A dark theater abruptly filled with light, revealing hundreds of fans swarming the corridors. A song that had recently caused the audience to sing and dance in the dark was replayed while the movie paused, causing chatter and hooting to echo through the auditorium. Everything was visible with the lights on: phones capturing the rowdy crowd, nostalgic dancing amongst friends, women belting out songs, and a flirtatious couple establishing eye contact. There was a celebration.
The kuththu song "Ava Enna," often referred to as "Anjala," from actor Suriya's 2008 film Vaaranam Aayiram, which is about a broken-hearted man singing out of regret and misery, caused others to start dancing. People celebrated their memories, and for a minute the narrative point lost its weight.
"We thought that 'Anjala,' when we were making it, was a song that would get people moving," says director Gautham Vasudev Menon. Vaaranam Aayiram, which was recently re-released in Tamil Nadu, along with its Telugu dubbed version Surya S/O Krishnan in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, are both highly anticipated songs.
Vaaranam Aayiram is only one of the numerous Tamil movies that have been re-released in theaters in the past year, including 3, Aalavandhan, Muthu, Baba, Siva Manasula Sakthi, Vallavan, Minnale, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, and Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu. Gautham directed four of these, and he is thrilled that people are still watching his movies over 15 years after they first came out. I received a call one day from someone asking me to make reservations for some seats. I thought they were talking about Leo because I was acting in it, but it turns out they were asking for tickets to Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya, which was released a few days before. Every filmmaker hopes that his films will stand the test of time and continue to be relevant.
Freelance writer Arunkumar Sekhar, who lives in Chennai, just saw Vaaranam Aayiram, and he is amazed by the sense of togetherness it provided. "Watching a movie by yourself does not provide you the opportunity to laugh, sing, or cry with everyone. Watching these movies on a big screen brought back a lot of nostalgic recollections that I still treasure. It gives me new hope that these kinds of films will be produced in the future," he says.
Releasing older movies in theaters on celebrity birthdays or when a movie reaches a significant milestone after its premiere is not a recent phenomenon. There is a different explanation, though, if more of these re-released movies have shown in your ticket applications in the previous three months.
A small trend that has been aided by social media users has gained traction thanks to the efforts of a few theaters in the city. This trend has a few distinct characteristics: it's centered around youth-oriented movies, and movie theaters are pushing patrons to record videos with their phones and dance to hit songs—some of which even get an encore, a la concert.
Owner of Kamala Cinemas in Vadapalani, Vishnu Kamal, saw the excitement surrounding the re-releases of movies like Vada Chennai and Vellai Illa Pattadhaari on actor Dhanush's birthday last year. This prompted Kamal to play Vada Chennai again in the weeks leading up to Vijay's Leo, which was uninteresting as is always the case before any big-name film opens. It was also the fifth anniversary of the movie. However, how would you extend an invitation to view a well-known movie that is available on OTT, enjoyed a successful theatrical run, and television reruns? At that point, I considered dropping the ticket's price to ₹49. And we sold 21,000 seats throughout Vada Chennai's run up to Leo's release.
That's not all, though. Even though the movie didn't perform well upon its initial release in 2012, star Dhanush agreed to a re-release of 3 (Moonu) when things quieted down in the weeks that followed Leo. The actual success here lay not only in the choice to re-release Moonu but, as Vishnu tells the story, in his spontaneous decision to transform his theatrical space into a makeshift concert. "As "Kolaveri" began to play, it occurred to me that everyone was familiar with the song's words. Why not play it again at a lower volume so they can sing along? Making that decision was challenging because what if they decide not to sing with you? It was successful. It all began when people began to upload films on social media, he adds.
