The achievement rate of Kannada films can be around 5- 10 percent. However, releases like Yash-starrer KGF, Darshan’s Yajamana, and Nata Sarvabhouma should show the sector’s game-changers. Those movies have made it massive in the field office, India, and even offshore. While the current launch, Yajamana, earned around Rs 6.7 crore on the outlet day (March 1), Puneeth Rajkumar’s Nata Sarvabhouma, which opened in theatres on February 7, passed this number by minting Rs 7.50 crore.
Last year’s release, KGF emerged as a winner notwithstanding dealing with competition from a big Khan release, Zero, starring Shah Rukh Khan. Touted as the most expensive Kannada film made at a budget of Rs 80 crore, KGF maintained a regular pace even after the discharge of Ranveer Singh-starrer Simba. It even proved challenging for the struggling drama Uri: The Surgical Strike. Along with this, KGF is the fourth most effective in listing maximum-grossing movies from the South Indian movie industry. Topping the chart is the Baahubali series, observed with the aid of Rajinikanth’s 2.0.
Apart from Kannada and Hindi, KGF: Chapter 1 was released in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam languages. Along with KGF 2019 releases, Yajamana and Nata Sarvabhouma set the tone for the Kannada film enterprise that lags behind other South Indian film industries like Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. In a verbal exchange with Moneycontrol, film trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai said, “KGF is the primary Kannada movie that has executed okay outside the kingdom (Karnataka). Trade experts also declare that KGF is the first Kannada film to make Rs 200 crore globally and to make Rs one hundred crore in Karnataka by myself.
He explained that Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam films are more significant “because of a large variety of clients of content in those languages distant places.” Pillai elaborated on this: “The remote places marketplace for content in those languages is huge because the Telugu film enterprise is as massive as Bollywood in America. This is because a more wide variety of Telugu humans are there. Similarly, Tamil has a gigantic market specifically because of Sri Lankan Tamils who have grown up looking at Tamil films and migrated to the United States or Canada, and their population is huge there.
“Kannada has got a market simplest in the US. Tamil has the biggest overseas market because its miles are spread evenly throughout the globe. Then comes Telugu, as it has been given a huge US audience. People who migrated from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the 2 Telugu-speaker states, have created a gap there,” Pillai added. He also mentioned that “price tag rates of Telugu movies are higher inside the US – even as the ticket of Hindi movie fees $10-$12, a price tag for a Telugu film is for $20.
On these days, the Benga,luru International Film Festival (Biffes) 11th version, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had requested the contributors of the Kannada film industry to publish a listing of the various troubles faced by the sector with viable solutions. He had said that even though the success rate of Kannada films is much lower, the enterprise needs to preserve that specialization in making precise films.
The enterprise, which churns around 300 films every year, does not now have a huge marketplace. Pillai believes that the best manner ahead for the enterprise is to make it huge globally. He also talked about how “regional content (Kannada films) in Karnataka is handiest one-country-driven even as other local cinema has traveled to
Mumbai, Delhi, and different towns. There is a big market for content material in exchange languages – for instance, in Hyderabad for Tamil movies; Malayalam cinema is now famous multiplexes in Gujarat. However, Kannada hasn’t grown like that. For the Kannada industry, ninety-five-ninety-eight percent of revenue comes from within the country. This is unique for Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam movies, wherein 70-eighty percent of revenue comes from in the state, and the rest is outdoor,” Pillai explained.
Pillai stated that while Kannada films are large in markets like Hubli, Dharwad, and Shimoga (Shivamogga), the actual massive deal in Bengaluru is because of the presence of theaters. “PVR alone has the best income coming from Bengaluru, in which they have 25-28 multiplexes,” he stated.
However, he stated that Kannada films in Bengaluru are becoming swamped by Hindi cinema and, to a certain volume, Tamil and Telugu cinema. “Telugu has a larger market because Andhra Pradesh stocks its border with Karnataka. So, first, I would say the Khan movies followed using Telugu and Tamil,” Pillai stated.
This might be the purpose of the 230 films the Kannada movie enterprise produced in the ultimate year; only 20 should stand out in commercial enterprise on the container workplace. According to a 2017 record, the contribution of the Kannada movie enterprise to the overall box workplace proportion is two percent of the sales, and the box office achievement rate stands at around 25 percent.
Citing KGF’s instance, Pillai stated, “The movie has accomplished very well, breaking out of the country and making it big pan-India as well as within the foreign places market. So, you have to make pan-India movies and have a hero who has that form of attraction. Karan Johar advertised KGF. It was the first Kannada movie actively marketed and saw a simultaneous US launch.
While industry players have suggested some answers – just like the national government has to sell Kannada films outside Karnataka, it needs to grow its subsidy. So forth, Pillai stated that the industry must pay attention to making true films. While the enterprise is in a transitory section and witnesses many 1/2-baked attempts, a film industry member suggested regulating various releases. This will give more display area to top films wandering away in the crowd.
The industry is also warming up to becoming a member of the library of over-the-top (OTT) platforms that are aggressively looking at expanding their regional content material. This may want to boom hobby amid visitors for Kannada movies. Films like Nicotine, Kavacha, and Kurukshetra will hit the theatres this year. Exuding self-belief in the Kannada movie industry, Pillai said, “Like KGF, this year you will see extra movies arising to be able to carry out well even out of doors Karnataka.”
