The Impact of Actor Vijay’s Decision on the Tamil Film Industry

2024-02-06 14:24:41

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Actor Vijay, who has started a political party, has announced that he will quit the film industry with his next film. To what extent will this affect the Tamil film industry?

Actor Vijay has announced that he has started a new political party called Tamil Nadu Vetri Kazhagam and that party will contest the assembly elections in 2026. “Politics is not another profession for me. Politics is not entertainment. Therefore, I have already agreed to complete another film-related duties in a manner that does not interfere with the party work and fully devote myself to the people. “I am going to join politics for service,” he said.

Vijay is currently acting in Venkat Prabhu’s ‘The Greatest of All Time’. Music composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja, the film stars Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Sneha, Laila and others. The shooting of this film is currently going on. This is Vijay’s 68th film.

Vijay has said that he will act in a film even after this film. There are no official announcements about the film. Unofficial reports suggest that this film may be directed by Karthik Subbaraj. Now Vijay has announced that he will not act after this film.

The question arises as to how much this announcement by Vijay, who is a leading star of Tamil cinema, will affect Tamil cinema, especially theatres.

What is the impact on Tamil cinema?

Image credit: ACTORVIJAY/KAYALDEVARAJ

After the spread of Covid and the advent of OTTs, theaters across Tamil Nadu have faced a major setback. The number of theaters which used to be in thousands has now shrunk to about 800.

Even though movies are released every week, many of the movies that are released do not even run for 2-3 days, so theaters are not interested in screening them. Due to this, theaters remain closed for several weeks.

Till 2000s not only Chennai but also second tier cities, not only Tamil but also Hindi and English films were continuously released. But, just before 2020, this trend started to change. Fans came to the theaters only for films of big actors released in Tamil.

In the current environment, only a few actors like Rajini, Kamal, Vijay, Ajith, Dhanush, Simbu, Suriya, Sivakarthikeyan are flocking to the theaters in large numbers on the first day. Crowds come when word of mouth spreads that other actors’ films are good. But till then, the film must have hit the theaters.

The problem with theaters is that the films of these big actors that bring fans to the theaters are not frequent. Actors like Rajini and Kamal act in such a way that they only release one film a year. As for Ajith, he takes a year and a half for a film. People like Vijay, Dhanush, Suriya, Sivakarthikeyan are acting in two films in one and a half years. At this stage, Vijay has announced that he will no longer act in films. How much will this affect theaters?

Vijay is the highest grossing actor

Image credit, @ACTORVIJAY

Anthanan, a veteran film journalist, says an incident that happened a few days ago can tell whether Vijay’s decision to stop acting in films will have an impact or not.

“A few days ago, theater owners held a meeting. In that meeting, they passed a resolution that big actors like Vijay and Ajith should act in 2-3 films a year. Because fans come only for the films of big actors. All the business like canteen and parking will be complete then.

Vijay is the highest grossing actor. Each of his films trades around Rs 500 crores. If you do two films a year, it’s almost Rs 1,000 crore. If he suddenly stops acting, this Rs 1,000-crore business will come to a standstill,” says Anthanan.

Producer Dhananjeyan echoes the same sentiment. “The theaters are already in a bad state. If you screen small budget films, people don’t come. They only come for big budget films. When a big actor suddenly stops acting in such an environment, it can be very damaging.

How long has it been since the release of Leo? But till now that film is the highest grosser. When the situation is like this, it will definitely come as a shock to say that he will stop acting in films,” says Dhananjeyan.

But theater owners don’t think so. They feel that this will not have much impact as theaters are already in poor condition.

“It’s sad that Vijay is leaving the film industry. But it won’t have any major impact. He does five or six films a year. He does one film a year. Sometimes they take more time than that. So theaters don’t run on that film alone. Now that one If the film doesn’t release, it won’t have a big impact,” says Tirupur Subramanian, president of the Tamil Nadu Theater Owners Association.

Actors involved in politics from the film industry

Image Credit: ACTORVIJAY/X

Usually, actors who enter politics do not immediately stop acting. MGR He acted in DMK films and promoted his party in those films. Even after he started his solo career in October 1972, he never stopped performing. After he started his solo career, he acted in films such as Ulkama Todum Valipan, Pattikatthu Ponnaiya, Yarra Ugar Agam, Aikkar Ghoar, Laughing Awawa Nawat, Thane Thake Kupappavan, Agamya Namate. He stopped acting in films after becoming the Chief Minister.

After the launch of the separate party, MGR used his pictures as a propaganda vehicle of the new party very successfully. M targeted the opposition parties in his songs like “Nerku Nerai Varutrauttum Nenjhil Nenjilu Ifta” (Meenava Nandapan), “With the money given to light up the whole town, they have lit the light in the city council” (Teru Utdu Uttuvitel) and “Our success will be told in the future” (Ulakam Shudum Valipan). .G.R.

As for Vijayakanth, his Congress flag was featured in films even before the party started. Even after starting the party, he continued to pretend to be Swadeshi, Prameradu, Dharmapuri, Sabari, Sarkarana, Homsha, Our Aasan, Vridhakiri. He did not stop acting in films until 2010.

Even Rajinikanth continued to act in films even after announcing his entry into politics. Rajinikanth announced his entry into politics in 2017, after which he acted in films like Kaala, 2.0 and Durbar. With the Assembly elections around the corner, he has announced that he will not enter politics and is busy acting in films.

In 2018, Kamal started a party called Makkal Neeti Maiyam, after which he acted in the films Viswaroopam – 2 and Vikram. He also acted in Indian-2 during the same period. Kamal, who is currently in politics, is now actively focusing on acting.

Why did Vijay stop acting immediately instead of following the style of MGR, Vijayakanth?

Image Credit: VIJAY MAKKAL IYAKKAM / YOUTUBE

There is one major difference between MGR, Vijayakanth, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and Vijay. Except for Vijay, all the others started actively involved in politics after the peak of their screen careers. But when Vijay was at the peak of his film career, he said that he was going to leave the film industry and join politics.

“We can say that Vijay has been away for some time. I don’t understand why he said that he is leaving completely. Many actors who came into politics are still acting. He can do the same,” says Dhananjayan.

But Tirupur Subramanian says the problem of the Tamil film industry is different.

“As far as Tamil theaters are concerned for the past 6 months;k is in big trouble. Running theaters has become a very difficult task. In Chennai, a large number of theaters are going to be closed down in the next few months. A four-theatre complex in KK Nagar and a theater in Anna Road are going to close down soon. “This is because no one is coming to theaters after the advent of OTT platforms,” ​​he says.

But the big puzzle in this is why Vijay, who entered politics based on the popularity of cinema, after entering politics, did not use his cinema for politics and wanted to leave it.