Kollywood first-half report: Baahubali 2, highest-grossing movie at Tamil box office in 2017

SS Rajamouli's Baahubali 2 has remained the only silver line in Tamil film industry in the first half of 2017. The movie is the highest-grosser in Kollywood between January and June and is likely to retain the numero uno spot for the year.

Kollywood first half report in detail

In the first half of 2017, about 95 movies (including dubbed films) have been released, which is far lesser than the previous year where Kollywood churned out 108 movies. The year started on a low note after the death of Tamil Nadu's former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in December.

The industry had high hopes for Vijay's Pongal release Bairavaa. But the movie did not live up to the usual standards of the actor at the collection centres. The Jallikattu protests were said to be one of the reasons behind its average performance at the box office as the people and media's focus were around the issue. Yet the movie minted around Rs 115 crore at the global box office.

In February, Jayam Ravi's Bogan was released and the film earned decent reviews. But it failed to translate into a big collection. In the following week, Suriya's much-awaited Singam 3 aka S3 hit the screens. Unfortunately, this flick bombed at the box office.

However, Vijay Antony's good run as Yaman opened to critical appreciation as well as commercial success. The film turned out to be a profitable venture for its distributors and gave much-needed relief to them after a series of biggies failed to recover the investment.

While Kuttram 23 could not mint huge money even after getting good reviews, Raghava Lawrence's Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva did not set the box office on fire in spite of creating a lot of pre-release buzz.

Mani Ratnam's romantic film Kaatru Veliyidai, Shivalinga and Kadamban could not win the viewers' appreciation. Dhanush's directorial Pa Paandi made decent business in April.

Well, SS Rajamouli's Baahubali 2 ended the bad phase and became the first biggest hit of Tamil in 2017. The movie has minted over Rs. 130 crore in the state alone. The films released thereafter did not leave any impact except for Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae.

In June, 25 films were released as the filmmakers wanted to release their films before the implementation of GST to get the state government's 30 percent tax exemption.

Overall, the first half of the year is all about Baahubali 2.