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India's superhero:
Rajinikanth |
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Not the end of the
line: Fans in Chennai wait to buy
tickets |
It's
seven in the evening and I am inside Abirami
theatre in Chennai's Puraswalkam area, eager to
get up close with the biggest phenomenon of the
season in Indian cinema. My perch is about four
rows from behind, but it's not a seat-I am on
the steps of a staircase that leads up to the
balcony. The crowd has barely settled in, but
the place is throbbing with excitement. My odd
vantage point is explained by the fact that I am
on a job and that there are no tickets available
for the show. Therefore, I have sweet-talked
Abirami's owner Abirami Ramanathan to let me
catch the first few minutes of the movie Sivaji
for a first-hand feel of the Rajini mania that
has been sweeping through Tamil Nadu (not to
mention, surprisingly, several other parts of
India and the world).
Last of the
trailers ends and the screen comes alive with
the words "Superstar Rajini". That's enough to
send the crowd into raptures; there are young
men in the front rows whistling and dancing, and
even the more sophisticated back row audience
can't help but start clapping. The whistles and
cheers only get louder when the star himself
makes his appearance on the screen and,
Abirami's Ramanathan tells me, that's pretty
much how the mood inside the hall remains till
the movie ends. And, by the way, most of the
people on the seven o'clock show with me that
day had seen the movie at least once before.
SIVAJI BY THE NUMBERS |
Rs
80 crore
What it cost to make Sivaji: The Boss
Rs 350 crore
What the movie could rake in at
the box office
Rs 200 crore
What movie merchandising could
fetch
1,100
Number of houseful shows in
Chennai at the end of Week 2
155
The number of prints released in
the overseas market. No Tamil film in
the past has got even close to half this
number
£14,000 (Rs 11.48
lakh)
The average revenue per screen in
the UK during the weekend of the release
56
The number of prints in Kerala,
compared to 20 which had been the
highest thus far
$3 million (Rs 12.3
crore)
The price at which AVM has sold
the overseas distribution rights for the
film
200,000
The area in square feet that was
taken over by AVM for its outdoor
advertising campaign. This is for the
state of Tamil Nadu, but does not
include Chennai |
Rajinikanth,
or Shivaji Rao Gaekwad as his parents named him,
has been a celluloid phenomenon in Tamil Nadu
for a few decades now. In fact, there are
several Rajini fan clubs that extend from Tamil
Nadu to Japan. But the mass hysteria that Sivaji
has generated is unprecedented even by Rajini's
own standards and, to an outsider, a bit
bizarre. From Mylapore to Melbourne, and Latur
to London, movie goers have embraced the
57-year-old star with surprising warmth. There
have been those who don't understand a word of
Tamil but have queued up to watch the movie.
Small wonder, Sivaji, made at a record cost of
Rs 80 crore, is expected to generate ticket
sales (India and abroad) in excess of Rs 350
crore, of which Rs 100 crore is already in the
till. In contrast, the biggest Bollywood
blockbuster to date, Ramesh Sippy's 1975 movie
Sholay, raked in under Rs 240 crore, adjusting
for inflation.
For the
producers, Chennai-based AVM Studios, the
success of Sivaji has been anything but
surprising. "We were planning to have a very big
project. This year is important since it is the
birth centenary of our founder, A.V. Meiyappan,
and also the diamond jubilee of AVM Studios,"
says AVM Studios' Managing Partner and
Co-Producer, M.S. Guhan.
Marketing Mass Hysteria
The studio
has more than succeeded. Ask anyone involved
with Sivaji for their opinion on the film and
the answer you are almost certain to get is,
"It's not a film, it's an experience." The
project was conceived in August 2005 and it was
immediately clear that it had to be something
big, since it was Rajini's 100th Tamil film.
"The film was conceived to be a magnum opus. It
became a best-seller even before it started;
that is the kind of pull Rajinikanth has,"
points out AVM Studios' CEO S.C. Babu. The
producers ensured that they had the best names
in the business, including director Shankar and
music composer A.R. Rahman. Other prominent
names that were involved were art director
Thotta Tharani and cinematographer K.V. Anand.
THE
SUPERSTAR ANIMATED
Next up: Rajinikanth
as Sultan: The Warrior, but animated. |
Will
an animated version of the southern
superstar fly? his daughter Soundarya, a
product of Australia's Edith Cowan
University, thinks so. Along with
Adlabs, she is working on such a film,
Sultan: The Warrior, that will be
released next year. "The idea to make an
animation film with my father struck me
early last year," Soundarya told BT. The
film, which is already on the floors,
will be made on a budget of $4-5
million. Interestingly, Sultan will be
dubbed in Japanese and Zulu, besides a
host of Indian languages. "My father has
a huge fan following in Japan and South
Africa, and that's why we are keen on
releasing it in these languages," says
the Managing Director of Chennai-based
Ocher Studios. What is Sultan going to
be all about? "It is going to be a
mythology-based theme and I cannot say
anything more at this stage," says the
star's daughter. For Rajini fans, who
are used to watching their star in
lengthy films, this is certain to be
different. It will have a running time
of around 90 minutes. Soundarya, a huge
fan of her father, says this is the
first time a South Asian actor will be
animated. |
|
SIVAJI'S FIRSTS |
»
First Tamil film to break
into the UK Top 10 on the weekend of its
release
»
First Tamil film to
simultaneously release in Hong Kong,
which historically has been a market for
Hindi films
»
First Tamil film to get onto
iTunes
»
First Tamil film to sell music on
a 'cash-and-carry' basis
»
First film to use the 4K high
resolution technology for photography
throughout the film |
Interestingly, this was AVM's first film that
was launched without a release date. "Shankar
told us that he would find it difficult to work
if there was a release date," quips Guhan. Like
any other film, it was important to start
production with a basic budget in mind and BT
gathers that this was around Rs 40 crore. It is
a different story that the money producers
eventually spent was twice as much. "Money was
never an issue and we never did put a budget to
the film," says Guhan.
