While Mollywood is busy discussing 100 crore club and multi-million projects, a breed of young filmmakers are sustaining the industry. They are bringing to fore a star-less formula, and yes, they are creating fireworks at the box office too. Released amidst superstar outings and a volley of other language films, these cookie-cutter hits are opening up a wide new world of possibilities.
“If you have a hands-on knowledge of the pulse of the audience, you can always experiment. As I have been doing a lot of stage shows, I know what makes them laugh or hoot,” says Nadirshah, director of recent blockbuster Kattappanayile Ritwik Roshan (KHR).
KHR stars Vishnu Unnikrishan in the lead, an actor with no Greek-god looks or acting pedigree to boast. “Confidence in the subject and the artist is what made me go ahead with the project. While doing video cassettes we used build on the myth of Mahabali giving it a comic makeover. Reintroducing Jayan, packaging folk songs into something trendy - I have done all that.” He adds Malayalis have a history of accepting good films, irrespective of the cast. “Good films always attract crowds. Look at yesteryear hits like Chamaram and Lorry, they had no big stars in their cast list. I knew KHR will be lapped up by the audience and that gave me the confidence to briefly appear on the screen and thank them,” he says.
Happy Wedding, the first sleeper hit of 2016, had no known-names associated with it. Other than its entertainment quotient the film had no other selling point - no big banner, no industry heavyweights endorsing it and absolutely no stars.
“Nobody will be interested in bankrolling a film directed by a newbie, that too without any popular faces in it. Happy Wedding happened because my cousin was ready to produce it,” says director Omar. The film hit the screens with big releases like Kammattipadam, School Bus, and Adupuliyattam, restricting it to a few theatres. But within days crowds were formed and the number of screens increased from 30 to a whopping 150. “I knew the theme could easily connect with the audience. Wedding is something everyone can relate to, normally the biggest event in one’s life. We presented it with a lot of humour and a little suspense and the idea worked,” he adds. Ebullient and youthful, Anandam has seven newbies and zero stars featuring in it. “We were quite confident that it was a good film. But we were not expecting such an immense, overwhelming response,” says director Ganesh Raj.
The film, produced by Vineeth Sreenivasan, was an instant hit as youngsters swarmed the theatres from day one onwards. “We never considered casting a star though it would have made the marketing part easy. The film is about college students and unfortunately we don’t have stars who fit that profile. Compromising the script and casting a senior actor was something that never crossed our minds,” he says.
Story is the real hero, says Jude Anthany Joseph whose second film starred a 60 plus newbie in the lead. “Though Oru Muthassi Gada is woven around a granny, it is full-on family film. I was confident that the story will connect with all generations,” he says. The film was a festival release competing with Oppam, Welcome to Central Jail and Oozham, and yet it remained in the theatres for long. “We recently celebrated the 75th day. I could have done this as my fourth or fifth film. But I was keen on doing this starless project as my second film after Om Shanti Oshana. The film had a good theatrical run, though the initial response was not very exciting. It picked up when the families, the original target audience thronged the theatres after a week,” he explains.
Innovating marketing
Team Anandam went for a unique marketing exercise to reach the audience. Posters, hoardings and online hype were out of question as the film had only fresh faces. “To compensate for the lack of star power we went for a different and extensive marketing strategy. First we identified the target audience and then went straight to them. We visited over 50 colleges in Kerala to promote the film. We interacted with the students and introduced the characters to them,” says director Ganesh Raj. Then there was this handwritten letter by Vineeth Sreenivasan inviting them to watch the film. “So we could create a buzz in most of the campuses before the release. We found that our target audience is more active on instagram, not facebook. So we generated profiles for all the seven actors and their posts are trending even now,” he adds.