‘Blink’: How a Kannada film thwarted the ‘Premayugam Boys’ dominance
Between February and March, the Malayalam industry produced three blockbusters. The romantic comedy Premalu, the horror drama Bramayugam starring Mammootty, and the survival drama Manjummel Boys broke records. Of these, Manjummel Boys made the maximum impact at the box office, racing to ₹200 crore mark by performing brilliantly in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka apart from its home turf. Such was the dominance of these movies that fans online called the phenomenon Premayugam Boys, the Indian version of Hollywood’s famous Barbenheimer, involving Barbie and Oppenheimer.
In this kind of tough competitive market, scifi Kannada film from debutant Srinidhi Bengaluru Blink released on on March 8 alongside two big Kannada films
With a timetravel concept enhanced by tight writing and fine performances from Dheekshith Shetty, Chaitra J Achar, and Gopalkrishna Deshpande, Blink emerged as the unlikely winner at the Kannada box office. Starting as the clear underdog with just 17 shows across Karnataka in the first week, the movie was propelled by consistent positive wordofmouth. In its third week, Blink secured 87 shows, a commendable feat for a film made by unheralded names.
“We made Blink knowing very well that it was an experimental movie. The common opinion from peA still from ‘Blink’. ople around us was that the film would not appeal to the masses and would impress the multiplex crowd”, says Mr. Srinidhi, who hails from a theatre group called Aneka, where he met the film’s producer Ravichandra A.J., another theatre enthusiast.
It helped Blink's case that Karataka Damanaka and Ranganayaka turned out to be forgettable affairs. The Kannada audiences, who encouraged several wellmade thrillers, turned to Blink. They weren’t disappointed. “Slowly, all kinds of audiences began watching our movie; we began to witness 90 % occupancy from the first Monday in all screens,” says Mr. Srinidhi.
Blink begins with a note that the film is an homage to American films Predestination and Primer, the legendary play Oedipus Rex, and the Kannada classic Ranganayaki. With a small budget, the team pulled off a film that did justice to its genre without compromising on the writing and production.
Producer Ravichandra A.J., a data engineer, banked on clever promotional strategies. Instead of treading the usual path of several promotional interviews, he believed in seizing the strong buzz immediately after the release.
“We ensured at least 30 videos of the audience response were out on our different social media sites everyday. We saw fans recommending the film to people on X and Instagram. After the first weekend, we shared a form on social media, asking people to mention the city they wish to see the movie. We got around 25000 responses. Based on the data, we emailed multiplexes, asking them to provide more shows. They responded positively because the film had maintained its good buzz,” explains Mr. Ravichandra.
Srinidhi says the Kannada audience is ready for fresh attempts. “The industry needs to believe that people want to watch such movies. If you look at the Malayalam industry, they have already made four films in 2024 that are worthy of discussion. Our (Kannada) films should be discussed and decoded as well. When we interacted with people outside theatres showing Blink, many said they had watched a Kannada film after 45 years. We are in danger of losing our audiences,” says Srinidhi.