‘Expecting rains but ended up with a flood’: Tulu cinema’s revival marked by cheers but also fears

“If you scream from Mangaluru, you will be heard all the way in Udupi.” This is how filmmaker Raj B Shetty jokingly describes all that needs to be done to promote a Tulu film before its release.

The Tulu film industry is easily among the smallest of its kind in the country, with releases running into single digits in a year. Ever since the first Tulu film came out in 1971, the total number of releases in the language has totalled 91. What, then, explains the fact that there has been an exponential rise in the number of Tulu films over the past few years, with five titles already hitting the screens this year until May?

Since January, Bale Pudar Deeka E Preethig, Appe Teacher, Thottil, Pettkammi, and My Name is Annappa have been released. Ammer Polisa directed by K Sooraj Shetty, will be out on June 22 and Suraj Bolar’s Patthis Gang is scheduled to be released on August 10. Other films likely to be released over the rest of the year include Devadas Kapikad’s Yero Ullerge and Sharath Poojary’s Kambhalabhettu Bhatren Magal.

If things continue, the 100th Tulu cinema might be out before the end of the year – a feat that is being met with both cheer and trepidation by directors, producers and distributors.

The first Tulu film, Enna Thangadi in 1971, marked the emergence of a language cinema distinct from the more dominant Kannada industry. For years, however, there were barely any Tulu releases over a 12-month period. There were many months when Tulu speakers, who number 31 lakh spread over the Mangaluru and Udupi districts, did not have the opportunity of watching a film in their native tongue.

The break came in 2014, which saw seven releases, followed by 10 in 2015, 13 in 2016 and 11 in 2017. The sudden spurt in releases is being attributed to the wild success of Vijaykumar Kodialbail’s Tulu comedy Oriyardori Asal in 2011, which encouraged a host of young filmmakers and newcomer producers to invest in Tulu cinema, especially in comedies.

Most of the releases over the past few years have, in fact, been comedies starring Tulu theatre artists. Two of the five films out this year, Appe Teacher and Pett Kammi, are comedies, as is the next big Tulu film, Suraj Bolar’s Patthis Gang.

“Patthis Gang will be Tulu cinema’s first dark comedy,” Bolar told Scroll.in. “Tulu audiences are used to and like watching comedies. I wanted to make a film which, while fitting right into the trend, is also attempting something different.” Part of Bolar’s endeavour is to ensure that his film stands out among the rush of comedies each year, he added.

Oriyardori Asal, the movie that is credited with the revival, also tapped into the humour vein and was an unprecedented hit, clocking over a 25 week-run. The comedy, starring Likith Shetty, Ramya Barna, Naveen Padil and Aravind Bolar, originated as a stage production and revolves around a misunderstanding between a landlord and his tenant.

The movie’s success was both boon and bane, director Kodialbail observed. “It is true that when we made the film in 2011, we wanted to do something to revive Tulu cinema,” he said. “The number of films up until then was few and far between – there was even a situation where there was one Tulu film in seven years. Our dream was to see Tulu cinema grow as prosperously as other film industries. After the success of Oriyardori Asal, we were expecting rains but what we’ve ended up with is a flood and that’s not good. We wanted to create confidence, but I think what we are witnessing now is a sense of over-confidence.”

Kodialbail is hardly alone in thinking that the uptick in film productions is a case of too much, too soon. There are barely 13 theatres in Karnataka that regularly screen Tulu films, and these releases have to compete with their counterparts in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Quality as as much a problem as quantity: many Tulu productions are often formualic and repetitive, featuring comedy that is below the belt and acting that is over the top.

“There is this strange impression now that if you make a comedy film, you will be successful,” Kodialbail observed. “Or that if you have a popular set of theatre actors, then your film will be successful. Yes, comedies are hugely liked by audiences here but the same kind of film again and again? There is nothing new in this flood of comedies.”

The smallness of the Tulu film industry makes it an attractive place for some of its directors, and they fear that the rush to notch up a high number of releases will ruin the charm of operating with relatively less pressure and expectation.

“Tulu cinema is a very beautiful place,” said director Raj B Shetty, who, after unsuccessfully trying to make a feature in Tulu for four years, directed the Kannada hit Ondu Motteya Kathe in 2017. “You don’t need to spend on publicity or have big production budgets. It is a small region. All we need to do is make good cinema that reflects the sensibilities of the region. But budgets for both production and publicity have suddenly skyrocketed, reaching amounts such as 1 crore and 70 lakhs. I don’t understand the need for such extravagant budgets actually.”

A;though they don’t like to admit it, most filmmakers are unable to meet recover their costs from the box office, Shetty added. “No one will tell you that they are actually making losses, but ask theatres and you’ll know the truth,” he said.

The problem begins even before a movie enters the cinemas, revealed Tamma Laxman, a veteran art director who is considered an unofficial historian of Tulu cinema. “Many productions run out of money by the time it is time to release the film,” Laxman said. “I know of cases where the producer who invests money as a film begins shooting runs out of funds by the time the film nears completion. He then gets a friend to step in, a kind of annexe producer, who tries to fund the rest of the project. So, forget the spike in the number of releases, the number of films stuck at the production level is three times that.”

Like most film industries in the country, the roots of Tulu cinema run deep in theatre. Several films originated as plays, and numerous popular theatre actors appear in Tulu films.

“A film is more accessible when compared to the stage, you don’t have to fix a time or a venue,” said filmmaker Abhaya Simha, whose Paddayi won the National Film Award this year. “The fact that comedy as a genre is very popular in film is also a culturally-specific thing to the community. These actors who hail from theatre use very local humour and language. Audiences have loved them on stage and therefore see films as an extension of theatre. Technically or aesthetically, they may not compete with a Kannada or a Hindi film, but they connect with the audience and are considered entertaining.”

Simha’s own film, however, has stayed away from comedy. Paddayi is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, and is set among the Mogaveera fishing community on the Mangalore coast. The film’s dark themes of power lust and betrayal make Paddayi an unusual entry among the Tulu films vying for a release.

“We are first doing the festival circuit before we release the film in theatres,” Abhaya Simha said. “With a festival mentorship and upbringing, Paddayi will definitely stand out from most of the Tulu films presently. But the same Tulu audience will come to watch this film. They have eclectic tastes.”

it appears, then, that the Tulu film industry badly needs a balance between ambition and reality.

“An industry can be truly considered prosperous if producers return again and again to make films,” Shetty said. “That isn’t happening here. Once a producer puts money and loses, he does not return to make another film. And curiously, no one is ready to admit they have made a mistake.”

Vijaykumar Kodialbail is more optimistic.

“You know how they say that in order for something good to happen, the bad has to be fought?” he asked. “That’s what’s happening right now. The industry is in a state of flux. All eyes are on where it is headed now.”