Sandalwood is abuzz with hit film “Zoom” all set to have its television premiere on October 2. The film released on July 1 and was a hit at box office. Within three months of its theatrical release, the film is having its satellite premiere. This has shocked the film analysts in Gandhinagar.
Even recently released film, “Jigarthanda” had its television premiere within one month of its theatrical release. What has surprised everyone is that both the above films are not flops. Though we cannot say “Jigarthanda” is a big hit, it is not a flop either. A flop film getting its satellite premiere soon is heard, but a hit film getting premiered so soon is surprising everyone. So what is the reason for the films to premiere so soon?
Tarun, working in a popular Kannada channel says, “Channels earns revenues from advertisement. If a new film is premiered soon on a channel, we can charge more from advertisers. This will help in channel recovering money for the amount they pay as satellite rights. This is a win-win situation for film makers as well as channels. Nowadays, a film releases in huge amount of screens. After four weeks, there are hardly shows given for the film, however big it is. So it makes sense to release the film on small screen after its theatrical revenue comes to end.”
“There are many local cable channels that also play the film in few days after release. In internet also films are easily available. So a percentage of people would have already watched the film. If the film’s release on small screen is delayed more, it will affect the TRP, so it is better to have television premiere as soon as possible,” he adds.
Krishna, executive producer also finds the trend favourable for everyone. He says, “This is a good trend. Gone are the days, when a film runs for 100 days. Today a film is success, if it runs houseful for two weeks. Look at “Kotigobba 2”. The film released in record number of screens and did excellent business in its first three weeks. In its eighth week, the film hardly has any shows. If the film premieres on small screen within next 50 days, it will not affect the theatrical run. It will only benefit everyone as the TRP of the film will be high. This trend is common in all industries. Bollywood is following this since so many years. Salman Khan’s “Sultan”, which released a week after “Zoom”, will have its satellite release two weeks after “Zoom’s.”
However not all find this trend favourable. Satish, admin of a popular Kannada film page on Facebook feels,” This trend will affect Kannada film industry in a negative way. People of Karnataka take some time to watch film. We have seen so many films which do well after some period of time. If a film premiering soon on small screen becomes a trend, people will stop coming to theatres. With ticket prices at all time high, families are hardly coming for film. If this trend becomes common, I am sure they will not come to watch film at all in theatre. Without spending money for ticket, popcorn and travelling, they can watch the film free on TV. This trend should not be supported as it will impact the industry in negative way. This may benefit the channel, but over a long period of time, it will have adverse effects. “
Supporting Satish’s view is a popular distributor, who does not like his name to be revealed. He says, “This trend is bad. The channels’ logic that telecasting a film within few days of release fetching more TRP’s does not hold good. “Jogi” had its satellite premiere three years after its theatrical release. The film broke all TRP’s records upon release. I am not telling that there should be so much gap between theatrical and satellite release, but a gap of six months is good. Or else distributors like us will suffer.”
Looking at pros and cons of both, we cannot say if this trend of releasing the film on small screen within a short period of time after its theatrical run is good or bad. At the end of the day, it’s all about money. Channels say that they make money with early television premieres, whereas some distributors feel that they will lose out chunk of audience due to this. All we can say is that if the film’s content is good, people of Karnataka will always support the film. So a good content film should be aim of filmmakers so as to gain from theatrical revenue as well as satellite premiere revenue.
