u/Electronic_Effort_42

The two films in the list were notoriously known for becoming a disaster that absolutely caused ripple effects in the industry, unlike most other flops which only affect the producer/director/actors in certain cases.

Shanti Kranti (1991) was an ambitious Kannada project led by Crazy Star Ravichandran who also brought Superstar Rajinikanth and King Nagarjuna to do different versions in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, a pan-Indian attempt even before "pan-India" became a thing. At that time, it was made for two years on a ₹10 crore budget which was way too big for Kannada cinema's market at that time. It faced production difficulties as Ravichandran's father was bedridden and he had to sell some of his assets to make the film. It turned out to be the biggest box office failure in Kannada cinema, that literally led the industry to be risk-averse. Ravichandran had to end up remaking Tamil and Telugu films to overcome the financial stress and the industry also went safe by remaking films that affected the quality of Kannada films.

Heaven's Gate (1980): it was known for being the biggest disaster that caused a successful studio to go bankrupt and also marked the end of the new Hollywood era, driven by auteur directors, and led to producers having the creative control that demanded crowd pleasing blockbuster. Its director Michael Cimino became an outcast in the industry because of that film's failure.

Which Tamil movie in your mind was known for ending up becoming a disaster that shook the foundations of the industry.

The film had already fetched table profit from streaming and non-theatrical rights. If this film clicks well, this might be the biggest profitable film in terms of ROI.

I hope our stars and directors should make some conscious effort to make films within the tight budgets rather than delivering a hefty paycheck of triple digit thereby affecting the overall quality of the film.

Normally, if a film would exceed a ₹50 crore budget would automatically qualify as big-budget films considering Tamil cinema market standards at that time. Some producers would often lose money when they exceed that budget which is way beyond their strength and would not rejoice that even though the film is a financial success. Thenandal Studios made Mersal on a ₹100 crore budget—way too big for a producer who was making films on tighter budgets. Even though that film was successful, the company ended up being bankrupt having taken huge loans to make that big film. The company also shelved nine of their announced projects after Mersal because of the financial problems. A similar case with Lingusamy as a producer, but those two big films (Anjaan and Uttama Villain) did not help him and eventually pushed him to deep debt which ultimately led him to stop producing after Rajinimurugan.

Considering these two scenarios, GVM also took a huge risk with Dhruva Natchathiram making it on a ₹80 crore budget which was too big for his standards and Tamil cinema's standards and also took heavy loans from moneylenders on making this film. Now with the prolonged delays and adjusted to inflation, the current budget would be around ₹152 crores. But still the ₹80 crore making budget would be the final thing as the price tag is justified. I doubt whether this film would do well even after prolonged delays owing to audience tastes being changed as not every film is like a Madhagajaraja to do well after 13 years of release. But I need this film to perform well as GVM spent years of struggle to release this movie and it is finally coming.

RJB has provided mostly a self-aware, massy and fun masala film with his style with a sprinkle of fantasy and spiritual elements. Seeing Suriya on a massy side reminded me of how Hari became a pillar for Suriya's B&C centre reach with Aaru, Vel and the Singam trilogy. Looks like RJB has almost stepped into his shoes and delivered a proper mass entertainer with Suriya which audiences loved. This is the rightful comeback that Suriya deserved. Now onwards and upwards from here.

From being sad because of the release problems to enjoying the movie with happy tears, everything changed within 24 hours. That is the power of cinema

12 years without a single hit. His best two films (Soorarai Pottru and Jai Bhim) dropped straight to OTT. He invested two years of his time on a mammoth project like Kanguva only to become his career's biggest failure and monumental setback to him (all credits goes to Sai Sai). Thankfully, KaSu came at the right time and healed the trauma of our anbaana fans temporarily with Retro even though it had a chance to be a great movie if the second half was not overcooked.

Now, all our eyes were expected on Karuppu to be the proper commercial comeback for Suriya, only to hear the news of morning shows being cancelled, just because of last minute financial problems, which was really disheartening to say the least. At this point, man should really assess everything and stop doing films with family productions who are obviously the reason for his downfall.

I feel for RJB, Sai who single handedly promoted the film to his fullest and more for the anbaana fans who stood with Suriya for 12 years despite not giving successful films and losing his BO potential to the younger actors, who easily surpassed him. It's sad that they are treated this harshly every time. I think even if Karuppu releases after this, it would be like the "valarmathi vayasukku vandha enna varalena enna" situation, because nothing can be satisfied if the initial hype has gone, and only the content has to be top-notch to overcome this situation.

Karuppu release became more chaotic, with many theatres in TN backing out at the last minute bcoz of the financial complications. This is an alarming matter, as if it never had a wide release bcoz of these issues, the film would underperform despite being good enough, and this would dent the trust of Suriya's theatrical prospects.

