TULUWOOD, the new brand name for the Tulu Film Industry

TULUWOOD Logo

Brand #Tuluwood unveils a new logo as industry veterans feels the name Coastalwood has no significance

This day, today sees the historic significance for Tulu speaking and Tulu Movie lovers in the five decade as Tulu Entertainment sector unfolds new identity to give the audience and the stakeholders an iconic name and a logo to reckon with. This marks the official christening of Tulu Film Industry as TULUWOOD, the brand new name that will herald a new vibrancy and prosperity for this emerging Industry with a symbolic identity.

TULUWOOD, a new word coined unanimously by the Tulu film fraternity, is here to stay.  The industry completes 45 years of its existence taking into account the first Tulu film titled Enna Thangadi that was released in 1971. Tulu films are not only the perse of Karnataka or the Coastal of Karnataka but caters to worldwide audience at large and most of them feel that  Coastalwood for representing the Tulu movie industry is totally a misnomer as there is no co-relation between the both.
Eminence re-defined : Brand #Tuluwood unveils a new logo as industry veterans feels the name Coastalwood has no significance that is required to take the growth of the tulu movie economy on a higher scale.​

Actor Hemu Shetty , a well-known actor from Bollywood  also being touted as the next Bollywood Villain and Bollywood Baddie,recently ranked favourite by bunt community within the inner circle as the promising Actor in the Tulu Cinema, (now coined as TULUWOOD), also nicknamed as the Tulu Actor and  with his long experience as an acting coach , with an ability of a #HistrionicAnalyzer and penchant of an  #HistrionicWriter compliments “ Former name Coastalwood no way indicates any relation to Tulu film Industry, Tulu suggestively means water and the words has the flow like those of an unbridled stream which is inherently very much formal in strikingly communication as it conveys cogent messages and initiates conversations. Movies  produced in this language needs to have the mention of Tulu that embodies the intrinsic essence of the purpose and has to have a linguistic co-relativeness, hence TULUWOOD the fusion of Tulu language and the current buzzword ‘Wood’ suffices the same inherency that defines the meaning and creates an identity for a quick recall of the Tulu Film Industry, what could be better than this? “

As the corridors of the  TULUWOOD has always been buzzing with vibrancy, emerging talents, fresh creativity, new scripts and brimming with activities that indicates the emergence of a new era, giving a rise to a new economy. Diaspora’s across the world are eager and looking forward to watch the Tulu Movies. Thanks to Tulu Nataka and Tulu Drama which has brought the entertainment lovers come together, community bonding becomes more intense. Today Tulu movies have moved beyond coastal areas to become a global business, as seen by the success of movies being  screened across the world. It has become an important ingredient in the Indian Cinema contributing to a significant miniscule to Bharatwood or the proposed new name to Indian film Industry.

For a regular tulu movie watcher it comes as a surprise on being unaware about the  release of a tulu movie, the fact being there is no way that a news about the industry is communicated , says perturbed Sushant Sudhakar Shetty, a resident of Palghar district and an avid tulu movie aficionado  “Tulu film industry still have to go a long way to find its foothold, we have no means of any info in regards to which movie is released and when. There is general feeling amongst our community that there is no consolidation nor any binding in the tulu film industry and no proper info base about the tulu movies.On being informed about the branding of the tulu film industry as TULUWOOD “this is definitely a right move and a proper path of the industry body to guide itself to the hearts of the Tululad, now with branding for the tulu industry in place, the tulu movie lovers will be able to identify and will have a proper light to guide upon.”

Former journalists from reputed South India daily and a Veteran from the Bollywood who has been very closely connected with TULUWOOD, a Mangalorean by birth, Author of the book  lately made into movie by a reputed film production house, script writer, screenplay writer , movie producer Ratnakar K Hegde (name changed, wishing to remain anonymous) too agrees with branding the Tulu movie film industry as TULUWOOD, says “The communication in Tulu language brings bonding and soulmanship among the tulunads, thus Tulu movies brings root-full connect across demographics and geographies, diaspora globally feels connected while communicating in Tulu. However in the current context with the globally emerging mindset, the catchword has to become a quick buzzword, be modern and ultra-cosmopolitan, hence the fusion can be coined as  TULUWOOD , which brings in the connect of Tulu movie language plus wood of bollywood is very much apt. I do strongly opine using TULUWOOD as this will represent the tulu movie fraternity along with an identity to the viewers, audiences and stakeholders in India and globally.”

