Ayngaran International
 | |
Native name | Tamil |
|---|---|
| Type | Film production Film distribution |
| Industry | Film Distribution |
| Founded | Jan 14, 1987 |
| Headquarters | Thanikachalam Rd, Thillaiganga Nagar, Parthasarathi Puram, T. Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600017 |
Key people | K Karunamoorthi Rohan Manickavasagar |
| Revenue | $12 Million |
Number of employees | 67 |
| Website | www |
Ayngaran International is a film distribution and production company, based in the United Kingdom. The chairman of the company is K. Karunamoorthy.
History
[edit]Film production
[edit]In the 1980s and 1990s, Ayngaran International was the leading overseas distributor of Tamil films. The most prestigious productions sold for hundreds of thousands of rupees, and many enjoyed long runs on VHS.
Tamil films are generally released in eight major overseas territories: Malaysia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, Canada and United States.
Ayngaran International has several retail stores across the world, located in cities such as London, Toronto, Paris, Sydney, and Singapore. Other partner sites are located in Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
The map of international territories expanded significantly in the 1990s. Trade experts attribute this growth in part to political instability in neighboring Sri Lanka. Many Sri Lankan Tamils emigrated to Canada and countries in Europe, and have since constituted the largest audience for Tamil films in the world.
These audiences also warmed to the directors and actors who were making their mark during this decade. “Around this time, there were several stars in the Tamil film industry, such as Vijayakanth, Karthik and Prabhu said K Vijayakumar, executive producer of Ayngaran International Film and Media Private Limited. “Mani Ratnam made Roja (1992), and S. Shankar's Gentleman (1993) in the early ’90s. Vijay and Ajith too emerged as stars around the latter part of the decade. It took the double star power of director Shankar and actor Kamal Haasan to break the overseas price record. The rights to distribute Indian went for Rs 1 crore in 1996“.[1]
Ayngaran International made its first foray into film production with the 1996 horror film Karuppu Roja, directed by Aabavanan, but the venture's failure prompted them to prioritise European distribution ventures. In 2006, Ayngaran International entered into a joint venture with Eros International and announced plans to begin producing and distributing films on a larger scale. Its first distribution venture as a joint venture, Shankar's Rajinikanth-starrer Sivaji, became a very profitable venture and soon after, Ayngaran announced plans to begin producing films.[2]
Subsequently, it was announced that they would produce the director and actor's next collaboration, Enthiran (2010), dubbed as the most expensive Tamil film ever made, along with Eros International. However, in December 2008, Eros International withdrew from the joint venture after financial difficulties caused by the box-office failure of Drona (2008) and Yuvvraaj (2008),[3] while Ayngaran International itself, struggled with the 2008 financial crisis.[4]
The film's production and release rights were consequently sold on to Sun Pictures, who released the film.[5]
After enjoying success as the worldwide co-distributors of the Ajith Kumar-starrer Billa (2007), they signed the actor on to appear in their production Aegan (2008), which was directed by Raju Sundaram. Simultaneously they produced Prabhu Deva's Villu (2009) with Vijay in the lead role, but both films did not perform well commercially.[6]
The failure of both their big-budget films and their other venture Vishnuvardhan's Sarvam (2009), coupled with their withdrawal from Enthiran, put the release of several of their other projects into doubt. While smaller films like Peraanmai (2009) and Angadi Theru (2010) managed to release and perform well at the box office, other ventures including Mysskin's Nandalala (2010), Murattu Kaalai (2012) and the Prabhu Deva-starrer Kalavaadiya Pozhuthugal (2017) experienced severe delays as a result of financial restraints, however the latter got released in 2017.
Likewise Ayngaran's films shot in the late 2000s like the Jai-starrer Arjunan Kadhali and the Jeevan-starrer Krishnaleelai remain unreleased, while projects such as the A. R. Rahman musical, Kadhir's Manavar Dhinam with Vinay, were shelved after being launched.[7]
The studio continued distributing films throughout the 2010s and made a return to production through Kaththi (2014), which was co-produced by Lyca Productions. The success of the film meant that Ayngaran International were actively looking to make a return to the film industry, and announced that they would finance Anand Shankar's Marma Manithan with Vikram and Kajal Aggarwal starring. However, subsequently they opted against making the film and the project was taken up by different producers.[8]
Filmography
[edit]Ayngaran introduced the six-track DTS sound system to the Indian Cinema Industry through its inaugural production feature Karuppu Roja in 1996.
| As Producer | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Director | Cast |
| 1996 | Karuppu Roja | Paneer | Ramki, Vineetha |
| 2008 | Mayabazaar (Malayalam) | Thomas Sebastian | Mammootty, Sheela Kaur, Tisca Chopra |
| Aegan | Raju Sundaram | Ajith Kumar, Nayanthara | |
| 2009 | Villu | Prabhu Deva | Vijay, Nayanthara |
| Sarvam | Vishnuvardhan | Arya, Trisha | |
| Peraanmai | S. P. Jananathan | Jayam Ravi, Vasundhara, Saranya, Liyasree, Dhansika, Varsha Ashwathi, Roland Kickinger | |
| 2010 | Angadi Theru | Vasanthabalan | Mahesh, Anjali, A. Venkatesh |
| Nandalala | Mysskin | Mysskin, Ashwath Ram, Snigdha Akolkar | |
| 2012 | Murattu Kaalai | K. Selva Bharathy | Sundar C, Sneha, Sindhu Tolani |
| 2017 | Kalavaadiya Pozhuthugal | Thangar Bachan | Prabhu Deva, Bhumika Chawla, Prakash Raj |
| 2024 | Nirangal Moondru | Karthick Naren | Atharvaa, R. Sarathkumar, Rahman |
Film distribution
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ "The Tamil film industry's Look East-West policy is opening up new markets". Scroll. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
- ↑ "Chennai365 | Sivaji blazes success trail for Tamil films".
- ↑ Kumar, S. Suresh (30 December 2008). "Hollywood dreams". Mid-Day. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
- ↑ "The Journey: From Robot to Endhiran — Hurdles and setbacks!". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
- ↑ "Sun Pictures to produce Rajni's Endhiran". Rediff.com. 18 December 2008. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑ "Vinay in 'Maanavar Dhinam' - Tamil News - IndiaGlitz.com". October 2008. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018.
- ↑ "Bindu Madhavi In Priya Anand Out for Vikram - Tamil News - IndiaGlitz.com". 22 June 2015. Archived from the original on 25 June 2015.