Industry watchers in Chennai vouch for Karunanidhi's grandsons' talents. "They have fresh ideas and even money to invest to bring the best out of the industry", says one film critic. But others point out that the family is not only ruling the industry but has also monopolised the theatre business. Around 90 per cent of the theatres in the state are controlled by Kalanidhi, Udayanidhi or Dayanidhi. Sun Pictures controls 30 per cent of the theatres in the state that were earlier run by rivals. Udayanidhi's territory extends from Chennai to Tiruchirapalli while cousin Dayanidhi controls a large number of theatres in the Coimbatore to Madurai region. The practice of minimum guarantee in the state gives them a leeway. It is a marketing strategy under which the theatre owner pays the distributor and the money is shared in a prearranged ratio of 60:40 between the producer and the distributor. But critics say that the strategy is burning huge holes in the pockets of distributors and theatre owners. Around 2,400 theatres have closed down in a span of 18 years. "We are facing major losses," says Tamil Nadu theatre owners' association secretary Rohini Paneerselvam. The theatres are blocked for movies that don't fare well at the box office. An example: when Pen Singam, a movie scripted by Karunanidhi, was released it held up 12 other movies which couldn't find any theatres. "We are forced to run certain movies for 20 days irrespective of their collections," says a theatre owner. Industry sources say around 64 films are still in cans due to a shortage of theatres.
Though the Tamil film industry produces about 150 films a year, on an average only between 100 and 120 reach theatres, says a recent FICCI study on the Tamil film industry. The study further states that the Tamil film industry is estimated to have crossed Rs 800 crore in terms of total revenue generated during 2009-2010. Of this 65 per cent came from big-budget films, while the rest from those with relatively small budgets. Alarmingly, while only a few years ago half the films managed to recoup their investments or gather massive profits, the hit ratio has dropped from 50 per cent to 15 per cent in the last four years.
According to a veteran film director, the industry feels safe if a new movie is produced or released by one of the four production houses owned by the family. The reasons are threefold: in case of a controversy, a lid is promptly clamped. Equally important, there are no attacks on theatres screening productions by the family. But the most important advantage that home productions have is the synergy the tv channels provide. Promotions of their productions are aired frequently, and then there are rave reviews on TV shows as well.
Such is the stranglehold of the Karunanidhi family on India's second largest film industry that a leading Tamil magazine recently carried a cartoon announcing a new film release with the caption, "For the first time in history, a brand new film written by Kalaignar, produced by Kalaignar's grandson, directed by Kalaignar's grand-nephew and starring Kalaignar's grandson to screen on Kalaignar TV." A livid Kalaignar cited the example of Rajinikanth, Prithviraj Kapoor and Kamal Hassan to defend the entry of his family members into the industry. "Such comments are made by people who have only politics on their minds. Why shouldn't I have children or grand-children? And why shouldn't they get into films if they like?" Karunanidhi thundered at a function in Chennai.
A leading scriptwriter of the Kollywood film industry, Karunanidhi even as chief minister always refers to film fraternity as his extended family. The reference is quite literal now.
Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/110515/under-the-banyan-tree.html?page=2
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