Kochi: It is not possible to design a film as pan-Indian and ensure its success especially in a small industry like Malayalam, actor-filmmaker Basil Joseph said here on Thursday.
He flagged the risks involved in making a big-budget film expecting a country-wide reach. He was participating in a panel discussion on “Is this the end of cinema theatres?” as part of the Manorama News Conclave 2023 along with filmmaker Jude Anthany Joseph and actor Nikhila Vimal.
“We can’t design a pan-Indian film. A film should work for its local audience first. If it conveys a universal emotion and gives a sense of community, it may get a pan-Indian reach. Look at the case of Kannada film KGF. Nobody knew about the film or the actor when it was released. It reached a pan-Indian audience gradually. I think RRR is the only film that was successfully designed as a pan-Indian cinema. It’s risky to conceive a Malayalam film as pan-Indian spending a big budget,” he said.
Basil said only big-scale films that attract the masses have been making waves in theatres of late. He said this has been putting excessive pressure on filmmakers.
Nikhila agreed with what Basil said about pan-Indian films. She, however, blamed the poor maintenance of theatres for keeping audiences away.
“A family has to spend at least Rs 2,000 to watch a film in a theatre. Audiences then demand a theatre experience for the money they spend. However, theatres that can offer such an experience are less now. Films come out in the quality technicians envisage only in a handful of theatres. Audience may feel they can watch it the way they want at home,” she said. She recounted her experience of watching the Rajinikanth-starrer Jailer in a cinema where the operators lowered the volume after a point.
Jude, who is the director of India’s official Oscar entry “2018”, echoed Nikhila’s concern. However, he said theatre owners may be unable to maintain the halls due to poor revenue. Jude was of the opinion that content is the only thing that matters in a cinema.
“Only films with good content have become successful. Cinema is a result of collective decisions. When good decisions come together, a good film is made,” he said.
Basil said he had conceived his film “Minnal Murali” as a theatrical release. “I wanted it to be a film that people remember as a theatre experience. However, a Netflix release got it a wider reach. I don’t regret the film not getting a theatrical release,” he said.
