All eyes on ‘Thala’ Ajith’s and Suriya’s next films after weak performance by Kollywood’s top stars

This was supposed to be the year that Kollywood finally made it to the Rs 1,000-crore club, which has so far only been achieved by films made by the Telugu and Hindi industries  in India. 

Sadly, the films made by the top actors in Tamil—Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth and Vijay—have all underperformed at the box office. While Kamal’s Indian 2 was a disaster and ended up becoming meme material for trolls, Vijay’s GOAT didn’t exactly set the cash registers ringing. 

Also, the actor reportedly charging Rs 200 crore as fee didn’t exactly help the economics of the film’s distribution and returns. 

Then came Superstar Rajinkanth’s Vettaiyan, which strangely created very little buzz even before its release. Nothing changed after it and the film has joined the list of disappointing ventures to come out of Kollywood this year. 

All three movies put together did not collect Rs 1,000 crore, according to industry insiders.

Interestingly, while the big-budget films floundered, smaller productions like Vijay Sethupathi’s Maharaja and Lubber Pandu have managed to score surprising successes, proving that audiences are gravitating toward strong storytelling over sheer star power. 

Producers and distributors have now pinned their hopes on Ajith’s Vidaamuyarchi and Suriya’s Kanguva to revive the financial health of the Tamil film industry which has been hurt by the lacklustre performance from the top stars.

Vidaamuyarchi is expected to release  in January and Kanguva in November. Kanguva’s producer in a recent interview said that the film has the potential to collect Rs 2,000 crore at the box-office. 

Kanguva was initially supposed to release in October but moved dates after Rajinikanth’s Vettaiyan announced release on the same date. This, in fact, proved to be fortuitous for the film as severe rain affected Vettiayan’s collection in Tamil Nadu. 

Directed by “Sirurthai” Siva, Kanguva also stars Hindi stars Bobby Deol and Disha Patani in key roles. Devi Sri Prasad has composed music for the film. 

Ajith’s Vidaamuyarchi is directed by Magizh Thirumeni and has music by current sensation Anirudh. 

Film company Lyca, which produced Indian 2 and Vettaiyan, also depends a lot on this film to revive its fortunes. Will “Thala”, as Ajith is called, succeed where the others haven’t? We will know that in January.