Kerala Box Office : Top 5 Movies in Dec - Jan

Kerala Box Office : Top 5 Movies in Dec - Jan

Here's the Box Office update of films that did well during the months of December (2013) & January (2014) @ Kerala Box Office

1. Drishyam

Enough has been said about the film already. With about 30 crores gross, from Kerala, in 46 days the film is the biggest Malayalam hit ever. It also becomes the first Malayalam film to earn more than 40 crore [including all kinds of revenues]

 All Time Blockbuster - Industry Hit

2. Oru Indian Pranayakadha

The only Malayalam film to survive the 'Drishyam onslaught'. The film has a mega hit run @ most of its centers. Sathyan Anthikkadu factor, Perfomances of Fahad-Amala and Drishyam returns helped the film to reach success levels. 

Super Hit

3. Jilla

The film took the biggest ever opening in Kerala, but then fell due to average WOM. Life time gross expected to be around 9 crores.

Above Average - Safe for distributor [If Distribution rights were 'sold' for 3.5cr, Super Hit if its instead of Mohanlal's revenue]

4. Dhoom 3 

According to reports Dhoom 3 is the biggest Bollywood grosser in the state. The film continued at almost all centers in 2nd week and made come backs at few centers 2 weeks later.

All Time Blockbuster

5. Veeram

Even though film got good reports it didn't translate into collection.

Average - Loss for distributor

Fate of Other Notable Releases

Silence - Flop

Salala Mobiles - Disaster

Ezhu Sundara Rathrikal - Disaster considering theatrical revenues, but the producers covered all expenses from non-theatrical avenues even before the release

1983 - Released on Jan 31, took average opening but reports are extremely positive

Jilla vs Veeram - Kerala Box Office Update

Jilla vs Veeram - Kerala Box Office Update

Veeram

 Sree Kaleeshwary initially signed for Veeram Kerala distribution rights @ 1.30 crore. But once Jillla was confirmed on the very same date, after much negotiations the rate came down to 78-80 lakhs. Including Print & Publicity of about 15 lakhs the total investment by the distributor is about 95 lakhs. Even though the film had better WOM the release time was bad [as per Kerala business was concerned], it got squeezed between Jilla and Drishyam and couldn't really get going. The film will be a losing venture for Sree Kaleeshwary with final distributor share coming in the range of 75 lakhs, costing them about 20 lakhs. After the release the 'in-ground' promotion was lukewarm from the distributor side too. The Kerala theatrical run is about to be terminated with film still playing only in a handful of theaters.

Jilla

Two of the biggest Crowwd pullers in the state uniting for the first time helped the film to take the biggest ever first day and opening weekend in the history of Kerala Box Office. But the WOM was mixed, plus the Drishyam phenomenon affected the films longer prospects too. The film when reports last came in had grossed between 8.5-9cr with distributor share of about 3.5 crore plus. 

The confusing fact about Jilla is regarding the distribution rights, the figures quoted is 3.5 crore [extra 15 lakhs for print & publicity], but there is no clarity regarding whether its a separate deal or instead (or a part) of Mohanlal's acting fees [Since its distributed Mohanlal's own Max Lab/Aashirvad]. If the former case is true, Jillla will also cost the distributor a few lakhs in the final tally. The film will be Vijay's 2nd biggest grosser in the state, falling well short of Thupppakki.The film is running in more theaters compared to Veeram, But will also terminate within a week or two.

So while 'Gross' wise Jilla is miles ahead of Veeram, but based on 'Returns on Investment' there's nothing much to separate both films.

List of Most Awaited Tamil Movies of 2014

My  List of Most Awaited Malayalam Movies of 2014

Two of the most hyped projects of 2014 have already hit the screens, Jilla & Veeram. Lets look at few of the other interesting  Kollywood prospects in 2014 - List not in any particular order

Kaviya Thalaivan

 

Vasantha Balan-Prithviraj-Siddharth-Vedhika team up for what is looking like an interesting project.

Vishwaroopam 2

The sequel to controversial yet successful Kamal Haasan film of 2013. Even though the prequel couldn't match up the hype it created this one definitely looks like a better prospect


Vijay - ARM Project

 

Vijay, AR Murugadoss unites after the mega succesfful 'Thuppakki'. Looks like a Diwali release. Will be a Anirudh Musical

Anegan



KV Anand is back after the dud 'Maattrraan' with national award winning actor Dhanush. Actor Karthik also makes a comeback via Anegan.

Anjaan

 

Suriya Linguswamy Samatha Project. Camera by Santosh Sivan. A Yuvan Shankar Raja Musical. Sonakshi Sinha doing a cameo.


I / Ai

 

Shankar's mega budget thriller starring Vikram, Suresh Gopi, Amy Jackson etc tells the story of an Athlete.

