THIRD QUARTER REPORT - Tamil Industry 2012
by Ashwin Subramaniam & MovieCrow Editor

A lot was expected from the third quarter of the year with 37 movies releasing in 3 months. The trade was expecting a lot out of Billa 2, Mugamoodi and Thaandavam. However, the film that really hit the bull's eye at box office was Naan Ee. Public knew very little about the film prior to release. But, this bilingual turned out to be one of the biggest hits of the year, by winning over the critics and audiences alike. The never-die attitude of Naan Ee was impressive as it got wiped out from most of the screens during week 2, regained back almost all the screens by week 3 due to the strength of its content. The only direct Tamil film that was a clean hit at the box office during this quarter was Sasikumar's Sundarapandian. Sasikumar yet again proved his prowess as a producer and actor with Sundarapandian which was one of the better films to have come out so far this year. A lot of small films released of which Attakathi and Naan impressed critics and managed to do respectable business. 

Winners of the 3rd Quarter of 2012 in Tamil Cinema

• BEST FILM : Naan Ee

• BEST DIRECTOR : SS Rajamouli (Naan Ee)

• BEST ACTOR : Sudeep (Naan Ee)

• BEST ACTRESS : Anushka (Thaandavam)

• BEST COMEDIAN : Soori (Sundarapandian)

• BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR : Nasser (Mugamoodi/Thaandavam)

• BEST DEBUT ACTOR : Dinesh (Attakathi)

• BEST DEBUT ACTRESS : Lakshmi Menon (Sundarapandian)

• BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER : KK Senthil Kumar (Naan Ee)

• BEST EDITOR : Surya (Naan)

MUSIC  (Only movies released between July 1 to Sept 30 & not based on music album release date)

• BEST MUSIC DIRECTOR : GV Prakash (Thaandavam)

• BEST BGM: MM Keeravani (Naan Ee)

• BEST DEBUT MUSIC DIRECTOR: Achu (MPM) / Santosh Narayanan (Attakathi)

• BEST LYRICIST : Na. Muthukumar (Oru Paadhi Kadhavu, Thaandavam)

• BEST MALE SINGER : Pradeep (Aasai Oru Pulveli, Attakathi)

• BEST FEMALE SINGER : Shreya Ghoshal (Sahaayane, Saattai)

Biggies Disappoint 

Most expected movie of the quarter was Ajith's Billa 2. Despite winning rave reviews for Ajith's performance and RD Rajasekhar 's cinematography, the prequel had nothing much to boast about it from story and business point of view. UTV had 2 big releases, Mugamoodi and Thandavam. Both their films were received with mixed opinions for its slow narration, inconsistent direction and predictable screenplay. 

Swarming of small movies

Apart from Attakathi and Naan, many movies struggled to keep the head above the water. Saattai  with a chart topping Sahaayane failed to capitalize on its strengths. The movie was blamed for being too preachy and the characterization of certain characters weren't up to the mark. Madhubaanakadai came out with good reviews, but could not translate the same into its collections. The same was followed with another musical hit, Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathiley. 

Also Rans  and Duds

Charulatha marked the return of Priyamani, flooded the screens with number of prints not in line with hype and demand. This official remake of Thai movie "Alone" tanked at the box office due to negative reports. Other movies in the "also ran" category during the third quarter were Mirattal, Paagan, Eppadi Manasakul Vandhaai and 18 Vayasu. Rest of the movies not listed in this report failed to leave any footprint.

Looking back into Q1 and Q2 of 2012

Quarter 1, 2012 - First Quarter belongs to Nanban and KSY 

Quarter 2, 2012 - Santhanam All the Way

Looking Ahead into Q4 2012

Net-net business wise, distributors report that they lost more money than they made in this quarter.The distributors and exhibitors are cautiously looking forward to Q4 expecting Suriya's Maattrraan & Vijay's Thuppakki to reverse their fortune so they can finish the year in green.