After witnessing production of around 40 movies in Tulu language in the last four decades, the movie industry has shown a sudden interest for Tulu language.

Following the 100-day run of a recent Tulu movie – ‘Oriyardori Asal' (‘one is smarter than other') – more than eight Tulu titles have already been registered by different people at the Film Chamber of Commerce.

This was revealed by Mr Vijayakumar Kodialbail, playwright, who conceptualised ‘Oriyardori Asal'.

People attribute the recent success to the brand value of the title of the movie and unconventional marketing strategies.

The movie crossed 100 days recently both in single screen and multiplex formats in Mangalore recently.

Mr Shivadhwaja, who directed Tulu movie — ‘Gaggara' , which won the national film award for best regional language film two years ago – told Business Line that he did his movie with a limited budget, as there was not much investment in Tulu industry then.

However, the recent success of ‘Oriyardori Asal' has shown the potential of Tulu to the industry. Mr Kodialbail said that three Tulu movies crossed the 100-day mark in the last 40 years.

The last 100-day run in Tulu movie industry was ‘Bangar Patler' in 1993. Based on a drama written and staged by Mr Kodialbail 24 years ago (which ran more than 1,000 shows along coastal Karnataka, Mumbai and Gulf countries), ‘Oriyardori Asal' is a story of three families living in the same compound and the happenings in their every day life.

Highlighting the need for brand value and innovative marketing strategies in local language movies, Mr Daison Vaz, who started a discussion thread on ‘Oriyardori Asal' in a Kannada movie blog, said the brand value of the title played a major role.

He said the brand value of the title was of interest for two generation of viewers. One set of viewers had seen the drama version in their youth and wanted to watch the movie version.

The younger generation had only heard about the title and had not seen the drama. Added to this, the marketing strategy for the movie began more than 40 days before the actual release. Hoardings with teaser advertisements at important locations in Mangalore city and other towns created curiosity among Tulu-speaking people about the movie. Mr Shivadhwaja, who is also a Kannada actor and producer, said the initial day crowd pulling to the movie was sustained in the later weeks also through innovative publicity in local media on an every day basis. Added to this, the concept was based on a super hit drama of yesteryears.

The Future

On the future of Tulu industry, Mr Kodialbail said that the producers were now ready to invest in Tulu films. The number of registration of titles is an indication of this.

Mr Shivadhwaj said that those who plan to invest should be cautious. They should not spoil the investment potential just by making a movie to make money.

Quality and content should be given priority, he said. Mr Vaz said that Tulu market is small compared with other languages. In such a situation, a release once in six months would be ideal.

Since many of the old Tulu drama titles still have good market, many people would like to see them on bigger screen in the movie format.

These factors should provide a good push for Tulu movie industry, he added.

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