Dulquar Salman's Kurup hit by rains - Tamil Nadu Boxoffice- TV show ratings crash

  

Dulquar Salman's Kurup which is the first major release across Kerala and other markets post Covid 2 has hit badly by the rains and put an end to the run of the film. Theaters across TamilNadu remained closed as rains continued to play havoc. Weekend reality shows including  Bigg Boss 5 Tamil were badly hit as Chennai without power and along with it the Sunday premiere shows.

Getting a mixed response from critics, Kurup opened to a bumper opening. The Kerala opening day Rs 4.7 crore and second day was Rs4.5 cr Net. Outside India, the highest opening was in Gulf Countries which reported a Rs 15 crore for two days. 

In Tamil Nadu, the film did exceptionally well as rains continued to pour. On Day one it was Rs 60 cr and increased to Rs 90 cr on day two. As this is gross figures, the nett would be close to Rs 1 cr. Andhra/TS markets were good as it gave close to Rs 60 lakhs nett. In Hindi belt, the film was a washout with a meagre Rs 70 Lakhs. Dream Warriors acquired the Kurup Tamil , Aditi Enterprises the Telugu- Kannada and UFO the Hindi version. Dulquar dubbed for Tamil- Telugu- Hindi versions.

With Kanyakumari- Thiruvanthapuram markets shuuting on Day 3 due to heavy rains and red alerts issued to other Kerala districts, Kurup hopes to collect Rs 50-60 cr from Kerala markets will remain a difficult task.

Bigg Boss 5 Tamil high TRP happens on weekends when host Kamal Haasan comes and contestant elimination takes place. This week the entire TV viewers were caught in floods and power cuts. The eviction of Madhumitha went unoticed. Similarly Sun TV's reaity show Master Chef with actor Vijay Sethupathy as anchor gave the title and this too went unsung. Master Chef Tamil was Devaki who bagged Rs 25 lakh cash prize and a citation. Three other contestants too were given prizes.

Chennai roads were badly battered and schools - colleges reopened. It would take almost a week for life at entertainment hubs to get back.

Kerala filmdom to see Trivandrum - Kochi lobby revival ?

 Kerala filmdom is in coming days going to see the revival of the Thiruvanthapuram- Kochi lobbies. These lobby war had ceased  and the kingpins of the lobby had merged and joined hands in many collaboration. Now the Marakkar OTT release has given  life to the lobby that backs Antony Perumbavoor the producer and by that the supporters of Mohanlal. The first indication came when Mohanlal's closest buddy Priyadarshan ( also director of Marakkar) fired a salvo at Dulquar Salman producer of Kurup in  a TV interview.

Already there was talk going

around that the current exhibitors lobby headed by Vijayakumar was working in tandem with Mammootty and painting Antony and Mohanlal as people who went back on their words and looked only to their bank balance. This time however there is a shift in balance as Dilip who considered the kingpin of film trade, might shift his loyalty to the Lal lobby. Prihviraj who geographically comes from Trivandrum had  been with Kochi lobby but of late, he is back with Lalettan.

The reason for exhibitors to get belligerent with Antony and not accept the terms for Marakkar release was due to the freehold release of Kurup which has Dulquar in title role. The  director of the film had stated that they had Rs 40 crores offer for Kurup but Dulquar was adamant that he would release in theaters first. Priyadarshan without taking names said that a film rejected by Netflix and many other OTT due to high price is now coming to theaters and is projected as doing a service to exhibitors.

When Drishyam 2 went to OTT, Mammooty released The Priest and ONE in theaters. Exhibitors went in a group and hailed their Messiah. Kurup budget is close to Rs 35 crore and this is too high for a Dulquar film .  Collecting it from theaters in Kerala alone is tough and was planned to release the dubbed versions in Tamil and Telugu as he had hits in that regions. ( Kaanum Kannum Koliyaadithal and Mahanati in Tamil - Telugu) and a known face through Hindi films like Zoya Factor and  Karwaan. Covid put an end to this business. In a situation almost similar to Antony, Dulquar found that OTT does not give that kind of money to his films , even if it was a direct release. So best way out to go to try his luck with Kerala theaters and hope to make up for  the deficit.

40 % of the theater lobby and many big banners are out to shift out of Kerala Film Chamber and Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK). Will it go back to the days of Lal v/s Mammooty lobby ? If so where will the new breed of actors who were not witness to this lobby war stand ?