First Quarter Report Of Tamil Films 2014: Jilla, Veeram, Goli Soda Steal Limelight
News
oi-Prakash
By Prakash Upadhyaya
The
first
quarter
in
the
year
2014
appears
to
have
passed
in
a
blink
of
an
eye.
Tamil
audience
were
flooded
with
movies
almost
every
weekend
and
this
made
them
choosy.
Alas,
the
increase
in
the
releases
have
neither
helped
the
industry
nor
audience,
as
success
rate
is
very
low.
Except,
Vijay's
Jilla,
Ajith
Kumar's
Veeram
along
with
low-budget
films
like
Goli
Soda
and
Thegidi,
none
performed
well
at
the
Box
Office!
Here
is
a
critical
analysis
of
the
opening
quarter
(Jan
1-Mar
31).
January
First
Week
In
the
opening
week
(On
January
3),
six
movies
(Agadam,
Athimalai
Muthupandi,
En
Kadhal
Pudhidhu,
Kathiyai
Theetathe
Buthiyai
Theetu,
Mun
Andhi
Saaral
and
Namma
Gramam)
had
hit
the
screens.
As
there
were
no
good
movies
in
theatres,
these
small-budget
films
were
in
race
to
cash
in
on
the
occasion
to
their
best.
Sadly,
none
remained
in
theatres
the
following
week
due
to
Pongal
biggies.
Pongal
Extravaganza
Tamil
audience
had
set
their
eyes
on
Vijay-Ajith
clash.
Like
previous
week,
the
second
week
of
January
saw
four
releases
but
Jilla
and
Veeram
stole
all
the
limelight
as
expected.
The
films
got
fantastic
opening
and
made
good
business
during
the
festive
occasions.
Looking
at
the
responses,
many
producers
of
small
films
decided
to
postpone
their
films.
Goli
Soda,
A
Sleeper
Hit
While
small
movies
continued
to
release
every
weekend,
only
Goli
Soda
could
make
some
difference.
Indeed,
the
film
directed
by
Vijay
Milton
went
on
to
become
a
sleeperhit.
As
a
matter
of
fact,
the
film
made
with
only
Rs
2
crores
earned
more
than
Rs
14
crores
at
the
Box
Office.
The
underlining
part
of
the
story
is
that
all
sectors
of
film
business
like
producer,
distributor
and
exhibitors
earned
profits.
Continue
reading
the
story
on
the
slideshow...
3
Out
Of
18
Of
18
films
in
January,
only
three
films
kept
the
cash
registers
ringing.
While
Jilla
and
Veeram
banked
on
the
star
values,
Goli
Soda,
without
a
star
cast,
became
a
successful
movie.
Aaha
Kalyanam-Bramman
While
the
craze
around
Jilla
and
Veeram
started
diminishing,
Aaha
Kalyanam
and
Bramman
hit
the
screens
with
huge
expectations.
The
Nani
and
Vaani
Kapoor
starrer
film
got
mixed
reviews,
but
failed
badly
at
the
Box
Office.
Whereas,
Bramman
garnered
negative
feedback
in
large
and
could
not
keep
the
cash
registers
ringing.
Thegidi-Vallinam
In
the
last
week
of
February,
Thegidi
gave
a
relief
to
the
industry
as
it
got
overwhelming
response
from
audience.
Indeed,
the
Ashok
Selvan
and
Janani
Iyer
film
made
good
business
considering
the
low
investment.
Like
Goli
Soda,
this
film
too
became
a
profitable
venture
in
all
sectors.
But
Vallinam,
in
spite
of
getting
positive
reviews,
failed
to
become
a
crowd-puller.
Eighteen
films
saw
the
light
of
day
this
month.
Nimirndhu
Nil
March
remained
a
dull
month
due
to
examinations.
But
this
did
not
have
any
impact
on
small-budget
films
as
there
were
a
few
releases
every
weekend.
The
first
big
release
was
Nimirndhu
Nil
and
it
was
opened
up
to
mixed
reviews.
Nimirndhu
Nil,
Cuckoo,
Inam
People
had
pinned
high
hopes
on
Jayam
Ravi
and
Samuthikirani's
Nimirndhu
Nil.
But
the
film
turned
out
to
be
a
dud.
The
other
movie
to
garner
public
attention
was
Cuckoo,
which
got
thumbs
up
from
critics.
Santosh
Sivan's
last
week
film
Inam
too
garnered
positive
response.
But
Cuckoo
and
Inam's
collections
are
not
upto
the
mark.
The
Silver
Linings
In
the
first
quarter,
54
movies
were
released
and
only
four
movies
turned
out
to
become
commercial
hits.
Vijay's
Jilla,
Ajith
Kumar's
Veeram,
Goli
Soda
and
Thegidi
are
the
films,
which
have
made
some
money
in
the
opening
quarter.
Jilla-Veeram
There
are
some
traders,
who
believe
that
Jilla
and
Veeram
collections
are
not
upto
the
mark.
Considering
the
star
value,
the
films
could
have
made
earth-shattering
business
with
huge
profits.
Well,
the
success
of
Goli
Soda
and
Thegidi
has
given
a
new
hope
to
aspiring
filmmakers
and
small-budget
films
as
Tamil
audience
encourage
good
content.
And
the
big
production
house
has
also
learnt
the
hard
lesson
that
reducing
budget
is
the
need
of
the
hour.