Chennai cinema crowd seems to have gone multi-lingual. Thanks to the spurt in multiplexes across the city, access to non-Tamil films like Eega (Telugu) and Barfi (Hindi), are easier and being received very well by the city audience. So much so, getting a ticket for any movie, be it Tamil, Hindi or Telugu, is difficult during the weekends.

“That is because of the mushrooming multiplexes with more number of small screens,” reasons Mr L. Suresh, honorary secretary of South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce.

Earlier, it was not viable for theatre-owners to screen non-Tamil movies in single theatres with seating capacity of 1,800 as they cannot run it houseful.

But, with the advent of small screen multiplexes, having 200 seats, it is becoming profitable, he explains.

Chennai’s IT sector also led to this trend change. When hordes of migrants from other states came in, they insisted on having entertainment options.

“This young, multi-lingual, affluent crowd also presented an opportunity for theatre-owners to experiment with non-Tamil movies,” says Mr Suresh.

Another major factor that has brought about this change is digital film technology. “While it helped producers and distributors save over 40 per cent of overall costs, simultaneous release and encrypted technology helped cut down piracy for theatre-owners,” says noted film historian ‘Film News’ Anandan. Digital prints now cost only Rs 200-250 per show.

“It’s not non-Tamil films, but good films that are doing well,” corrects film distributor and multiplex owner Abirami Ramanathan.

Also, while a Telugu film may cost Rs 10-20 lakh to the distributors, a Hindi movie comes for Rs 20-40 lakh, against Rs 3.5–40 crore for Tamil movies.

During times of severe cash crunch, fiscal prudence paves the way for other language films, Mr Ramanathan reasons.

Cinema bridges North-South divide

Cinema, it appears, is emerging as the biggest neutraliser of the north-south divide.

Get into any movie hall in Chennai—or anywhere else in the Dravidian state that had thrown out the Congress party from power in the mid-60s on an anti-Hindi plank—and you will find as many northerners queuing up for the latest Rajni or Surya flick as the Tamils.

“The vice versa is also true; you will find many Tamil people coming to see good Hindi films. Also, all the prominent Hindi films get released in Chennai the very same day they are released in Mumbai.

This shows how popular Hindi cinema has become down here”, says Sanjay Bansali, entrepreneur and past-president of the Rajasthan Youth Association in Chennai.

He adds, “It’s a completely cosmopolitan crowd at the movie halls in Tamil Nadu cities. It’s impossible to get tickets for a Hindi film for the first three days”.

However, ‘Film News’ Anandan has a different story. According to him, the Hindi movies are not doing well in Chennai and other large cities in Tamil Nadu.

“A movie-goer would enjoy the film better if he knows the language. Not many here know Hindi, thanks to the DMK campaign against teaching Hindi in schools.

In the good old days, it was quite common to find Hindi films running for 200 to 300 days in this city but now, even a good film is unable to do more than a couple of weeks”, says the well-known film historian.

According to him, many ‘sexy’ Hindi films are being dubbed into Tamil and are getting modest profits on the small investments for their local distributors.