The film 'Pizza' releasing on October 19 is probably the first Tamil flick with an English title to hit the screens this year. Since the film crew was very sure that 'Pizza' would only get a U/A certificate as it is set in the thriller genre, they didn't have to worry about giving the movie a Tamil title to be eligible for the entertainment tax waiver.
Even after the Tamil Nadu government's order that only U -certified films with Tamil titles can approach it for tax relief, filmmakers don't seem to think twice to have English titles for films cleared with U/A and A certificates by the Censor Board. Another example with the same case would be the dubbed version of the Telugu flick, 'Businessman' with Mahesh Babu and Kajal Aggarwal in lead roles. Since the film couldn’t get the tax waived as it bears an A certificate, the makers have decided to release it with the same title in Tamil. However, producer Kumar says they didn't purposely avoid having a Tamil title. "The hero is a pizza delivery boy in the film and his work is closely related to the story. That's why we wanted to have Pizza as the title," he says.
Not just those two, there are a few more films with English titles in the making as well. While actor Arun Vijay's upcoming flick directed by Siva Gnanam has been titled 'Deal', the other small films being made with no Tamil titles is 'Sim Card'.
But the makers of the other two films argue that their films can't be denied the U certificate. ",'Deal' will be a jolly film from the start till the end. There won't be any sequence that will qualify the film for only adult audiences," says Siva.
Director A M Baskar too is of the same opinion about 'Sim Card'. Both seem not to be bothered that the English title for their films won't let them avail of the tax waiver. "My producer hasn't asked me to change the title yet. I found the title Deal suitable for the story and no other name would be so fitting," says Siva. Baskar has a different view, though. "I can just transliterate Sim Card into Tamil and keep it as my film's title, but I'm not sure how far it would reach the audiences. So, I don't want to miss out on the publicity front just to avoid tax," says Baskar.
The other film being promoted with an English title is 'Ego'. But its director Sakthivel, who has already done 'Kandha Kottai', says he uses the title only for promotion, while the original title reads as Easwar Gomathi. "The film is about the ego issues between a lover couple, Easwar and Gomathi. I wanted to bring the flavour of the flick in the title and save the producer from tax as well. Hence, we came up with the idea of promoting the film with the first letters of the characters, which also has a related meaning," he says.
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