Prem Kumar says Kollywood is suffering due to ‘paid reviewers’ targeting week 1 collections of films; wants regulation

At the Screenwriters Association's 7th Indian Screenwriters Conference, director Prem Kumar spoke about how some reviewers are ruining Kollywood.

Director Prem Kumar, known for heartwarming films like 96 and Meiyazhagan, spoke at the South Directors Roundtable with entertainment journalist Suchin Mehrotra at the Screenwriters Association's 7th Indian Screenwriters Conference. Director Vivek Athreya from Telugu, Hemanth Rao from Kannada, and Christo Tomy from Malayalam were also present. Prem spoke about why he believes ‘paid reviewers’ are harming Kollywood.

Prem Kumar is known for making heartwarming films like 96 and Meiyazhagan.

Prem Kumar on what’s harming Kollywood

Prem was candid about how he thinks ‘negative reviews’ in the first week of a film’s release are harming Kollywood. He said, “Negative reviews have become a big problem in Tamil cinema. It’s a huge problem, and it’s getting worse day by day, week after week.” When asked to specify if he was talking about negative word-of-mouth or something else, he said, “We used to have reviewers. The breed that we have now is not reviewers; their target is different. It’s very uncivilised, in the language they use, the way they talk, and what they target.”

The director claimed that these reviewers supposedly target the first week of a film’s revenue in the hope of getting money for the next film to give positive feedback. “They have an agenda, and they target the first week's revenue. Once you do that, you know the producers will come to you for their next movie. The number of paid reviewers is more than 90% now. The honest reviewers don’t have the talent or capacity to review a film. It is having a big impact on the box office because people decide to watch a movie or not based on this. I hope producers come up with a regulation for this,” said Prem.

About Prem Kumar

Prem worked as a cinematographer in films like Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom (2012) and Yeidhavan (2017) before debuting as a director with the 2018 Vijay Sethupathi and Trisha Krishnan-starrer 96. The film was a massive success, even gaining fame in other languages. He also directed the 2020 Telugu remake of the film titled Jaanu, with Sharwanand and Samantha Ruth Prabhu in lead roles. In 2024, he made Meiyazhagan with Arvind Swami and Karthi, which again received positive reviews. He will soon direct the sequel to 96.