 |
Celebration time:
AVM Studios' Guhan says the year is
important as it is their diamond jubilee
|
For those
who have seen the movie, the money spent is more
than visible. Dance sequences in Spain,
extravagant costumes, a refreshingly young
Rajini and high-quality computer graphics are
just some of the ingredients that have gone into
the making of this blockbuster extravaganza. For
instance, a part of the film's music required
Rahman to go to the Czech Republic in search of
a 40-man orchestra. "We actually used a harp for
this and that is not very common," reveals Babu.
The music composed eventually became part of the
background score. Likewise, a particular fight
sequence required an open air theatre that was
not easily available. The director simply
decided to create it exclusively for the film.
"It is a landmark film not just for the AVM
banner but also for the Tamil film industry.
This is because of its global acceptance," says
the head of AVM Studios, M. Saravanan, son of
A.V. Meiyappan.
The
pre-sale part of the film was important and AVM
decided to go about it a little differently.
There were various components to this and some
of the more crucial links were revenues from
distribution, music, downloads and home video.
In a city like Chennai, a big market for Rajini
films, getting the distribution right was
critical. The rights for Chennai were sold to
Abirami Mega Mall and GV Films for Rs 6.5 crore.
"This was the highest ever paid to distribute a
film in Chennai and at least four times more
than what is normally paid," says Abirami's
Ramanathan, who is also a well-known exhibitor.
The gamble
seems to have paid off for Ramanathan. The
collection at the end of the first week was Rs
2.2 crore, of which his share was Rs 1.4 crore.
"My share from the second week's collections was
Rs 1.2 crore. I am looking at a seven-week
period to recover my money," says Ramanathan.
 |
Big bucks: The
rights for Chennai were sold for Rs 6.5
crore. Abirami's Ramanathan says this is
four times more than what is normally
paid |
A
Non-Tamil Success
The stories
from other centres make for even better reading.
H.D. Gangaraju, who coughed up Rs 3.25 crore to
distribute the film in Karnataka, expects to
make at least three times the amount. "Rajini is
a phenomenon and given the massive success of
his previous releases, we were confident of the
success of Sivaji," he gloats. Overall, the
producers released 660 prints in the domestic
market-360 in Tamil and the rest in Telugu-and
155 prints abroad, where at least 90 per cent
was in Tamil.
A
comparison with the Yash Raj Films' new release
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom tells the story. While
Sivaji was released in just 12 screens in the
UK, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom was released in 47
screens. That number was not enough to prevent
Rajini's movie from breaking into the UK Top
10-at number nine-for the opening weekend, ahead
of Fantastic Four and Ocean's Thirteen. The
rights for the overseas markets were sold to
Ayngaran International, which is said to have
acquired it for around $3 million. "Normally,
they release five prints in the UK. We will now
be releasing two more prints with English
subtitles," says Guhan. By comparison,
Rajinikanth's previous film, Chandramukhi, was
released in the UK with five prints. "Breaking
into the UK Top 10 was a bit of a surprise,"
admits Saravanan. The $25 price per ticket in
the US over the opening weekend and the expected
success in key markets like Japan could well
turn out to be a money-spinner for the film.
"What has been most appealing to the audience is
the combination of Rajinikanth, Shankar and
Rahman," says Ayngaran's Director K.
Karunamoorthy.
|
Rain's no dampener:
Crowds outside Mumbai's Aurora
Cinema |
 |
Female following:
College girls at Chennai's Abirami
theatre |
Back in the
domestic market, there have been several more
surprises. For instance, it was released in 45
screens in Hyderabad as against 38 for Andhra
megastar Chiranjeevi's last release, Shankar
Dada MBBS. The first week collections in
Hyderabad and nine adjoining districts was an
impressive Rs 6 crore. Today, Sivaji is playing
in centres like Jalandhar and Lucknow. In
Kolkata, the film was released in three screens-Inox
City Centre, Inox Forum and 89 Cinema. "The
average occupancy on weekdays was a healthy 45
per cent and it was houseful on Sunday. This was
without any promotion, marketing push or
merchandising. This is the first time that 89
Cinema has released a Tamil film," says Prashant
Srivastava, VP, 89 Cinema.
Mumbai too
was a high performing market and the rains could
not do very much to deter Rajini fans. Yet, "if
it had not rained, the film would have done
better business", reckons Nambirajan, MD, Ganesh
Films and owner of Mumbai's Aurora Cinema. He
was the distributor for Sivaji in North India,
which for Nambirajan includes Mumbai. Initially,
he bought 18 prints, but quickly more than
doubled the order to 40. "In Maharashtra, we had
99 per cent collections in the first week and we
should recover our investments in about 3-4
weeks," says Nambirajan. The story is similar in
Delhi, he says.
By all
accounts, there is no stopping Sivaji for
sometime at least. While so far there has been
talk of just ticketing revenue, the monies that
will accrue through home video, satellite
television rights, music, downloads are yet to
be estimated. The satellite rights have been
sold to Kalaignar TV, while the deal for
ringtones and downloads has been struck with
hungama.com and galata.com. For now, it may be
difficult to estimate how much all this will add
up to. But it's safe to say that it will be the
sort of number that most Indian movie producers
only dream of.
-additional reporting by E. Kumar Sharma, Ritwik
Mukherjee, and Rahul Sachitanand |