Ten Tamil films lined up for release Friday

The Tamil box office usually witnesses a maximum of four releases every week, but a record 10 releases are slated to hit the screens Friday. It's not a healthy trend, says a trade expert.

The 10 releases are "Alamarama, "Gubeer", "Jamai", "Kurai Ondrum Illai", "Muyal", "Nee Naan Nizhal", "Panduvam", "Vangakaraia, "Vennila Veedu" and "Yavum Vasapadum".

"Who has the time to watch ten films over a weekend? This is the first time so many films are releasing on a Friday. I don't think it's a healthy trend because not even a single film can enjoy a successful run as they won't have enough shows," trade analyst Trinath told IANS.

"Three Hindi and two English films are also releasing this Friday. Most of these 10 releases feature not-so-familiar actors, and hence, their chances of having a multiplex release is limited. But most of these films have been planning to get released for quite some time," he said.

The Three Hindi releases are "Ekkees Toppon Ki Salaami", "Spark" and "Tamanchey", while the English films are "Annabelle" and "Bermuda Tentacles".

"Vennila Veedu" director Vetri Mahalingam says most of these films wouldn't have got a better time to release.

"Smaller films can't compete with bigger ones that come out almost every week. Even if a small film is extremely good, it seldom gets a wide theatrical release to get noticed," Vetri said.

"This being the case, we have to release our films together in a week where we don't have to compete with big-budget films," he added.

With these 10 films, Tamil cinema has had 162 releases so far in 2014.