The Tamil film industry is plagued with problems such as too many films, too few theatre halls, falling revenues and piracy. So Kollywood is considering a three-month embargo on releasing films. Kavitha Shanmugam surveys the mess it is in

Tamil director-actor Cheran is in a defensive mood. Seated beside a bronze and lapis lazuli stone-studded statue of the Buddha in his cozy office cabin in Chennai, he is under attack for his new venture - Cinema2Home (C2H) network - launched with much fanfare this month. But he is on the right track, he insists.

He has just released his latest film JK Ennum Nanbanin Vaazhkai - which is on the journey of a young man who wants to settle his family and friends before he dies - exclusively on DVD and online forums under his C2H banner.

The move has kicked up a furore, with the powerful Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) opposing it. But Cheran believes that this is the way of the future.

"Times are changing, the industry has to change. Today, many platforms have emerged for audiences to view films," he says.

The venture has attracted attention because the Tamil film industry, often referred to as Kollywood, is in a state of flux - plagued with problems such as too many films, too few theatre halls, falling revenues and piracy. Cheran's steps are being seen by many as efforts to tackle some of these problems.

In 2012, actor-director superstar Kamal Haasan had planned a direct to home (DTH) release for his film Vishwaroopam. But he had to step back after facing opposition from various fronts.

But Cheran is storming ahead. He has formed a network of 150 distributors and 5,000 dealers through which he has sold high quality DVDs of JK... at Rs 50. He also provides set-top boxes to screen the film for other states and online streaming from his website for the overseas market for $3.

The reactions are mixed. "It is a positive effort but we are against Cheran's method of not settling with his investors before releasing the film," actor-politician Sarath Kumar says. Kumar, who leads the actors' association, however, welcomes it as an "alternative avenue" to beat piracy.

Cheran stresses that one of the reasons he took these steps was that his film couldn't be theatrically released. The number of films made is anyway on the rise, putting theatres in great demand. Last year, 211 films were released, a 25 per cent increase from the year before. So far, 29 films have been released this year; 11 of them hit the theatres last Friday.

"It is just a problem of supply hitting the roof," says producer C.V. Kumar. "There are 800-900 theatres in Tamil Nadu and 52 weekends. So how many films can you release?"

The industry is trying to take some steps, too. At a recent general body, the 837-member strong TFPC said it was discussing an embargo on the release of Tamil films for three months.

"The industry is in a mess and we are trying to correct it," says TFPC secretary T. Siva. "There are too many films, not enough theatres to exhibit them and too many flops with just 7 per cent of the new releases a success." However, he clarifies that the council will take decisions only after talks with different associations such as exhibitors, distributors and artistes.

In a bid to regulate this "glut", the TFPC has passed a rule that only three regular (not dubbed) films and one dubbed film will be released from April 1. Big budget films of over Rs 15 crore will be released only on festivals and holidays.

"It is a big challenge to release a movie today," says producer J. Sathish Kumar, whose Kuttram Kadithal and Thangameengal were the only Tamil films to make it to the Indian Panorama at the International Film Festival of India in Goa. Last month, he uploaded his films, which had been released in theatres on his website.

A single viewing of a good quality screening of a film costs Rs 50, says Sathish, who claims that he already has a subscriber base of 12,000 for his films. "My movies were just lying around so this is an attempt to get additional revenue."

Young Tamil director Karthik Subburaj, whose supernatural thriller Pizza (remade in Hindi, Telugu and now in Bengali) was a runaway hit, has also started a venture called Bench Flix to promote independent short films. He released the films online on his website and as "in-flight entertainment".

Many directors believe the problem of piracy can be tackled through online releases. For long years, south Indian filmmakers have been fruitlessly fighting piracy with anti-piracy cells and raids.

But piracy is just one of the problems that the 84-year-old Tamil film industry faces.

Industry sources say that production costs are "uncontrollable" because of fixed salaries and overtime fees for technicians laid down by the powerful Film Employees Federation of South India, very high fees for the top actors and expenses incurred for publicity. TV channel publicity ads alone cost Sathish Kumar's company, JSK, Rs 1.5 crore.

Moreover, too many new producers with small budget films have jumped into the fray, encouraged by the big successes of small budget movies such as the Rs 1.3 crore Pizza which made Rs 15 crore.

"Just 10 per cent of the producers today are serious, the rest are all in it for some entertainment," says Sathish. "About 85 per cent of the movies today are flops. We are falling into a pit and we need to pull ourselves out," director P. Vasu adds.

The insiders say that most producers do not even recover 50 per cent of their costs. There is growing discontent over such losses - the industry was shocked when distributors who had lost money on Rajinikanth's Lingaa protested, demanding their money back.

Subburaj, who found it difficult to get a theatre for his Rs 8 crore film Jigarthanda, believes that DTH, DVDs and online formats are "new" and "good" ways of distribution. But nothing can override the experience of watching a film in a theatre, he stresses.

"The theatre is the major revenue earner for us and we cannot bypass it. DVDs can net additional income but unfortunately the producers sign away those rights when they sell the satellite rights and we never see a DVD official release," he reveals.

Actor Sarath Kumar does not believe that a three-month shut down will work. "Producers are facing huge losses and so they are trying to streamline their costs and make investing in films profitable once again. Right now, it is not a viable business model so they are having another look at the costs of production and talking to different sectors to see where they can cut down."

He points out that in Kerala, producers submit a budget to their council which checks for viability. "There is nothing like this in Tamil Nadu." Many eyebrows were raised when Shankar's I was made at a budget of over Rs 150 crore - which is what a Shah Rukh Khan big budget film would cost in Bollywood. The Kollywood regional film market is not as big as Bollywood.

Abirami Ramanathan, distributor and exhibitor, and managing director of Abirami Mall, points out that Tamil Nadu used to produce 140 films. "That made sense for our market. But in the past one year anybody with a digital camera is making a film with budgets as low as Rs 50 lakh. Nobody can prevent any other person from making a movie."

But he adds that in the end, perhaps, the best will elbow out the mediocre. "Only the fittest will survive," he says.