Feb 19, marks 45th year of Tulu cinema.

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru :  Tulu films are regularly screened every day in Kudla as Mangaluru is locally called,  For the last 18 months now  in one theatre or another. At a time when the film industry of this regional language, spoken mostly in the coastal region, is set to represent a milestone, this is significant.

Tulu cinema will be 45 years old this February 19.  For, in 1971, on this day, T.A. Srinivas, bought the distribution rights of the first Tulu cinema Enna Tangadi and released it in Jyothi theatre.

The popularity of Tulu films has seen an upward swing after the release of Rang on August 8, 2014, said Tamma Lakshmana, an art director in Tulu cinema. “Now, Tulu cinema stands shoulder to shoulder with other language cinemas,” he said. The first Tulu film to draw the attention of the entire State was Bisatti Babu , the fourth cinema released in 1972.

Post-2014, there has been a surge in Tulu films released annually. Seven Tulu films were released in 2014, and 10 in 2015. Four films have already been released since the beginning of this year.

Interestingly, of the 10 films released last year, seven were made by new producers, six were directed by new directors. A significant feature is that a large number of them are comedies. However, Vijay Kumar Kodiabail, the producer and screenplay writer of the 2011 major hit Oriyardori Asal , says that the trend of producing only comedy films should change. “Film makers should also focus on making cinema with serious content,” he said. “Now, the Tulu cinema industry is relying only on four or five comedy actors, who came from Tulu theatre,” he said, adding that the audience would soon grow tired of them.

According to Kodialbail, the success of Tulu cinema cannot be measured only in numbers. “Films are screened for more than 50 or 100 days. Also there have been films which were taken off from the theatres after a week,” he said.