Audience has realised the power of rejection

Today, the best thing that has happened to the Kannada film industry is the fact that the audience has evolved into a large discerning lot.

They are qualified, as the education is strong even at the taluk and district levels. People might not speak fluent English, but they are just as wise and well-informed as anyone in the bigger cities. This has led them to learn the power of rejection.

You cannot fool anyone anymore. And this is one of the major reasons why we might have well over a 100 films hitting the screens every year, but the success rate still remains elusive for more than 90% of these makers.

While these figures by themselves are quite depressing, what we need to be positive about is the fact that it is this same audience that will be quality control for film-makers. The audience has won the battle between them and the industry. The preference will go to what they want rather than what the stars want.

This is why I feel that 2011 will be a hopeful year for the Kannada film industry. Makers now know what the people want and are also afraid of rejection. This should make them think more than just twice before embarking on a film. I know that there will be a lot of interesting films that will release over the coming year.

An added incentive is that the average age of film-makers is a lot younger than what it once used to be. They can feel the pulse of what the audience want. Take my films, for instance. The ones who watched Mungaaru Male four years ago are no longer the people who watch my films. Instead, it is the boy who was in standard eight then, who is the main target of my films. He has changed over the four years, so have his preferences and liking. I need to keep him in mind for my films to run.

In fact, if you are to take my previous two films — Manasaare and Pancharangi — as examples, it is these youngsters who’ve made them run. The ones who are working or busy wooing their prospective suitors are not who we have to target. It is these youngsters between 16 to 20 years who play the chief bunch of promoters, through their word-of-mouth publicity. You need to pamper this lot, else they won’t return to watch your films. If you don’t do that, they won’t play publicists.

And this bunch is crucial because the Internet has proved to be of help this year as a parallel medium of publicity and these youngsters are the ones who drive it there. I’m sure that over the coming years, the Internet — be it the networking sites or other links — will prove to be equally big mediums of publicity as the traditional media.

And this is the same reason why films of the younger lot of film-makers like Suri, Shashank and Guruprasad do well. They have begun to realise what appeals to the present day youth and what doesn’t.

Even actors like Puneet Rajkumar ensure to re-invent their image every passing year, based on what the current lot of cine-goers want. This is what has helped them remain right on top of the success ladder, as opposed to others who refuse to change their ‘image’.

The future of the film industry lies in your hands — the audience. You’re the one who can reject bad films and celebrate the nice ones. Use this carefully and guide us through the new decade, where content will remain the king, as opposed to the stars.

— As told to Sunayana Suresh