Regional Indian Movies in Rs.100 Crore Club: A Semiotic Analysis of the Movie Posters

The movie industry in India has a distinctive effect on their audience, which is rather unique when compared to the various influencing kinds of messages that are portrayed through different forms of media. Perceptual immediacy is often viewed in the audiences while they watch a movie or even when a spark is formed in their psyche just by the visuals that they see on a movie poster. And so, while creating a movie or even constructing a movie poster, the ability to make it relevant to the viewers is carefully considered by the creators of this medium. This paper aims to study whether Malayalam movie posters visually construct meaning and whether they can influence the financial success of a film. The sample for this research was three Malayalam movie posters: Pulimurugan, Kayamkulam Kochunni, and Lucifer. The methodological approach for this study was conducted by using Kress and van Leeuwen's visual social semiotic method.