Kaali




Karthi - Aatakathi Ranjith project.

Vaaya Moodi Pesavum



Balaji Mohan's next after bilingual (Tamil-Telugu) succes 'Kathalil Sothapuvathu Eppadi'. Son of Mega Star Mammootty, Dulquer Salmaan makes his Kollywood debut in the film which also marks the return of Madhu Bala to silver screen after a small gap. Will be a Tamil-Malayalam Bilingual

Jigarthanda
 

Director Karthik Subbaraj returns after the path breaking horror thriller 'Pizza'. Teams up with Siddarth & Lakshmi Menon

Ceylon
 

Santosh Sivan's ambitious project, the much anticipated film on civil war in Sri Lanka.

Sattendru Maaruthu Vaanilai

Simbu, Gautham Menon reunites after the sort of cult classic 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya' in 'SMV'. This is also said to be a romantic-drama like GVM's past few films. Produced by GVM hismelf with AR Rahman handling the music departmen
.

Ajith-GVM, Suriya-VP projects are said to be releasing in 2015 only, so not featured in the list

In case of any mistakes in the titles or details regarding project or if you think the list missed any movies or do you have a totally different list, comment below or tweet @ BreakingViews4U

Veeram - Movie Review

 

Veeram - Exclusive Movie Review

Directed by     Siva
Produced by     Bharathi Reddy
Written by     Bharathan (dialogues)
Story by     Bhoopati Raja
Music by     Devi Sri Prasad
Cinematography     Vetri
Editing by     Kasi Viswanathan
Studio     Vijaya Productions
Release dates   January 10, 2014
Running time     161 minutes
Country     India
Language     Tamil

   

Cast

    Ajith Kumar as Vinayagam
    Tamannaah as Kopperundevi
    Vidharth as Shanmugam
    Bala
    Munish as Siva
    Suhail Chandhok as Kumaran
    Nassar
    Pradeep Rawat
    Santhanam as Pichai Muniyandi
    Ramesh Khanna
    Avinash
    Appukutty
    Thambi Ramaiya
    Abhinaya
    Manochitra
    Vidyullekha Raman
    Suza Kumar
    Ilavarasu
    Mayilsamy
    Devadarshini
    R. N. R. Manohar
    Paruthiveeran Sujatha
    Amit Kumar Tiwari
    Kalairani

Ajith in a 'Vetti Chattai' doing a village based mass role after a long time was the main USP of Veeram and Siva delivered a perfect entertainer meeting the expectations.

Veeram is the story of Vinayagam, a one man army with heart of gold, darling of masses, his brothers and his love interest Goppurendevi (Gopu). The first half deals with the brothers with the help of Santhanam trying to make Gopu & Vinayagan fall in love, so that they themselves can introduce their love interests before their brother and marry them. While the second half story shifts to Gopu's house and native village where Vinayagan not only has to earn the love & respect of her family members but also deal with another enemy who is trying to eliminate Gopu's family

Story is nothing new or unique but its the Presence of Thala as the towering personality and Siva's smart packaging that makes it work. Its an out an out Ajith show, he oozes charisma even while simply standing. The screen presence he had in Veeram is impeccable which was sort of missing in his last 2 films.

Siva packaged an average script with perfection. The dialogues were very powerful and had punch, especially the one liners mouthed by Ajith. Camera, Editing jobs are well done. The locations are apt and beautiful and even @ 160+ mins it doesn't drag much. Santhanam's comedy in 1st half worked out very well.
The Interval action bloack in train was good, but nothing like it was hyped thanks to shoddy VFX. BG was terrific.

The biggest negative is the age old script and uneven script. The 1st & 2nd half are like 2 different movies. Tamannaah got a comparatively meatier role, but a holy mess of it, especially in emotional scenes. Her chemistry with Ajith didn't work out and their romantic duet songs were plain bad. Even though DSP scored in BG score the songs were average, so was its choreography. Action choreography apart from interval block was average. Santhanam's character got lost some where in the second half. The 4 brothers apart from Vidarth did average job only.The movie also lacks a powerful villain.

Siva using the image of Thala Ajith perfectly, mixing all the right ingredients in the perfect combination has given a good entertainer. Even though its no where near to being perfect, watch it for Thala, if for nothing else.

Rating: 3/5

The Mighty 'Head' Rules !!!

Ajith's Veeram - Music Review

 Ajith's Veeram - Music Review

Veeram (Ratha Gaja)

The best track in the album, it's the same one that was featured in the first teaser. Since then it was in every one's lips. Its a thumping, pulsating track, which DSP used first in his own Telugu film Bhai. Superb orchesttration, lyrics and singing makes this a great track.

