How Social Media Influences the ‘Interval Block’
But in Tamil cinema, not only is the interval considered compulsory, it has to be “mind blowing” too, whether or not the story warrants it. Saravanan pointed out that the word-of-mouth for a film now begins from the interval point when the audience starts tweeting their experience.
“They pick up their phones and share their thoughts. This means that the interval block has to offer an elevated experience that makes them feel euphoric. It becomes a major selling point for the film if the audience calls it a ‘mindblowing’ interval block, and a lot of people make up their mind to watch the later shows in the day at this point,” said Saravanan.
A screenplay typically has a three act structure – exposition, conflict and resolution. When developed organically, it is likely that the protagonist experiences defeat or a setback at the midpoint of a story and recoups to fight back. But in today’s Tamil cinema, driven largely by star power, it has become necessary to show the hero accomplishing a major triumph midway because the interval has to make the fans feel charged up.
“When there is a high point in a film, it’s natural that there is a lull after it. When the high point is force-fitted midway, the portion after that doesn’t hold up and the climax moment doesn’t feel earned. It strikes a false note,” said Saravanan. “What ends up happening is that we have two different films connected by an interval, causing a lot of dissonance.”