VISITOR COLUMN

Dear Mr. Aascar Ravichandran & Aascar Films,

Thank you for producing ground breaking Tamil movies and mesmerizing us endlessly with unique contents and delighting us with the sweetest anticipation ever, Shankar’s I.

I am writing to you from Malaysia and I happen to be an avid Tamil cinema fan and a compulsive cinema theater goer since the last 23 years.

Malaysia remains a gold mine for Tamil Cinema and an untapped treasure.  Enthiran and Sivaji, based on documented box-office records, made more than Rs 25 – 30 crores each when both were released in more than 100 cinemas. I have witnessed people of Malay and Chinese origin watching Enthiran and enjoying it due to a respectable English subtitles.

The collections for Enthiran and Sivaji surpassed the biggest collections of nationally viewed Malay movies and also most of the Chinese & Hollywood movies. The recent Suriya’s Anjaan and Vijay’s Kaththi had massive openings nationwide. Lingaa had a magnificent opening though it did not do well eventually.

Most major Tamil star’s films routinely make No.1 spot in Malaysian Box-Office especially films by Rajini, Kamal, Suriya, Vijay, Ajith, and Vikram and also films by directors Shankar & Mani Ratnam. A.R Rahman is another superstar whose movies has a cult following regardless of presence by star actors or directors, and guarantees bigger viewership.

All this achievements were singularly attributed to the presence of a strong Tamil speaking Indian community in Malaysia, which happen to be the 3rd largest ethnicity nationwide and has a very powerful political voice.

Coming to Shankar’s I, the marketing for the movie in Malaysia is almost non-existent despite only 1 week away for the release and I am afraid, Aascar Films will miss out on a golden opportunity to cash in on the non-Indian crowd, especially the Malays & Chinese who are open to quality foreign films. They regularly watch Thai, Korean & Japanese movies despite not knowing the languages and had made some of those into box-office winners. Rather than dubbing a movie, Malaysians like to watch movies in its original form but with good subtitles.

I is the most anticipated Tamil movie of all time and everyone is bowled over by the quality of the trailer and teaser. It is the pride of Tamil Cinema and it is an absolute necessity for the movie to be recognized and viewed by non-Indian audience and will hopefully open doors for other technically brilliant Tamil movies to be viewed by them. I believe I will be the face of Tamil Cinema for a very long time to come.

None of the major Cinema chains, like the Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) or the Tanjung Golden Village (TGV) are showing the Trailer of I, and with this, goes an opportunity to market your film I to the affluent high society Tamils and non-Indians. Also none of the National television channels are showing I Trailer as well.       

I hope Aascar Films and you, Mr. Ravichandran will make an effort to increase the visibility of I in Malaysia in the coming days and we Tamils, are ready to make this movie, the most successful in the nation’s history, even if it requires us to watch it multiple times.

Good Luck to the I Team, Shankar, A.R Rahman, P.C and many others.

Yours Sincerely,

Tamil Cinema Fan,

Zen Z– Bukit Bintang

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia