What’s in a name?

Last week the Tamil Nadu Film Producers Counsil had issued a notice to two film makers suggesting a change in their film titles

S Suresh Kumar

Earlier, a movie title was the one thing that directors concentrated upon a lot. But lately, it doesn’t seem to matter at all. For instance, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag. One would think it’s a film about Ram Gopal Varma’s life. No wonder it bombed at the box office. The other one is the Abhay Deol starrer, Manorama — Six Feet Under, directed by Navdeep Singh. In one of the interviews the actor had a hard time explaining what the title of the film really meant.
Among the regional films, Sundar C’s new movie titled Porukki and Simbu’s film Kettavan, both in Tamil, got warnings from the Film Association. To encourage the use of Tamil titles, the Tamil Nadu Government has announced a service tax exemption for films with a Tamil title. After the announcement, 99 per cent films from Kollywood are being titled in Tamil, but this is just a financial benefit for the producer and just led to films having strange names.
However, there are still some directors who put a lot of thought behind the names of every film they make. Filmmakers like Mani Ratnam, K Balachandar, Bharathiraja and Kamal Haasan, all from Kollywood choose the names of their films carefully.
Directors like Tulasidas, Fazil, Vinayan, Kamal, Renjith from the Malyalam film industry, K Viswanath from Tollywood are also masters when it comes to naming their films. The titles usually reflect much more than a name, it encompasses the thought behind the film’s story and concept as well. Mouna Raagam (Silent Symphony) by Maniratnam is a brilliant example. One gets the drift of the story just from the title itself.
Wish there were more directors from the same league?