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Director’s Day OPINION: A look at how South Indian filmmakers have managed to create an impact and revolutionize the industry
South Indian directors have managed to make a deep impact on various occasions. Let’s explore how they managed to revolutionize the industry with their skills.
Cinema is and has always been a team effort. Be it led by a superstar or a newcomer, films can only be made when a group of people come together and play their essential roles.
However, like every ship needs a captain, each movie production also needs a director. A person who oversees everything that happens in a film, whether it is the start of pre-production or being released on OTT platforms or TV networks.
Indian cinema has always been lucky enough to present some of the greatest directors. Legends like Satyajit Ray, G Aravindan, Guru Dutt, and K Balachander, have not only managed to change the whole narrative of Indian films but also showcased a never-before-seen spectrum of life with their conceptualization of parallel cinema to the world. But, have you ever imagined how old-school filmmakers and new-age wizards have managed to revolutionize the cinema industry with their capabilities?
Cinema and the Revolution created by directors
Cinema can be defined as many things depending on the perspective one looks at them. For some, the craft is purely for the sake of storytelling or art; while for others it's just a profession and a highly successful business model. Even then making a film and coming up with a quality product rests on the shoulders of the director, the helmer of the project.
When talking about the craft of films and the expertise a director holds, many filmmakers in the South today have managed to completely change the image of how a film can be presented. Be it from Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, or Kannada, directors from every industry have managed to present stories in their unique and striking essence. Audiences even know what style of making they can expect from the director when a filmmaker’s name is attached to a film.
A revolution like this happens when talented and capable craftsmen show their creative freedom in presenting stories rooted in ideas that stem from what they have imagined. The freedom that artists enjoy today including visionary directors like SS Rajamouli, Shankar, or Mani Ratnam, it makes them capable of presenting movies that are bound to leave the audience in awe.
Over the years pan-India films like the Baahubali franchise, RRR, the KGF duology, and even the Pushpa series have managed to change the narrative of Indian cinema completely. The success these movies have brought in throughout the national and global sectors is evident in every nook and cranny. Not only did these directors churn out a whole new level of creativity in presenting larger-than-life characters but also gave a new definition to the genre of mass commercial movies.
KGF Chapter 2 Trailer:
The success of regional directors helming pan-Indian projects is not just limited to veteran filmmakers but also to sophomores who may only have a few successes to their own names. Filmmakers like Atlee and Sandeep Reddy Vanga proved their calibers by making highly successful movies in their mother tongues which even led them to make movies in Bollywood (Jawan and Animal respectively) and become one of the biggest blockbusters ever.
However, the revolution of storytelling is not just limited to mass commercial movies or even larger-than-life characters. Be it movies like Rishab Shetty’s Kantara that dwell on weaving a beautiful tale of myth and action, or a raw and subtle action thriller like Kaithi or even a survival thriller like Manjummel Boys, movies have managed to niche out particular audiences across the country breaking boundaries.
Kaithi Trailer:
Manjummel Boys Trailer:
The inclusion of such content and balancing the space for realism, escapism, and even surrealism is what makes today’s movies and directors all the more influential and effective. With many more gems yet to be delivered, it would be interesting to see how the audience accepts these different genres and narrative styles.
Evolution of the Indian film audience
Indian film audiences have always consisted of a particularly interesting demographic of viewers that can be separately studied and even made examples of. The huge populace of the audience, combined with diversity in thoughts and affinities make the content we consume as a collective group all the more unique compared to other leading cinema industries in the world.
Over the years, Indian cinema has come across different kinds of audiences and with time, today’s audiences have matured enough in terms of accepting different movies irrespective of language or section of society.
This evolution of audiences accepting various kinds of content irrespective of their own habitat stems from the bold and innovative creative choices filmmakers make today. New-age movie directors like Lokesh Kanagaraj, Prasanth Neel, Jithu Madhavan, and many more have created a niche out of their style of movies with just two or more hits to their names. Directors are capable of creating a space for themselves with their content and making the audience excited with every film they are set to announce.
Considering the capabilities of directors with awesome and entertaining content they are coming up with it can easily excite any movie lover awaiting a magical experience. Hopefully, the rich pool of great Indian content continues to grow with more talented filmmakers paving their way into the industry.
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