What does 2023 look like for Sandalwood?

With a slew of releases in the pipeline, trade experts discuss what the audiences can expect this year

After a fairly successful year, the bar is set to get higher for Kannada cinema in 2023, with an estimated 250 titles expected to hit the theatres. Some of the most-awaited films this year are actor Upendra’s directorial comeback after seven years with UI, actor Darshan Thoogudeepa Shrinivas’s Kranti, and actor Dhruva Sarja’s Martin. On the genres that are expected to dominate the big screen, trade expert Sreedhar Pillai says, “Action films always work with Indian audiences. So, we can expect a lot more action movies such as Martin, Ghost and D56. Apart from that, stardom is always big with south Indian audiences. Stars such as Yash, Sudeep, Darshan, etc. will definitely make a splash this year, too.”

From UI, Ghost, Kranti to Kabzaa, here’s what you need to keep an eye out from Sandalwood in 2023

The previous year saw the Kannada film industry deliver some of the biggest hits of the country, including an action drama K.G.F: Chapter 2, the cultural thriller Kantara and 777 Charlie, which was about the bond between a man and a dog. The varied genres these films belong to show how the viewers are opening up to diverse content. Trade expert Joginder Tuteja says, “There are two very distinct kinds of genres that are in store for the audiences. One is films made on the pan-Indian scale, such as K.G.F, which all industries are aiming for. The other is those that are deep-rooted in the cultural aspects of Karnataka and are unique in nature.” Trade expert Yateesh adds, “Audiences are interested in watching a film about values, culture or a lesson attached to it. And Kannada movies have always focused on values. Kantara was one film that made it big last year, but we can expect more projects like that to work in the coming time as well.”

The Kannada industry has a lot of potential when compared to the Telugu or Tamil ones, feels trade expert Atul Mohan: “It took just one year to change the perceptions around Sandalwood. If you observe closely, the Telugu and Tamil film industries reached a point of stagnancy in terms of storytelling, and Sandalwood got the chance to shine.”

“Kannada films have shown that content is king. The film industry is also giving more prominence to technology, which has helped them, and is expected to work in the future too,” says Yateesh.

Talking about the south Indian cinema space as a whole, producer Anand Pandit says, “The treatment of some of these films has elements of fantasy, larger-than-life thrills and a few action entertainers which have struck gold at the box-office in the past but I don’t think these industries are thinking in terms of a single formula to tell stories. I don’t see South Indian makers restricting themselves because I see a constant evolution in terms of their thought process and in their understanding of what the audience wants. What they are offering is an immersive cinematic experience regardless of the genre.”