Y NOT Studios

YNOT Studios (stylised as Y?NOT) is an Indian film production company in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, established by producer S. Sashikanth. As of 2023, the company has produced 21 feature films, which includes productions made in the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi film industries of India. It has collaborated with filmmakers including Sudha Kongara, Balaji Mohan, Pushkar–Gayathri and Karthik Subbaraj.

YNOT Studios' first release was Tamil cinema's first parody film ''Thamizh Padam'' (2010), which featured a predominantly new technical crew and a rookie star cast. The film became a commercial success and the first of many "new-wave cinema" projects that the company chose to specialise in. Subsequent successful ventures included Balaji Mohan's romantic comedy films ''Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi'' (2013) and ''Vaayai Moodi Pesavum'' (2014), which were recognised by critics for their innovative narratives. The company also produced Vasanthabalan's period drama '' Kaaviya Thalaivan'' (2014), which focused on the competition between two theatre artistes in the 1930s and had a popular soundtrack composed by A. R. Rahman.

YNOT Studios produced several profitable films from 2016 onwards, with Sudha Kongara's sports drama ''Irudhi Suttru'' (2016), being made in three different languages. Many of their following films, Pushkar–Gayathri's crime drama ''Vikram Vedha'' (2017), Prasanna's comedy-drama ''Shubh Mangal Saavdhan'' (2017), C. S. Amudhan's Tamizh Padam 2 (2018) and Ashwin Saravanan's psychological thriller ''Game Over'' (2019) were commercial successes.

History

2010–2015

YNOT Studios was created by Chennai-based architect and entrepreneur S. Sashikanth in 2009. Having previously worked in films as an assistant art director, Sashikanth remained in contact with film personalities through his architectural work and became a close acquaintance of ad filmmaker C. S. Amudhan and cinematographer Nirav Shah. Looking to make his directorial debut, Amudhan pitched film scripts in three genres for YNOT Studios: a road film, a period film and a spoof film, with the latter, later materialising as the studio's first film, ''Thamizh Padam'' (2010), Tamil cinema's first spoof film.

Featuring a relatively new technical crew and a rookie cast led by Shiva, Sashikanth opted to sell the film to Dayanidhi Azhagiri's Cloud Nine Movies to ensure it received a wide release. Told in satirical fashion spoofing popular Tamil films and celebrities, the film narrated the tale of a young man looking to reunite with his long-lost family while tackling the criminalities of a notorious gangster. Upon release, the film received critical acclaim en route to becoming one of the box office successes of the year in Tamil Nadu. Rediff.com called the film a "must watch", while Sify.com labelled the film as a "rollicking comedy" and gave particular praise for Shiva's performance and the director's script and dialogues. The studio's next film, '' Va'' (2010) by director duo Pushkar–Gayathri, earned positive reviews but did not perform well at the box office. Telling the tale of a man hunting for liquor on a dry day in Chennai before leaving to Saudi Arabia, the film was completely shot within the city and was again distributed with the assistance of Cloud Nine Movies.

The studio next produced Balaji Mohan's ''Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi'' (2012), which was simultaneously made in Telugu as ''Love Failure'' (2012), and both films opened to critical and commercial acclaim. After being impressed with a short film version released on YouTube by Balaji, Sashikanth approached him and opted to co-produce a full-length feature of the script along with the film's lead actor Siddharth. In their review of the film, Rediff.com praised the team's innovative style of film-making noting that "the story is told in a slightly new format" and that "the script is simple yet meaningful".

The success of their first collaboration prompted YNOT Studios to produce Balaji's next bilingual project, the comedy-drama ''Vaayai Moodi Pesavum'' (2014) starring Dulquer Salmaan and Nazriya in the lead roles, which was shot in Tamil and Malayalam. The film narrated the tale of a fictional hill station that is hit with a virus that causes people to lose the power of speech, with the second half of the film being predominantly a silent film. The film also opened to positive reviews, with a critic from Rediff.com writing it was "a totally new concept coupled with the director's unique narrative style and a screenplay loaded with satire and comedy, that makes ''Vaayai Moodi Pesavum'', a thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable film", concluding it was "definitely a must watch". After the release of the film, Behindwoods.com remarked that YNOT Studios regularly "associated themselves with gutsy new-wave cinema".

The company's next release was Vasanthabalan's historical drama '' Kaaviya Thalaivan'' (2014), which narrated the tale of two stage actors who compete for roles, love, and the future of India during its quest for independence. Starring Prithviraj Sukumaran and Siddharth, with music composed by A. R. Rahman, it became YNOT Studios' biggest production to date. ''Kaaviya Thalaivan'' was announced in September 2012 and research work for the final script was carried out for nearly a year wherein facts, references and whereabouts were collected from veteran theatre artists across Tamil Nadu. Vasanthabalan was inspired to write the film's script after discovering more about Tamil stage actors from the 1930s and adapted real-life events from the lives of T. K. Shanmugam, K. B. Sundarambal

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