Bengaluru is undoubtedly the film capital of India, as films of all languages are watched here. Bengaluru is a true cosmopolitan city, with people from all over India residing here. Kannadigas form the majority in the city. Unlike people of other states, who give preference to their native languages, Kannadigas watch films of all languages.
Tulu films have been releasing here for a few years. They would release to one or two shows maximum, with little marketing. The films would be out within a week, with hardly any collections.
Even though there are so many Tuluvas in the city, Tulu films did not do well. On the other hand, in Mumbai, Tulu films have done well, due to huge support from Tuluvas there. But Benagluru was a big market, which needed to be tapped and makers of Appe Teacher benefited from this first.
They ended up releasing their film in Savitha, a single screen situated in Malleswaram. The film did good collections and it also ran well in some multiplexes. If Appe Teacher laid the foundation for Tulu films in Bengaluru, it was Girgit, which showed the actual potential market of Bengaluru for Tulu films.
The industry hit Tulu-language comedy film was theatrically released in India on 23 August 2019. It starred Roopesh Shetty and Shilpa Shetty. The story of the film was written by Roopesh Shetty, and jointly directed by Roopesh Shetty and Rakesh Kadri. It became the highest grossing Tulu film of all time.
Upon getting extraordinary response in Tulunadu region, the film was released in Bengaluru. Rishab Shetty, popular director in Sandalwood was very impressed with the film and decided to support the film. He spoke to his friend Jayanna, number one distributor in Karnataka. This way, the film was distributed by Jayanna Combines, which is the banner behind blockbuster films like Googly, Mr and Mrs Ramachari and other hits.
The film was released with less number of shows. However, word of mouth and excellent marketing by the team resulted in an increase of shows. Such was the impact, that the film had housefull shows over the weekend. Girgit collected a huge amount in Bengaluru. It also ended up running more than 25 days in the Garden City.
Commenting on the above, Ramesh, a film buff in Bengaluru said, “Bengaluru can be called as the only city, where Kannada, Telugu, Hindi and English films have the capacity to earn more than a crore. Malayalam and Marathi language films are also doing very well here. It was sad that the Tulu films which released here did not do well all these days. I blame the film team themselves as they hardly promoted. But Girgit has changed it. Roopesh Shetty is a known face for Kannada. This may also have helped the film. But it was aggressive marketing by the team. No wonder the film did great business overseas.”
“Tulu films have a good market and they need to tap it. A good film will run anywhere. Language is not at all a barrier. I am sure Roopesh’s next Gamjaal will do better than Girgit. He should make sure content clicks again. It is very important to catch hold of local distributors and in case of Girgit, they got the best man, Jayanna. Hope Girgit’s success in Bengaluru, leads to many Tulu films running to housefull here,” he concluded.
We hope more and more Tulu films release in Bengaluru. With theatres reopening soon, we will see many Tulu films releasing. It is the perfect time for them to make Bengaluru a big market. With Roopesh Shetty’s next Gamjaal releasing on February 19, we will have to see how Bengaluru accepts.
