Nothing can be more exciting for an avid movie watcher than having many content-rich, short films bound together by exploring immersive storytelling formats. Film anthologies have gained popularity in India over the past few years, especially with Bombay Talkies and Lust stories’ critical acclamation and popularity. Directed by prominent directors in Bollywood, these anthologies have undoubtedly set a new trend in Indian film making. Following this, India’s regional film industries have also started to make their mark by experimenting with new techniques of film making and distribution.
With Netflix announcing its first Tamil film anthology PaavaKadhaigal, the collections become a famous Indian film industry trend. The digital space has gained momentum, with many films taking the Over-the-top (OTT) route. In PaavaKadhakal, the well known directors Goutham Menon, SudhaKongara, Vetrimaran and Vignesh Sivan are coming up with four stories that would explore how love, pride and honour influence human relationships. The announcement came a week after the Amazon prime releasing another Tamil anthology ‘PuthamPudhuKaalai’. It consists of five narratives exploring the nuances of emotions and relationships in the most challenging times. It became the first original anthology film to be released in Amazone Prime Video. Apart from Tamil, the Malayalam and Telugu movie industries have also come up with film anthologies and managed to strike a chord with the audience. A genre, which was rarely watched and barely acknowledged, anthologies are receiving Indian film lovers’ overwhelming attention across the world. What fed the trend of this Short Film Format (SFF) is the combination of the following; the demand for rich content, the emergence of various platforms, and a new audience both within and outside the country. Often revolving around a single theme, anthologies have marked their own space in the Indian film industry, expecting an overwhelming global audience. With the regional language films attainting world-wide attention and the mushrooming of online platforms, Indian film making have widened its canvas exploring new arenas of film making