3.5/5

Nallavanu Solvanga

This is also another good track from the album. DSP's voice is a plus. The music is also good. The dialogues added in between makes it more interesting. With visuals the song is going to create more impact for sure.

3.25/5

Thangame

Adnan Sami is the biggest plus of this song. It has a dejavu feel to it [again DSP's own old tracks]. With visuals the song might enter the hit charts, but as if now its abbove average only.

2.75/5

Jing Chakka

A typical dappam kuthu songs with not so interesting/catchy lyrics. nothing special in it to talk about, just an average track

2.5/5

Ival Dhaana

The weakest track in the album. Looks like the romantic duet picturised on Ajith & Tamannaah. Average song, nothing great singing wise too. It will be interesting to look forward the chemistry between a Salt N Pepper Ajith & Tamannaah.

2/5

So, in all, to my non-professional, layman's ears Veeram album doesn't meet the huge expectations it had, considering the fact that its an Ajith film and DSP is the music director. AlsoFew songs gave a feel of Dejavu.

 For a mass films chartbuster songs are necessary, don't know whether anyof these will later turn out to be one, but as of now its not upto the mark.[Remember Singam 2 songs were really bad when heard as audio, but by the time film released it became 'Okay' ]

after Singam 2 another underwhelming album in Tamil from DSP

2.75/5

Above Average


Listen to Veeram Songs Officially, Legally, for Free here: http://gaana.com/album/veeram

Veeram - Kerala Distribution Latest Updates

Sree Kaleeshwary who bought Kerala distribution rights for 'Veeram' has been in great dilemma for the past few months, reason their 'Veeram' clashing a film which is most probably going to get the biggest release Kerala has ever seen, Jilla.

 They bought the rights thinking that Jilla will be postponed to April. But after Jan 10 has been fixed as the release date for Jilla they are caught in a soup, because they also have Trivandrum area rights for Jilla. Now clashing with a film featuring 2 of the most popular stars of the state is a very bad idea for any other movie. So SK is now trying to resell Veeram as backing out was not an option for them. They have been looking for & making talks with interested buyers, but the price quoted by them will cost SK badly. Finally after much talks they have got better offers for Ernakulam & Malabar area  which they might end up selling soon . But they might hang on to Trivandrum area where they will have to distribute it along with Jilla.

If there are no other releases on same date and the X-mas releases hit Holdover Veeram could get 60-70+ theaters, and if there is 2+ days gap with Jilla the numbers could cross 100 as well, provided Verram hits the screen first.

Vijay's Jilla vs Ajith's Veeram for Pongal 2014 - Is it a Good Idea ?

 The title of Ajith's 54th film has been officially confirmed via Press Release as 'Veeram'. It has also been mentioned that the film will be hitting the screens during Pongal 2014, the date which has already been fixed for Vijay's next 'Jilla', which also features Super Star Mohanlal in a prominent role.

'Pongal' is a big festival which can very much accommodate two biggies in Tamil Nadu they say, but still when two super stars of equal status collide it surely will eat into each others collection, a big no no in the current scenario.

It is believed that the release date of 'Veeram' will be pushed to January 24th, Republic Day weekend. Jilla is far ahead in terms of filming and promotion as nothing much is known about 'Veeram'. So by pitching its release date with Jilla will create enough buzz among people. This is what belevied to be the strategy of the PR for 'Veeram'. they will most probably let go this until 1 month or 2 to Pongal and postpone the release date (or may be even pre pone).

Also the clashing of biggies is gonna affect 'Veeram' more than Jilla - How? let's look

In TN both film will be received equally, eventhough fans claim theirs will be the bigger one. But it all depends upon the power of the makers & distributors. Those who get better screens and more show times will be the winner in such a closely contested scenario. But Now Tamil films are not just confined to TN alone. The 3  important markets where the simultaneous release could affect are Kerala, Andhra & Karnataka.

In Kerala 'Veeram' might not even get proper screens to release simultaneously as Jilla stars two of the most popular stars in the state & Ajith's fan following is no where near to that of Vijay, who is the uncrowned prince among other language stars. In Andhra 'Jilla' won't be making much of an impact as Vijay has meager fan base there. But Ajith who has a much better fan base in AP will have to clash with one of Telugu cinema's current biggest super star Mahesh Babu's '1'. In Karnataka too the films will have to fight for the limited screens available for other language movies. In all other circuits it again depends upon who the 'early bird' i, to catch more screens.

So with all these 'Theories' in mind we are hoping that 'Veeram', being the later one to announce the release date, will be pushed ahead.


Jilla is directed by Nesan & Stars Vijay, Mohanlal, Kajal Aggarwal, Poornima Bhagyaraj etc

Veeram is directed by 'Siruthai' Siva & Stars Ajith, Thamanna, Vidarth etc