Pathu Thala and Viduthalai Part 1 bring relief to Tamil Nadu box office after two months of lull

The distributors and exhibitors are very happy in Tamil Nadu with the release of Pathu Thala and Viduthalai Part 1 . "The theatrical expectation for both movies is good. Given that in the last two months, there were no big movies, the opening is very good," said Tirupur Subramaniam, president of the Tamil Nadu theater owners and multiplex association. 

The Tamil film industry kicked off the new year on a positive note with two big releases: Vijay's Varisu and Ajith Kumar's Thunivu. Even though both movies received mixed reviews from critics and audiences, they made profits for everyone in the value chain. And what followed is two months of non-availability of exciting movies at the box office. The exam season also added to the dullness of the box office. 

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With the summer holidays set to begin, the box office is warming up for a good run for the next couple of months. Pathu Thala and Viduthalai Part 1 are expected to bring much-needed respite to the distributors and exhibitors in Tamil Nadu. "Both these films have good traction. The only thing is many are saying Simbu has played a guest role in Pathu Thala. But, the makers are saying it's more like Vikram, where Simbu gets the screen space of 1 hour 30 minutes. If it turns out like Vikram, where it's not a guest role but Simbu is part of the movie, and the content is good, it will receive a much better response than what, it's today," said Rakesh Gowthaman, who runs Chennai's popular twin-screen Vettri Theatres.

Filmmaker Obeli N. Krishna has helmed Pathu Thala, which is the remake of the Kannada hit Mufti. Simbu is reprising the role of a seasoned gangster, which was played by Shivarajkumar in the Kannada original.  

Rakesh also wonders about the kind of response Viduthalai Part 1 might get from the family audience given that it has been cleared with an A certificate. "Even though Viduthalai has very good advance booking and it's Veetrimaaran film, since it's A certified, the family audience with kids may not turn up and it could affect its ability to run long," he added. 

However, Subramaniam begs to differ. He opined that considering the current dynamics of the market, the censor classification of a movie is almost irrelevant. "In today's times, what certification a film gets, whether it's A or B, doesn't matter. People are not coming with children to watch movies. People in the age groups of 18 and 30 are the ones who come to theatres. So the A certification doesn't matter," he opined. 

"If both are good, both films will have different types of audiences. You can't really compare. I hope both movies are good because we are in a very bad patch for the last two months," Rakesh added. 

Viduthalai is a period movie, which is inspired by some real-life events. The film stars Vijay Sethupathi and Soori in the lead roles. 

While Pathu Thala was released in cinemas on Thursday, Viduthalai will hit the screens on Friday.