Pongal releases

Shobha Warrier

January 14 sees Tamil Nadu celebrating the Pongal festival.

Like Diwali, Pongal is also seen as an auspicious time to release new films. However, out of the five Diwali releases, only Bala's Nanda, Udaikumar's Thavasi and Vinayan's Kaasi (the last one, though, was released after Diwali), are expected to complete 100 days.

No other recent release can be described as commercial successes. The Diwali disaster was Balachander's Paarthale Paravasam (which could not even complete three weeks in the theatres) and the much-hyped Aalavandan.

There was a time when about 15 films were released on Pongal. But this year, there were only seven releases. According to Film News' Anandan, a veteran film journalist who has been keeping a close watch on the Tamil film industry for five decades, 75 per cent of the Pongal releases do well.

A Kamal Haasan starrer creates much hype. The media gets obsessed with it, ignoring most of the other films, like in the case of Aalavandan. But the hype created by the film producers and the media failed to ignite any enthusiasm with the Tamil audience. They flatly rejected the film and wholeheartedly accepted films starring a Vijayakant, a Surya and a Vikram.

This time around too, Kamal Haasan's light-hearted comedy Pammal K Sambandam directed by actor-director Mouli, is most eagerly awaited by the media.

Nobody knows whom the audience will accept -- Kamal Haasan as Pammal K Sambandam, Ajit as a rowdi from Madurai in Red or Parthipan as an intense married man in Azhagi.

What helped Kamal Haasan after the disastrous Hey! Ram was the comedy Thenali. Perhaps after the unsuccessful Aalavandan, Pammal K Sambandam may bail him out.

Unlike the Nandu of Aalavandan, Pammal K Sambandam is a much more believable stunt man who works in films. Simran plays the female lead. The supporting cast includes Abbas and Sneha. Dialogues by 'crazy' Mohan will be the highlight of the film.

The film that is sure to get critical acclaim is cameraman-turned-director Thankar Bachchan's debut, Azhagi, with a cast like Nandita Das, Parthipan, Sayaji Shinde and Devyani.

Red is an important film for Ajit who hasn't had a big hit for a long time, even though his latest releases have done reasonably well. Although not much can be expected from Red, it may work well at the BO since all the commercial ingredients are packed neatly. Priya Gill stars opposite Ajit.

Bharatiraja's son Manoj is trying his luck once again with Alli Arjuna after his highly forgettable debut Taj Mahal. For the first time, Bharatiraja is not directing a film for his home production. Perhaps, he hopes that Saran, who has given big hits to Ajit in Amarkalam and Parthein Rasithen, can redeem his son's career.

According to Anandan, the film that can surprise everyone will be debutante director, Shahjahan's Punnagai Desam starring the teenage Telugu hero, Tarun, son of yesteryear actress Roja Ramani. (Tarun was the eldest son of Revathi and Raghuvaran in Mani Ratnam's Anjali)

Other Pongal releases also include Murari, a dubbed film from Telugu and the Satyaraj film Vavaramana Aalu.

Once again, it is going to be 'wait and watch with baited breath' for success by these filmmakers.