HYDERABAD: We always go back to that one specific show or movie and declare it our comfort viewing. Despite the new ones and trendy series being released, we tend to re-watch a few films to feel comfort and ease. With Titanic’s 25th anniversary coming up, it’s all set to release once again on-screen on February 10. While the re-releasing trend has been going on for a while, movies like Jalsa, Pokiri or Thammudu in Tollywood have been no less of a nostalgic trip for the fans. The Hyderabadis, while they realise it’s a commercial move, couldn’t help but hop on to the bandwagon to watch their favourite actors again and again.
Elaborating more about the trend, Chaitanya Dantluri, TFI director, says, “I watched them when they were first released in the theatres. I thoroughly enjoyed them and I would say they are re-release worthy. More than a commercial move, it is a kind of restoration. They are upgrading and enhancing the negatives and archives to 4k and re-releasing them. It’s a good move for us. Hollywood has planned four to five movies per year for re-releases, so why not us? And the audience are loving it. The enhanced audio and visuals, the audience in the theatre are with full packed energy. If the audience is loving it, more re-releases should be planned ahead.” It was an amazing experience to watch Kushi on a big screen for the 23-year-old Sindhu Vemuganti, TFI artist. “I never went to a concert, but now I know how it feels. It was an amazing experience to watch Kushi on the big screen.
When the songs started playing, everyone in the theatre started singing along, and out of nowhere, there was confetti in the air. Only one can feel this overwhelming and crazy feeling. Despite watching Kushi on TV all my childhood, and multiple times on OTT platforms, I couldn’t lose the opportunity of watching it on the big screen. The experience is heaven; on top of it, who isn’t a Pawan Kalyan fan? Being his fan, I would want to watch his classic movies on the big screen that I missed watching in childhood,” says Sindhu.
Re-releasing top hits and classic movies is definitely a good decision, but it might lose its authenticity if they start releasing all the movies, feels Rakesh Kumar, senior software engineer. But Devarakonda Srivenkata Hariharan, 2nd year student, MCA, doesn’t feel the same. “I would love to have furthermore releases like this. Such cult movies must be watched in theatres only; as I missed watching Kushi on big screens, this was a great opportunity for me and all the movie buffs around. I enjoyed singing along with the songs in the theatre. And since I went with my friends, we could have a gala time. We always talked about the classic scenes of Kushi, but now since we got to watch it together, the vibe was crazy,” shares Hariharan.
Ratna Sheela, HR Assistant, always rewatches some of her favourite movies when she doesn’t know what to watch. “This re-release trend has been such a blessing to me. I’ve not found any new releases worth watching, but I wanted to watch ‘a movie’ in a theatre, and these re-releases were like a blessing in disguise for me. I’d rather watch these comfort films than anything else on the big screens. The theatre experience is always preferable, with sound effects and all.
It was fulfilling and content for me after a really long time. Somewhere along, I wish they would reintroduce classic black-and-white movies too,” opines Ratna. For Sai Dheeraj, Business development associate, who has seen Okkadu on OTT multiple times but watching it on the big screen with whistles, and all the hootings made him forget the outside world. “Not every re-release can bring the audience back to theatres. Only a few timeless classic movies will have that power; I’ve seen both Kushi and Okkadu with my friends. We enjoyed each and every bit. People were dancing to the songs and were saying dialogues in sync for iconic scenes. It was a great experience. But this trend of re-releasing is an opportunity to make a profit out of fandoms and emotions. However, it’s the same with new releases as well,” concludes Sai Dheeraj.