First day release is important for any Tamil film, as late pickups became irrelevant in Tamil cinema. Of course films with good content can still survive despite delays, but movies like Uttama Villain and Veera Dheera Sooran would have a better result at the box office if the film had not missed its opening day release due to last minute financial problems.

So, the producers should urge to sort out this issue at the earliest, because there are few hours for the first show. Also Suriya should avoid working with family productions hereafter this film.

A lot of major criticism directed towards Maaveeran was just the climax, where SK's character ended up surviving after a building collapse, but became deaf. Some of them felt that the film could have been better if SK dies in the film. But for me, the film wouldn't have performed well if SK died, as it won't be well received among the general audiences. This is a fantasy superhero film, and it isn't something like Amaran where audiences have signed up for a real life martyr's biopic and very well knew that SK would die in the climax, and it will be an emotional ride.

Tamil audiences have been accustomed to certain things, one such thing is that the hero should not die or the film should have not anything going gloomy till the end. We have examples of MGR's film failing if his character dies in the film (Paasam). Kamal Haasan had never penetrated into the B&C centres because of the sad and gloomy climaxes, where his character dies or so, this would not be liked by the average moviegoers who prefer a happy film instead, hence Rajini movies are often preferred by the masses.

Sethu (1999) had a distributor preview show being run for 100 days just because of the depressing climax, which many distributors had refused to buy, as it won't work well, but miraculously ended up being a successful venture and a breakthrough for Vikram and Bala. A lot of movies had their climaxes changed just because the original ending was depressing enough and had to reshoot it just to please the common moviegoers (Kireedam, Vettaiyadu Vilayadu). Of course there are exceptions, such as Kaadhal Kondein, Paruthiveeran and Ramana, where the protagonist dies in the film but still succeeds, but exceptions are not examples.

I think for fans of SK, who would have enjoyed his entertaining films, mostly wouldn't perceive his character dying at the end of the film especially in a fantasy superhero film. Hence, I feel the ending where SK's character is still alive was still good enough though many had dissed it as illogical. I feel the original ending of SK being alive is better than his character dying in the climax.

Context: Director RJ Balaji's statement at the pre-release event has triggered a lot of controversy because of some press shows he said five years ago.

Five years ago, at the JFW movie awards, RJ Balaji said about an experience in a flight to Japan where he watched a random Telugu film where the hero stalks the heroine and the Japanese airhostess who saw it felt creepy. Balaji wanted to use this experience as a platform on how a lot of creepy stuff has been casually normalised and how Indian filmmakers had to be responsible in portraying women.

Now in the recent pre-release event of Veerabhadrudu, RJB said that the film is not for people who dissect it in social media, but for those who enjoy these in theatres for a community experience. This triggered a lot of hate, as Mehar Kilaru (Kilaruness) tagged RJ Balaji for criticizing Telugu cinema being problematic while this isn't generalized to one single industry but every film industry is being guilty of casually normalising problematic stuff.

His statements also received a lot of flak in their own state as he himself made his career by reviewing and roasting films, during his time as an RJ.

Poor release plans and theatre chartings for a Suriya film that too in big 2026

Though I didn't like the film, LIK was one of few such films in most recent times where the villain had good intentions but ended up getting squandered by the hero, because technically he was the "villain".

In that film, SJ Suryah develops the LIK app as he was cheated by his lover and does not want anyone else to suffer the same pain through cheating and misunderstanding. This in one way, is a better example for the society to avoid cheating, misunderstanding and any bitter experiences in relationships. But our PR decides to expose the app and his owner is a fraud, as his app was the reason why Krithi Shetty broke up with him (as it falsely detected cheating).

What other examples do you think of this trope. Tell me in the comments. The most famous example is Pakshirajan from 2.0.

(Mods, please don't remove it as it is something important I have to say)

Vijay should think of cultural exporting (Tamil cinema, television and music) as a way to boost soft power and the economy of government. Just like how the South Korean government actively supported Korean cinema, K-drama and K-pop through subsidies, cultural diplomacy and global marketing, Vijay's government should also support the film and entertainment industry to harbor good stories and talents. If such things happen, it is not only beneficial for the industry, but for the entire Tamil diaspora across the globe.

It is ironic and sad, that most of our political leaders from our 1950s came from the films but neither of them had the initiative to support the film industry and promote our films globally. But the leaders saw the film industry and the only chance of monopolisation. If Vijay's government ends up supporting and promoting good industry globally, it can have a huge opportunity for Tamil culture and media to become globally recognizable as Korean culture and our talents and the industry can have huge opportunities to thrive.

What do you think about this?