Important Notice

As the theatres all over India are closed for more than two months now due to COVID-19 pandemic, there is a stagnation in the release of films. The release of some major films have been postponed sine die and of some have been pushed to next year. At this juncture, we at the CM’s SATC are forced to take an important decision regarding the 9^th Annual Awards — 2020.

We had a similar situation the year before last (2018) when Tamil cinema production was shut down for almost 2 months. But normalcy was restored soon and we had more than enough releases throughout the rest of the year. Unfortunately, the current situation is so grim that a film’s release is amongst of least priority.

We don’t, as yet, see the reopening of theatres especially in Tamilnadu, happening anytime soon. So, we have decided to spell out the cut-off date for any chance of this year’s Awards to happen. The cut-off date would be July 31, 2020. If the theatres across TN do not reopen by the date mentioned, it will be — we are extremely saddened to announce — the last nail in the coffin for this year’s Awards.

We deeply regret and share your grief of missing out on movies.

Column #1

In this piece on The Hindu, Sreedhar Pillai observes how OTT platforms have become a major player in Tamil film industry.

Irrespective of the window period, casual movie goers would wait for movies to arrive on OTT if it is established before the release that they will eventually be available for streaming.

Read: https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/whats-the-future-for-cinema/article30180818.ece

Yet another…

A few days ago yet another media group jumped into awards business: Zee Tamil. It is no earth-shattering news, but it demands our attention nevertheless. You may recall that after running a few editions, Star Vijay stopped its own version — Vijay Awards — citing lack of interest among audiences. However, Star group found a solid footing in the state with plenty of satellite and digital (Hotstar) rights acquisitions. Seen on that front, this venture by Zee Tamil, which is all set to present its first edition of awards from 2020, will help them become a major player among Tamil satellite channels through movie rights acquisitions. Considering this, we cannot really expect cent percent integrity from this group as well.

An interesting aspect though is the selection of members for the jury panel. They have got it right in their first ever edition itself by choosing five eminent personalities who, to quote Suhasini (one of the jury memebers herself), “have never compromised in [their] works” to serve as juries: Baradwaj Rangan, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Bharat Bala, and Karu. Palaniappan. One has to wait and watch if the jury body has complete authority over the selection of winners which will foster some sort of credibility to its name.

To weigh the worth of Zee Cine Awards Tamil, you can compare our set of winners and the one from Zee Tamil — though it is not certain if they would consider only the films from 2019 (a movie still from a 2018 release was seen in one of the launch posters) — after their event on January 4, 2020.