Pollachi: Mini Kodambakkam in Tamil Nadu

POLLACHI: On Monday, the bus terminus at Kaaliapuram village in Pollachi Taluk was teeming with action. Apart from the usual crowd, the film-shooting team under ‘Vidathu Karuppu’-fame Naga was busy fixing scenes for his new movie ‘Anandha Purathu Veedu’. In the nearby Thirumurthy Hills, Captain Vijayakanth was winding up the shooting of his latest film ‘Mariyathai’. Elsewhere in the same taluk, ‘Mirugam’ movie-fame Samy had only then started shooting the Adhi-starrer ‘Charithram’.

Pollachi town, which is 40 kilometres from Coimbatore, is picture perfect for the nomenclature — Mini Kodambakkam. Though prominently known for cash crops, coconuts and second biggest ‘sandhai’ (market) in the country, the town has now become famous for cinema shootings and consequently a huge tourist attraction.

A green town, it has all that it takes to make an ideal location for a village-themed movie and song sequences — mini towns, rivers, hills in the background, red lands, black soil and good weather conditions.

Industry sources estimate around 1,500 movies must have been shot in Pollachi taluk. The number would be as high as 5,000 if songs or village scenes are considered. In addition to regional movies, the taluk also attract Bollywood, Bengali and Sinhalese film-makers.

Last year, the town saw a flurry of activities with the climax scene of ‘Kuselan’ shot at Amaravathy Sainik School in Pollachi. Tamil super star, Rajnikanth stayed for four days and 3,000 junior artists and 1,500 school children were mobilised for the movie. The A portion of its Hindi-remake —‘Billu Barber’, now changed to ‘Billu’ — has also been shot at a matriculation school here. The presence of actor Shah Rukh Khan was a visual treat for the locals.

"Big directors, including Manirathnam and Shankar, find this a very lucky place and they schedule at least two days of shooting here for all their films," said a location manager.

Even Malayalam superstar Mammooty has a special attachment to Pollachi. In 2008, two his of his movies — Maya Bazaar and Annan Thampi — were shot here. Director Manirathnam is expected to shoot few scenes for his forthcoming film ‘Ashokavanam’ here.

A film shoot also substantially boosts the taluk as local infrastructure like lodging, mess, vehicles, vegetables, meat, milk, mineral water and local junior artistes would be utilised. The presence of even a small film unit contributes to at least Rs 1.5 lakh per day. "If a crew of around 80 to 100 members halt at Coimbatore for a movie shooting, then the town gets to earn more than Rs 2.5 lakh per movie," said industry sources.

GD Gopalakrishnan, president of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Pollachi said film shooting had upped the tourist inflow. "The town has become popular more because of the films that are shot here. The Sarath Kumar-starrer ‘Suryan’, shot at Top Silp, was a trendsetter and people still remember that movie when they visit that spot," he said.

"Though the place is not dependent on cinema, it can be developed as an excellent alternative for Chennai’s Kodambakkam. It being a small town makes it convenient to shoot without disturbances," film director Naga (LS Nagarajan) told ET. About 10% of Tamil movies are shot at various locales in Pollachi.

He suggested that since the town has easy access to Coimbatore, post-production facilities could be set up there. "This place can be developed as a second Kodambakkam. Coimbatore has modern facilities and ideal climatic conditions," he added.

Starting from MGR’s ‘Malai Kallan’ in 1956, the town had seen shootings of various movies that include Bhagha Pirivinai (Sivaji), Muratu Kalai (Rajni), Kizhakku Vasal (Karthik), Chinna Gounder (Vijayakanth), Devar Magan (Kamal) and Bombay (Arvind Swamy).

"Earlier, studios were mainly present in Coimbatore (Central & Patchi Raja) and Salem (Modern). Even leading play writers including Karunanidhi travelled to Pollachi and wrote scripts here," said a source.

Ad film-directors and television serial markers too have started making a beeline to Pollachi. Aircel, Airtel, Hutch, Chennai Silks, Three Roses, Brooke Bond, Air Deccan, Tata Indicom, Chandrika Soap, Pepsi are some of the commercials shot here. "There are two to three commercial shootings every month," said a source said.

Among the leading actors, the region has seen the likes of Anil Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, Manisha Koirala, Ajay Devgan, Kajol, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Mahesh Babu, Siddharth, Balakrishnan, Junior NTR, Mohanlal, Aiswarya Rai, Anupam Kher most Tamil stars.