I have been discussing in some forums about how malayalam movies can be marketed professionally?
There has been some interesting observations.
First thing is to accept that piracy is something we will have to live with today and tomorrow.People have tried worldwide and there has been no solution to it.Thats one issue with advancement in technology.Perhaps if there are strong laws a government can contain it to a certain extent.Thats not going to happen in our place anyway.Governments will take the taxes and do nothing as they do to everything else.Dont we pay the highest road tax,building tax in kerala?Whats our government giving us back?poor roads,pathetic infrastrcuture?
We have malayalees all over the world.Are we able to explore that market for malayalam movies?Releasing a movie in internet is not a viable solution as that will defenitely result in much better pirated prints.No registration can stop the powerful screencapturing softwares available today.
One viable solution is to go for a worldwide release,explore the market completely.They say there are malayalees all over the world.I think right now there is enough potential to release a good commercial malayalam movie in
12 screens in mumbai/pune,
4 screens each in chennai,blore,delhi,
2 in coimbature,1 in hydreabad.
15 all across UAE,15 in US,
3 in UK.
Probably there are more places like Australia,NZ as well.
Altogether thats more than 60 screens.A really huge unexplored market.Currently we are reaching these markets probably one month after the kerala release.By then the pirates are out and all available in web.
If there are distributors/exhibitors/wannabes from across the world reading this,please share your thoughts.
Are there technical problems in a country which currently prevents this?
Ranjith Sankar’s Blog 
I totally agree that piracy is such a demon with whom we have to engage with, no matter we like it or not. There could be technical/distribution problems outside India which could delay the release, but atleast for Indian cities, this a wider release should be very well possible – especially by exploiting the UFO/Qube systems. UFOMoviez.com shows currently there are 1501 UFO supported cinema halls in 700+ cities in India. Eventhough Passenger is a listed movie in UFO, it came to Bangalore almost after 45 days. If this is the case of movie, starring Dileep and Srinivasan, which got good mass and critic reviews, how about others? I think you can few answers on that basis itself.
sasneham
drishyan
By: Drishyan on July 22, 2009
at 9:26 am
Yes..You are correct…If we release the movie outside India, surely it would get lot of viewers…I have lot of friends outside India who ask for reports when a malayalam movie got released..Its a good idea to release malayalam movie outside India..
Only through these sort of things, we can save the malayalam film industry
…Its July ….”Makante Achan”,”2 Harihar Nagar”,”Bhagyadevatha”,”Passenger”,”Bhramaram” were the only hit movies in the first 7 months of 2009.
If we were able to release outside India, financial wise it would surely help the producers to recover it costs..For me
the most important thing a director should think is that the producer should get his money back along with providing good quality..
If a new movie got published in youtube, look at the hits it is getting…More than 10,000 views within few days..So Malayalam movie has its audience…
We do have lot of associations like Macta,Fefca,Amma and a lot..Why these guys were not taking an initiative to discuss this with the Central Govt..
By: Aju on July 22, 2009
at 10:10 am
Hi sir.
Don’t you think increasing the sound effects and visual clarity of the movies can reduce piracy to a certain level.. If that was there, people would feel it’s better to watch the movies in the theaters itself.. Nowadays sound is used only to make dialogues audible. If that’s available in the CDs as well people won’t mind it..
I saw the movie Winter last week.. It was not much of a deep plot, but relied on the sound effects a lot.. Such movies, you won’t like to watch on pirated CD’s.. Also 2 harihar nagar.. That movie’s picture clarity was superb.. The scenes were so colourful and lively that you won’t like the movie in CD’s.. Giving more importance to background score may also help..
And I agree movies should be released outside kerala.. And proper subtitles also should be given.. In most movies, the subtitles provided even with the official DVD release is very childish and sometimes stupid.. I feel even non-keralities might even come in to watch malayalam movies if subtitles is provided because it’s known that great movies are made in malayalam..
By: Alex Poovathingal on July 25, 2009
at 5:46 pm
Ranjith,
Thanks for bringing this topic for discussion.
Piracy has grown like anything due to advancement in technology but that doesn’t mean there is no solution for it.
I think if the government or the leaders representing the film associations can take initiatives, movie piracy can be absented effectively. The only thing is action should be taken from the top level. Youtube is the best place where anyone can pirate the movies. But you wouldn’t find any Hollywood movies in youtube.
If you read this story you will get the answer for it.
http://news.cnet.com/Viacom-sues-Google-over-YouTube-clips/2100-1030_3-6166668.html.
Anyway Indian film industry so far has not taken any action effectively. But the recent news http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20090716/812/tnl-film-industry-hails-maharashtra-anti.html
gives some hope
I don’t understand why our Malayalam film Industry is not serious about it though it’s facing strong threat from online piracy.
Few things can be done to fight against piracy.
Effective distribution of movies all over the world
Strong mechanisms to fight against piracy (online and pirated CD).
This can be done effectively as it’s been proven by Hollywood and other film industries.
Our film industry is not serious about Piracy or they are not realistic about their loss in figures.
Malayalam films are pirated like anything through online. The reason is that the industry has taken no serious action against it.
