Malayalam films have few takers in Kerala

- Usha Ram Manohar           Let us know what you think about this story

Only four Malayalam films of the 33 that have been released since January this year turned out to be hits, causing a loss of about Rs 30 crore so far.

'Cycle', a film by Johny Antony featuring Vineet Sreenivasan, son of popular Malayalam actor Sreenivasan, Satyan Anthikad's 'Innathe Chinta Vishayam' starring Mohanlal and Meera Jasmin and two Mamooty-starrers 'Annan Thambi' by Anwar Rasheed and 'Rowdram' by Ranji Panicker, tasted success at the box office, according to film industry sources.

The production cost of each film works out to about Rs 1.5 crore and if it does not do well in the box office, huge losses are suffered by the industry, they say.

Rubbing salt to the wound is the fact that Tamil, dubbed Telugu films and Hindi movies do good business. Every month, at least one or two Tamil and dubbed Telugu films are released in Kerala.

Last year, about 14 dubbed Telugu films were screened in the state and almost all of them did well. Around 80 Tamil films were released in Kerala last year, they said.

Rajnikanth blockbuster 'Sivaji' was a huge hit.

Kamal Hassan's Rs 165 crore magnum opus 'Dasavatharam', released in at least 50 theatres across Kerala on Friday, is already causing jitters to the Malayalam film industry.

The Tamil film is running to packed houses with tickets being sold in black for a minimum of Rs 500, the sources said.

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