Bangalored by celluloid

Cinema The Kannada film industry scores hit after hit.

The year 2005 saw the Rs 200-crore Kannada film industry coming out of the woods. In fact, the year saw the biggest hit in Kannada cinema's history in terms of collections "" Jogi.

Industry insiders expect this Shivrajkumar starrer to rake in close to Rs 14 crore, phenomenal by regional cinema standards. Several others have seen multi-crore collections too.

"The strong storylines of the movies," according to K V Chandrashekar, a prominent exhibitor, "have helped. The improved production quality in addition to the good direction also played a crucial role in ensuring that cinema buffs returned to watch the movies again and again."

The high success rate last year has also meant fewer Kannada films, despite fewer Hindi releases in the South Indian state of Karnataka, where the language is spoken. Only 70 Kannada films were released in 2005, as compared to 99 the year before.

With an estimated four of every five releases having succeeded "" a strike rate Hindi cinema would give an arm, leg and other parts for "" the industry seems to be in efficiency mode.

This has had a cascading effect. Many producers have kept their plans in abeyance so that they may not be saddled with high-cost borrowings. Interest rates for cine ventures are usorious "" as high as 10 per cent a month.

Given this, according to one producer, it is not wise to invest in production if you are not sure of finding a hall to exhibit the movie early enough while the film is still fresh. A typical "big-budget" Kannada film takes around Rs 2-3 crore to make, which is cheap by Hindi film reckoning, but bank funding of Kannada films is still almost non-existent.

The good news is that the industry is expected to keep its momentum. However, one cannot expect much higher box office revenues in 2006 because the availability of screens is a constraint.

According to Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce president H N Gangaraju, 2006 has several big budget movies waiting to be released. Among those in line for screen time: Shree, starring Vijayaraghavan, Tanthege Takka Maga of Upendra, and Shubam, Shishya.

Piracy, or the lack of it, has played a role in the industry's revival too.

"The prevalence of video piracy was very high in other languages and this in turn had a positive effect on the Kannada movies. So, the non-Kannada movies had poor collections at the theatres. Hindi movies saw a considerable drop in their collections because the releases had happened only in 12-15 theatres and mostly in multiplexes," notes Chandrashekar.

But even if other language films were to put up a better show, Kannada filmmakers won't complain. They know their market.