Concerts take over theaters as the re-release craze takes off. Theatre owners and industry insiders explain what a spate of re-releases signify for Tamil cinema and its fans, who are embracing this intriguing micro trend, as they appear in Tamil Nadu theaters.
A dark theater abruptly filled with light, revealing hundreds of fans swarming the aisles. A song that had recently caused the audience to sing and dance in the dark was replayed while the movie paused, causing chatter and hooting to echo through the auditorium. Everything was visible with the lights on: phones capturing the rowdy crowd, nostalgic dancing amongst friends, women belting out songs, and a flirtatious couple establishing eye contact. There was a celebration.
Audiences had started to move to the kuththu song “Ava Enna,” referred to as “Anjala,” from actor Suriya’s 2008 film Vaaranam Aayiram. The song is about a bereaved man crying out of regret and misery. People celebrated their memories, and for a minute the narrative point lost its weight.
Gautham Vasudev Menon, the filmmaker, recently had Vaaranam Aayiram re-released in Tamil Nadu with great excitement, and its Telugu dubbed version Surya S/O Krishnan in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He added “Back when we made ‘Anjala,’ we did feel that this was the kind of song that would make people dance,” he also mentioned “Harris (composer Harris Jayaraj) was intrigued with the descriptions of how I wanted the song to be — I wanted a folksy beat; the saavu melam one to be precise. I am happy that we tried to do something different and that it has worked,”
Vaaranam Aayiram is only one of the numerous Tamil movies that have been re-released in theaters in the past year, including 3, Aalavandhan, Muthu, Baba, Siva Manasula Sakthi, Vallavan, Minnale, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, and Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu. Gautham directed four of these, and he is thrilled that people are still watching his movies over 15 years after they first came out.