Originally Posted by
shortbread
We cannot compare the screens with Maharashtra. Imagine the number of theatres in the following districts alone Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nashik, Nagpur, Aurangabad.......
Bollywwod has built a humongous screening presence in the state, thousands of screens show movies everyday. The marathi industry can take advantage of that, provided they have a good enough movie that people want to watch. So our movies cannot get the kind of release that is possible in Maharashtra.
But we have another advantage, unlike us Bollywood movies still rule the roost with the Marathi audience. The proximity of the industry and similarity of language means, the average marathi watches more hindi movies than Marathi.
In Kerala, Malayalam is no.1. Tamil has a good following but cannot overtake the local industry, especially after the recent boom.
For our movies to make money we have to take International releases more seriously. It is happening now, Kerala has a huge affluent diaspora spread all over the world, Middle East, UK-Europe, US, Australia......there is huge potential here. For decades this has been ignored.....but the newer generation of film makers, actors are beginning to realize this. Also I believe these newer markets will also improve the content of our movies. Rather than try to imitate the crass commercial elements of other Southern cinema, hopefully Malayalam industry will create its own unique path.