Filmmaker SS Rajamouli, who has been busy with RRR’s Oscar campaign, spoke about how the success of the Kannada film Kantara has made filmmakers rethink the strategy of making movies.
While talking to Film Companion, Rajamouli cited the example of Kantara and shared that to earn big money from movies, one doesn’t really need to mount their films on a big scale. He said, “Big budgets are something.. and suddenly Kantara comes in and looks at the numbers it is making. Suddenly, you do not need a big-scale film to do big numbers. Even a small film like Kantara can do that.”
The filmmaker said that the success of a small-scale film like Kantara must be ‘exciting’ for the audience. He shared, “As audience it is exciting, but as filmmakers, we need to go back and check what we are doing.”
Actor-filmmaker Prithviraj also added that when he pitches his films to digital and satellite partners, they are concerned about the “aesthetics” of it or if it is a pan-Indian film. He shared, “The next film I am hoping to direct is mounted on a scale not familiar to us as an industry. I am having these meetings with digital partners and satellite partners, and there I try to pitch it as a pan-Indian film. They keep asking me questions like, ‘Will Mohanlal wear a mundu? Are the aesthetics going to be neutral, like Ajay Devgn sir in RRR? Can we have a cameo from a north Indian star?’ Then a Kantara comes and I am like everyone is wearing a mundu, everyone is a superstar. It was the concept of the film that worked.”
Kantara had a quiet release in September this year. The film was overshadowed by director Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan 1. However, backed by good word of mouth, it became a sensational hit at the box office nationwide. The film was later dubbed in all major Indian languages and is doing extraordinary business everywhere. The movie’s worldwide gross so far stands at over Rs 200 crore.
