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FILM
HOARDINGS IN CHENNAI
 Tinsel
world is never far from the people. And it is this all-pervading
influence that brings hoardings alive in the city of Chennai. With
their gaudy colours and garish layouts, Chennai's film hoardings
are now being seen as a significant form of popular art.
It all started with artists, applying brush and
paint to open walls. This graduated to black and white posters,
pasted on fixtures, which were taken around the streets on wheels.
Finally the print media moved in to provide the edge needed to enhance
reach and impact. (Now in the age of Information Technology no media
is taboo for film advertisers. The small screen has created a niche
for itself and prime time on the idiot box is always on demand).
There is a general consensus that  polyvinyl
has given a fillip to silver screen advertising today. Replacing
the age-old cali cloth banners, it has helped improve impact
on the public in a big way.
And yet a little ingenuity does add that extra
colour to the business of hand-painted film hoardings. A few palm
and coconut tree leaves, set atop the hoarding for the Tamil movie
'Pennin Manathai Thottu' has managed to pull the
crowd into the cinema halls.
 At
times, the larger than life 'cut outs' of matinee idols are super-embossed
on the foreground of hoardings, providing them an 'in-the-face',
three-dimensional effect. One of the earliest such examples was
the cut-out of Music Director - Illayaraja, for the film
'Payanangal Muddivatthillai'. Another classic example
is the Hoarding that was used for 'Ullae Velliya'.
What seems most common to film hoardings in the
city is the gigantic proportion of the banners. The 100 ft by 20
ft banners for the films 'Puratchikaran' and
'Valarasu' on Anna Salai (Mount Road) are just an indication
of the super-sized scale that is in  vogue
in Chennai today.
Hand-painted Banners still hold sway among advertisers,
despite the entry of polyvinyl. The cost per banner is anywhere
between Rs 5,000/- to over Rupees One lakh, depending on the size.
The artists work on a daily wages' basis, which is more or less
uniform throughout the year.
What is encouraging is the fact that the
corporate world today has found a little space for itself on film
hoardings to gain for itself that much more mileage in the market.
For instance - 'Mugavari' - Deltagram and 'Alaipayuthey'
- HMV.
All in all, whether it is film hoardings or otherwise, hoardings
mean big business in Chennai today.
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