Telugu original movie will play on par or at times even larger than a Kannada movie here. When a big movie like Bahubali releases in large number of theatres across Karnataka, several Kannada movies put their release dates on hold.

Seeing a theatrical release and having a box office win is still a big challenge for the Kannada cine industry as pan India movies sweep off several theatres for a long time (weeks together with regard to Baahubali). During this period, no other Kannada movie was able to draw a larger crowd.

Pushpa is another movie that was widely promoted in Karnataka. Initially, the team said they will release the Kannada dubbed version of Pushpa in Karnataka, but they backed out last minute. All the theatres where Pushpa released in Karnataka telecasted the original Telugu one. Kannada movies who were planning a release though lesser in number at that point of time, backed out since major theatres were booked by Pushpa team. Given the covid restrictions still in place with respect to cinema halls (50% occupancy) in Karnataka, releasing a movie in theatres is a huge risk for Kannada movies even now.

Trade experts suspect Pushpa team watched the performance of Akhanda in Karnataka and followed the non-risky path. Akhanda, released in Karnataka in Telugu made 12 to 15 crore in the state. Hence instead of taking chances by releasing the dubbed version, Pushpa makers went for the Telugu version alone and won. This is told to be a last minute decision of the team (not to release the Kannada version).

We can recall  SS Rajamouli’s words in this, “Pan India itself is a brand, no need of promoting it big”. Any movie that is termed a pan Indian movie has a different variety of promoting itself. So the promotion battle is half won with the term is what the ace filmmaker meant.

Karnataka has around 600 theatres. If any pan India movie arrives, the makers grab 300 to 400 theatres for the release which is a big blow for Kannada movie makers. If 3-4 pan India movies are released in a year, Kannada movies will have no option but to put things on hold leading to huge loss.

Now with RRR on the way, no big movies will release on and around the RRR release date. It’s a huge risk if any Kannada movie releases at the same time. One because theatres won’t be available for them to book. Secondly, even if someone dares to just release the movie with the lesser number of theaters available at that point of time, the audience will obviously go towards the richly made pan India flick rather than the Kannada ones. So it’s a loss altogether.

The Solution?

Looking at all these developments, Kannada movie makers have zeroed in on a solution for the pan India menace. They have decided to make pan India movies here so that they can spread their wings across borders. KGF, the first successful pan India movie from Karnataka showed them how it is done.

Jaggesh starrer Totapuri termed as the first comedy pan India movie is in the making. Being made in Kannada, the makers have decided to dub the flick in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi. Prajwal Devaraj starrer Mafia and another unnamed flick by Shivarajkumar which was announced recently have joined the pan India bandwagon. Shivarajkumar’s movie will be directed by R Jai and is said to have underworld story in retro style. But the smaller movies suffer a lot since they don’t have stars or the budget required to compete. If the above three movies succeed, a new league will show the way for Kannada cinema to survive.