Southern Sunrise: IIM-Ahmedabad course to decode tsunami of South movies

AHMEDABAD: The first instalment of Ponniyin Selvan (PS) released last week has already become the fifth highest grossing Indian movie of 2022 with a collection of Rs 346 crore, according to IMDb. In fact, out of top five highest grossing films of the year, blockbuster Brahmastra is the only exception from Bollywood, as the top three spots are with KGF Chapter 2, RRR and Vikram. KGF 2 and RRR are in fact among the all-time top grossers with more than Rs 1,000 crore gross collections.
The successful strides made by South films, both commercially and critically, which has left Bollywood flummoxed would be discussed as part of 'Contemporary Film Industry - A Business Perspective,' an elective taught by adjunct faculty Prof Kandaswamy Bharathan. Bharathan, who is joint managing director of acclaimed film production house Kavithalayaa, has over three decades' experience in all aspects of film business and production in the South film industry.
It's an interesting phenomenon to capture - factors such as emergence of OTT platforms and evolved taste of the audience could be seen as driving force that has blurred the boundaries between Bollywood and so-called regional cinemas," said Prof Kandaswamy Bharathan, who has, over the years captured cinema trends such as 'viral content' through 'Kolaveri Di,' management lessons through 'Chak De! India' and 'Roja' and marketing through Rajinikanth-starrer 'Muthu: The Dancing Maharaja' to name a few at his course at IIM-A. The course, taught for 15 years uninterrupted, is taken by over 1,000 students over the years at IIM-A alone.
The rise of southern cinema has been a topic of national interest as even in 2021, 'Pushpa: The Rise' was the top grosser, and several other projects also caught the attention of national audiences both through dubbed versions and OTT releases.
Giving a peek into the resurgence of southern film industries - especially Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam - the producer said that its roots could be found even in pre-Covid era through a slew of remakes, both official and unofficial, that gave a stamp of better content in terms of story and plot to various southern films.
"Films like Drishyam have been made in multiple languages - and all were successful. But it's the rise of OTTs that coincided with cheaper internet connection, better smartphones and finally the pandemic that changed the game," he said. "OTTs are, as I define it, WWW of entertainment - whatever, whenever and wherever content. It globalized the platter for viewers who compared the local content to Squid Games and Money Heist of the world. Thus, relatively poorer content would not make a cut with today's audience."
Explaining his demand and supply factors for the phenomenon, Prof Bharathan said that from the supply side, the production costs have escalated. "Apart from over the line or creative expenses, one must consider other expenses. Nobody outside the industry thinks about it, but fuel costs account for about 1-1.5% of total production budget. A large chunk also goes into post-production with special effects, etc. Thus, it makes sense for the makers to give it as wide a release as possible. Today with only 8,500 screens in India, OTTs across the globe have become a huge factor - the films have wider appeal and more diverse subjects," he said.
From the demand side, he said that audience awareness is a major factor. "The content is available much easier now on the online platforms. Today's viewer is much more aware about the trends and themes, etc. thanks to internet exposure. Language has not remained a barrier. Overall, I see it as a positive trend for the industry," he said.
After Baahubali, Prof Bharathan is preparing to write the next case on PS-I with approval of producers to be taught in the business schools following the case study method of teaching. "It's a mega movie getting a good response in India and abroad alike. It also shows the filmmakers and technical team with years of expertise at the forefront of storytelling," he said.