Tollywood's turnaround

As more and more Hindi movies tank at the box-office, Tollywood is capitalizing on this fall with a spate of well-made movies that are drawing a huge audience back to the theatres.
Year 2010 has given the biggest jhatka to Bollywood in recent times. Not only has the number of flops far outnumbered the number of even those that have done average business, they are also being edged out of theatres by Bengali movies.Tollywood, which has long suffered from a deep sense of regret for not been given its due when it came to good shows, is today happily eating into the space that has been reserved only for Bollywood. As more and more Bengali movies are completing over 50 days of screen run, some of the most-hyped Bollywood films ('Kites', 'Action Replayy', 'Guzaarish', 'Raavan' and 'Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey') are fizzling into oblivion just after completing a week's run at the theatres.
Says Prosenjit Chatterjee, 'Tollywood has made the biggest turnaround in this decade. During the beginning of the decade, we had people watching Bengali movies. People would discuss Bengali movies sitting at the local tea stall. But with the success of 'Moner Manush' and 'Autograph', people are now talking Bengali movies even at clubs. Even non-Bengali viewers, who would only watch Bollywood films, are now keen on seeing Bengali cinema. That's a hugely positive sign. Multiplex authorities are now keen on increasing the shows of Bengali film since they are drawing more footfalls than Hindi movies. A decade ago, I wouldn't even have dreamt of such a scenario.'
Kaushik Ganguly, whose recent screen outing that marks the acting debut of Rituparno Ghosh, has been drawing a full house. 'I'm overwhelmed. The continuous flow of good Bengali movies has brought about this change. There are some very dedicated Hindi film viewers. Barring them, there is a large group of people who have developed a taste for watching both Hindi and Bengali movies. These days, a lot of viewers from this group are preferring to watch a Bengali movie over a Hindi film. I know of people who've gone to watch my film over the recent Akshay Kumar release. Though selling tickets in the black market isn't any fair deal, I've even seen that happen for Bengali movies in recent times. I take it as a back-handed compliment.'
Abir Chatterjee, whose Byomkesh act in 'Adim Ripu' got a thundering response at the theatres, says, 'A friend of mine had come down to Kolkata a month after my film's release and wanted to watch 'Adim Ripu'. But even then, he couldn't get tickets for my film. There is no longer this fear of Bengali films not being able to stand up in front of big-budget Bollywood movies. The latter come with a lot of hype but it's Tollywood that's now stealing the show.' Producer Kaustav Roy says, 'Our 'Adim Ripu' ran for nine weeks. With quite a few Bengali movies being released one after the other, I do have reasons to be optimistic about Tollywood. I'm pinning my hopes now on 'Bye Bye Bangkok'.
What's even more flattering for Tollywood is that the industry is also churning out a variety of movies. So if on the one hand the audience is watching 'Autograph', 'Moner Manush', 'Gorosthaney Sabdhan', on the other hand there are takers for 'Wanted', 'Josh', 'Ley Chakka' and 'Dui Prithibi'. Director Raj Chakrabarty says, 'Bengalis are now addicted to watching Bengali movies. They have started believing that good films can be made here too. This belief has come not just from commercial films but also those like 'MM', 'Shukno Lanka' and Sandip Ray's film. We have to now tap the market in Tripura, Assam and Bangladesh. If that happens, we will soon be able to make films on a bigger budget too.'
Exhibitors are more than happy with the turn of events. Says Capt Virendra Marya, regional director of Inox Lesire Limited, 'It's a win-win situation for us. We have well-made Bengali movies that are getting a good response from the audience. In such a situation, it's only natural for us to want to continue with the existing Bengali movies shows and not discontinue them after a week.'
Arijit Dutta, owner of a chain of theatres in Bengal, says, 'The response to Bengali movies has been such that I haven't been able to run a single Hindi film in any of my theatres from November. I don't think I'll be able to do that in January either since there are too many well-made Bengali movies waiting in the pipeline.'
If this is how things stand, it surely speaks volumes of the prospects of Bengali cinema in the coming decade too.
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