More than 10 films have on the budget list to be produced and it could be more, currently all are marketed and sold on National and International level, no longer its only in the coastal karnataka but released simultaneously in Mangalore, Udupi , Kasargod , neighbouring areas of Karnataka ,  Mumbai, Bangalore , USA, UK , Australia and Gulf countries.  Major cities of India and other prominent countries have huge members in the tulu speaking sangha’s and associations like Bunts,Karnataka and Tulunadu’s. With cities becoming more affluent, developing rich taste, love for entertainment but remaining culturally connected, they usually look forward to movies which cater to the Tulu language, hence it’s a captive market growing steadily. Tulu speaking Diaspora pockets have grown tremendously larger since then and there is the need for the roots connect (hence the rise of such Sangh’s and Association’s),which the audience satiate and look forward to the same. Tulu films stood out with their touch of reality, a language native to more than 5 million people, the main audience for Tulu films has extended beyond the two districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. Earlier limited releases was considered in Mumbai, Thane ,Bengaluru and Dubai now the recent reports have shown a growth of 15% across the viewing platform and is expected to grow further, the business is huge.

A firm believer in branding and communication , Rohan Shetty , an upcoming tulu film producer and a passionate film maker from Mangalore who quit his profession as an automobile engineer, post his success of his recently launched movie Pilibail Yamunakka  and with more projects in hand shares his deeper insights “ Till now nearly 75 Tulu films have been released which has managed to reach out  to major audience across the world through the increasing number of film releases every year, currently around 9 to 12 movies in the year 2016. In the current financial year, it could be more, in this emerging scenario with a bit of initial challenges with its new name, Tulu film industry christened as TULUWOOD, will definitely find a global foothold thereby providing a value-add to the entire entertainment fraternity, moreover it would be a great puller for the genuine talent and like-minded community to foster bonding and growth in the near future.”

Very Upbeat on  TULUWOOD, Actor Hemu Shetty, says “As per the industry estimates TULUWOOD pegs around 4 to 5 crore Industry from the total revenues coming across all the segments, as they too are produced, marketed and distributed as per the bollywood format, because 90% of the viewers are the bollywood viewers, TULUWOOD forms the second segment of viewers who also watch bollywood and Hollywood movies in India and the diaspora’s across. With a nominal rise on year to year TULUWOOD will become a 25 cr Industry at least by 5 years from now in the year 2022 or could be a year earlier.”

Tulumovies have always been a bonding factor apart from the family functions, expressing his emotions , Actor Hemu Shetty deeply invokes “Blessing from Mata Bunteshwarideviamma have given us inroads to this great opportunity, Diaspora’s across usually congregate during family functions, family gatherings and this only among the relatives and select friends. But with Tulu movies coming in to foray, the gathering brings in new friends and associates at the malls and place where the screening takes place. It’s truly a vision of Mata Bunteshwarideviamma, TULUWOOD will bring Tulu Community and Diaspora’s more  closer.”

Across the world About 12.5 million people speak Tulu and call it their mother tongue. Tulu language is one of the five Dravidian languages of South India (Pancha- Bhasha, others are Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam). The four major languages spoken today are dominantly spoken in their respective states (Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala), whereas Tulu is spoken in a small niche, mainly in coastal Karnataka and Northern Kerala (Kasaragod district) Says Aashvin Bhandary,  Publicist , Marketing specialist  and a veteran journalist for more than 20 years , a movie buff and Bollywood movies aficionado  “An audience of more than 10 million spread globally is a huge market, which is growing, catering to huge audience definitely needs an identity which is language centric and has a sense of global positioning, TULUWOOD is very apt and appropriate.”

Resonating the idea of this initiative and entrusting its  belief to the conviction of the branding, Mr. Prabhakar L Shetty, President of Bunts Sangha, World’s Oldest and the  largest Bunts Association with its humble beginnings from Mumbai  ( established in 1927 ) today is the most active , progressive and highly devoted towards socio-economic activity , echoed with joy and congratulated this prosperous vision of the initiative “ There could be no better choice than this, It marks an historic moment for this Industry  to carve a niche for the Tulu entertainment sector,TULUWOOD with its huge capacity of emerging talents and powerhouse of ancient warriors will floodlight a successful path to generate a niche slot in the global entertainment arena.”

As this hub-house of talents is busy generating movies, fresh breeze of life just passes away with the euphoria of a movie hit, but it doesn’t bring in any value-add to this Industry. The veterans and the stakeholder believe that right icon will beckon and beacon them into a global arena to create a well defined slot to remain sustained and will lure more and more evangelists to participate whole heartedly. With its purposeful objective and rightly motivated momentum by TULUWOOD branding , this will definitely pave an assured avenue to this well needed industry to achieve the position which has been longing and deserved for a millennium in the similar lines of Bollywood and Hollywood.