Except for Venkatesh with Chintakalya Ravi who did average business and junior NTR with Kantri and Prabhas with Bujjigadu, no other big name had a release. The expenses too were kept in control and star prices did not shoot up since there were no corporate offering fancy prices. The producers, however, did not lose heavily since 50% of the cost came from satellite and DVD rights. Only two films Taj Mahal and Nanda Nandhitha starring newcomers did well. Newcomers could not click and old warhorses like Shivraj Kumar, Upendra, Darshan and Sudeep were the favourites of the viewers. A total of 110 films were released and 20 films delivered hits. In Karnataka the situation was slightly better. The year also saw a steep drop in overseas business of Tamil films whose income from abroad accounts for 26%. The well-known actors in the industry were a happy lot since corporate production houses doubled their salaries in their race to get the dates. Cloud Nine, a banner floated by Dayanidhi Alagiri (grandson of Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi), distributed Vaaranam Ayiram, which went on to become a hit. Sun TV launched their production, distribution and music company and created waves when they took over the Rajnikant-Aishwarya starrer Enthiran from Ayangaran International for a whopping Rs 150 crore. Two major players Sun TV and Kalaignar TV were the main buyers of films satellite rights. However, TV channels provided producers with some good news as telecast rights rates went up. New directors also made their mark.Ĭorporates such as Pyramid Saimira Ltd and Ayngaran International took a beating at the box office while Moserbear with Poo and UTV with Poi Solla Poroam managed to deliver hits. Around 35 male actors and an equal number of actresses debuted. Although box office collections dipped and biggies such Rajnikant, Vijay and Ajit starrers bombed, there were a record number of debutants entering the filmdom. Among the medium-budget films that accounted for the 10% of the total production were Subramaniapuram, Anjathey, Saroja, Kathalil Vizunthean, Poi Solla poarom and Poo. Except for five films - Rajnikants Kuselan, Kamal Haasans Dasavathram, Vijays Kuruvi, Vaaranam Ayiram starring Suriya, Silambattam of Silmbarasan and Agean of Ajit - all others were medium-budget films made at a cost of Rs 2-3 crore. The Tamil film industry released 115 films (the last one on 26 December) and only ten films shined on the box office. As only about 10% of the films released in all the four languages managed to recover the money invested, or in a few cases made profits, the year will be remembered only for flop shows. Call it no-show, box office jinx or bombedall three adjectives, in true filmy style, sum up the script for southern film industry in 2008.
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