With 24 getting trimmed by 8 minutes after release, sudhir srinivasan talks to Tamil cinema experts to analyse the efficacy of the decision
Like a king who disguises himself as a commoner to find out if his subjects are happy, Rakesh Gowthaman, managing director of Vettri Theatres in Chromepet, watches new releases as one among the fans. He watches the first two shows as “it is difficult to judge a film based on just the first show, which is usually packed with the star’s fans.” Over the years, he has become a bit of an expert at identifying customer behaviour that indicates unhappiness. “Restlessness can be easily spotted. Walking out for a break is an extreme symptom. Some others begin whispering. Before you know it, the unrest spreads.” Like in a mob, he says. Rakesh saw 24 last Friday with the fans (“I loved the film”), and noticed some of these symptoms during parts of the second half. “I could see that the romance portions made quite a few people restless.” At the moment, Rakesh didn’t realise that he wasn’t alone in noticing this.
Enough dissatisfied voices eventually made their way to Gnanavel Raja of Studio Green, the company that distributed 24 along with Eros Green. This resulted in the film getting cut by 8 minutes, with the edited version playing in theatres from Sunday. Tirupur Subramaniam, who distributed the film in Tirupur, Erode and Coimbatore, saw this coming. He told Gnanavel Raja as much even before its release. “When I learned 24 was about 165-minutes-long, I called him up to express my concern. Today, only a once-in-a-decade film like Baahubali can justify being so long,” he says. Subramaniam, who also heads the Theatre Owners’ Association in the Tirupur area, and runs Sri Sakthi Cinemas, says audiences can’t be bothered with the four-song, four-fight formula anymore. He questions the placement of a song like ‘Naan un’ in 24 . “If you’re going the Hollywood way and trying out concepts like time travel, why have such a song?” He complains that even Thoongavanam , based on a French film, had two songs. And we thought distributors wanted songs.
Vikram Kumar, the director of 24 , finds it almost amusing that distributors and exhibitors make “creative calls.” “I tell stories for a living, and I know how long a story needs to be told.” Vikram also finds it rather baffling that a film like 24 that has released to overwhelmingly positive reviews needs to be trimmed in the first place. Perhaps a lot of people liked the film but found some scenes in the second half to be overlong? “Come on! Do you really think that a viewer will tell his friend that he liked the film, with the exception of one scene in the second half?” But Vikram has conceded defeat nevertheless. “We have cut some love scenes in the second half, and brought down the duration of a couple of songs, including ‘Naan un’.”
Not every director is as accommodating though. Subramaniam says Selvaraghavan resisted industry advice that he edit both Aayirathil Oruvan and Pudupettai after release, even though the former, about 165-minutes-long in Tamil, was a huge hit in Andhra Pradesh where it was only 120-minutes-long. “Four days later, they eventually cut it by a few minutes, but the damage had already been done.” K. V. Anand also reportedly refused to buckle under pressure and cut parts of Maattrraan .
Editor K. L. Praveen, who’s working on films like Kabali and ‘Vijay 60’, isn’t really convinced that such trimming is effective. “I’m not a fan of removing a few scenes in a hurry. It makes the film feel choppy,” he says. Tirupur Subramaniam is adamant that it does work. He even cites the fascinating example of P. Vasu’s Arjun-starrer, Sadhu (1994) to make his point. “When I saw that the film ended without a climax fight, I told Vasu it wouldn’t work. He called Arjun that evening, shot a fight sequence the following day, got it censored, and by Sunday noon, it was added into the film. Sadhu ran for 100 days.” If Subramaniam had had his way, a fight sequence would have been added into the opening portion of Puli too. “A Vijay fan does not want such an underwhelming introduction scene for his hero.”
Praveen explains that when such changes are planned before the release, the editor has time to ensure that the movie transitions smoothly. Films are made digitally today, and so, the editor is entrusted with such last-minute work. But not too long ago, theatre owners, aided by projectionists, sometimes took the liberty of wielding the scissors, literally, as they saw fit. Subramanian cites the example of Mella Thirandhathu Kadhavu , which after release, had its halves interchanged by the owner of Shanthi Theatre in Tirupur. “He asked nobody for permission about this, and a week later, everybody else agreed this was a great idea and did the same. The film turned out to be a huge hit.”
Trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai mentions that during those days, a few projectionists were often thought of as being better than the real editors. “Directors, who are not in touch with ground realities, often tend to think that every scene in their film is indispensable, but the staff of such theatres see how the audience is reacting, and are sometimes better suited to make such decisions.”
The advent of social media, however, has given way to new problems, says Vettri Theatres’ Rakesh. “When a film is cut after release, people tweet about it. This creates a negative impression about the film. This is why filmmakers should be proactive and make changes before the release.” Praveen says that it is such preemptive action that has ensured that none of the 50-odd films he has worked in so far, including Chennai-600028 , Aaranya Kaandam , and Madras , have needed to be cut after release. He has a checklist of rules he usually follows. “I ask the director to share the script well in advance. This helps me calculate the length of the film, and recommend the removal of scenes even at such an early stage. Other aspects I try to avoid include a slow duet after the one-hour mark.” Praveen also remembers when he, along with Venkat Prabhu, had to make the tough decision of doing away with an extended 3D animation sequence for Mankatha that cost 27 lakh to make. “Changes made before the release are far more effective,” says Praveen. That’s why Sreedhar Pillai and Subramaniam advocate that films be screened a month before release to a select audience. “Bollywood already does this,” Sreedhar says. “Why can’t we?”
Everybody agrees though that for post-release editing to be effective, it needs to be done on the day of the release; this wasn’t so in the cases of Lingaa, Anjaan and Aayirathil Oruvan that were trimmed only four days after release. As Rakesh says, “Most films last only for a week. What’s the point in trimming it only for the last day?”