Let’s hope for strong initiatives 🙂
By: Jain on July 27, 2009
at 4:28 am
lal jose’s classmate had a scene in which prithvi raj ex changes an audio cassette to fool kavya madavan during a song .in television (in original video song )i don’t understand what is that thing.but in big screen it clear.
so as a man loves cinematography i like to say that avoid close ups which make the scenes more clear on pirated cds
By: framez on July 27, 2009
at 5:12 am
Jain,
I don’t fully agree with you on the Piracy of Hollywood movies. There are still huge number of torrent sites from where you can download any movie you need. That is the way I used to see the movies which are not released in India. Even this is true for non English foriegn movies. There are multiple sites like maaja, mallustealers etc etc where you will get a chance to download latest malayalam movies free of cost.
The piracy has spread like a virus..and malayalam like industry can’t afford it.
Come up with good stories which will make people to come out of small screens and enjoy movies inside dark theater.
One solution would be to release the movies without delay in other parts of India. e.g: I was waiting for watching Bhramaram (just for Mohanlal and the cinematography/editing) but unfortunately it is not releasing in Blr and now am slowly loosing the interest.
By: Sijith on July 28, 2009
at 8:44 am
I found this link today while searching through the newspapers:
http://www.metrovaartha.com/2009/07/28112638/45-pound-cinema.html
interesting..a movie costing just Rs 4K. :)!!!
The future ahead would be this kind of cinemas..no doubt, the accessibility of cheap Digital Cameras, editing softawares and possibility of online releases etc etc would result in revolutionary attempts like this. But the core should be the story/screenplay and how you render it.
Multiples cinemas are the next idea..movies of duration 1:30 hours max..I consider Passenger as a first step towards that.
By: Sijith on July 29, 2009
at 3:25 am
Thats a great initiative from the maharashtra govt jain.Hope something happens here as well.Our niyamasabha as the name suggests is primarly intended to create such laws.They are doing everything else other than that!
Sijith,
i wanna watch that movie.is it available online?
By: Ranjith Sankar on July 29, 2009
at 5:08 am
Hi Ranjith,
I am not sure whether there is a “pirated” version available or not, but here is more on this:
http://www.nowherefast.tv/#
http://forums.gametrailers.com/thread/cinema-deal-for–film-with-bud/877722?page=1
I just google on this news as I have been thinking of such projects for a longtime.
-Sijith
By: Sijith on July 29, 2009
at 11:14 am
Thanks sijith.Its not looking good:)
By: Ranjith Sankar on August 3, 2009
at 3:59 am
Hi “SID”,
Firstly, I would like to congratulate you on the success of ‘Passenger’. Myself and friends saw the movie and really liked it. It is a clean movie without much masala. Hope to see more such movies from you. I feel very proud that a common man like you could make your dream true with sheer hard work and self belief.
I live in london. I am ardent fan of malayalam movies. Here we have no option to see the new malayalam movies except buying pirated CDs. I know lot of people who do the same here. Pirated CDs will be released the same week of the movie release and are sold like hot cakes here.
We would really welcome if any new malayalam movie releases in the UK. Recently couple of movies (2 Harihar Nagar and Bhramaram) released here after 2-3 weeks of its release in Kerala. We had gone to see both the movies (in East ham) and there was big crowd in the theatre. Both the movies were houseful for 2-3 weeks (only on weekends). I think they had brought 1 copy of the movie and released in various theatres on different days.
But these were the only mal. movies released here recently. We don’t like to watch pirated movies, but we are forced to watch since we can’t wait for the VCD/DVD release after 1-2 years.
I have a suggestion, Why can’t the producers try to release the authorised DVD of the movies when the movie is still new? May be after a month or so of its theatre release like english or hindi movies? If the price is bit high in Kerala ( like Rs.200 – 250) people would still go to the theatres there. If they export the same to Middle east/ US / UK etc., I am sure lot of copies will be sold. I guess there are technologies to prevent the copy from original DVDs.
I am sure Nostalgic malayalies who stay outside kerala would always prefer original DVDs than pirated CDs.
Best Regards,
Sree
By: Sree on August 18, 2009
at 1:12 pm
Thanks sree..A parallel UK release wud be better than a DVD release i think.Right now we r releasing the DVDs in 6 months time,thats pretty good enuf.
By: Ranjith Sankar on August 19, 2009
at 8:46 am
Dear Ranjit,
I agree with your points.There are still good audience who respects the quality of movies and eventually determine to watch the movies in theatres only.Movies like passengers make people think well about the life and the zero value of money they are trying to grab in all dirty ways,..I have faith in a new world that stands for common people,who fights against poverty and corruption.
By: Greenman on September 15, 2009
at 9:20 pm
Thanks greenman,
Keep the faith.believe me,its completely worth it.
By: Ranjith Sankar on September 17, 2009
at 3:55 pm
South Africa has one of the bigger groups of malayalees from around the world. I wonder how much effort it would take to get a few prints going in one of the theaters here in Johannesburg. The South Indian population here is big enough to image the same crowds of London
By: woot on December 26, 2009
at 9:35 pm