A dog fight has erupted in Tamil film trade as producers and distributors are scrambling to get the best theatres for their respective films this summer. It is a four cornered fight between Rajnikanth’s Chandramukhi, Vijay’s Sachin, Kamal Hassan’s Mumbai Express and above all the most hyped film of the year- Vikram’s Anniyan. All these films are slated for release in April and May!
Throughout Tamilnadu the exhibitors first preference are Chandramukhi, Sachin, Anniyan and Mumbai Express in that order. This means that the Kamal film is in the least priority and does not get the best theatres in small towns like Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Tirunelveli and no theatres at all in B stations like Dindigul, Nagerkovil, Theni etc where there may be just two or three theatres with DTS!
The only theatre which has signed for Mumbai Express is Sathyam Cineplex the 1260 seater prestigious theatre in Chennai. Sathyam is one of the highest collecting theatres in India and all Kamal Hassan films in the past have taken an extraordinary share- Virumaandi (Rs 27 Lakhs), Vasoolraja MBBS (Rs 36 Lakhs). And Shankar films like Jeans and Indian have also taken super share from the same theatre.
Now ‘Oscar’ Ravichandran wants to screen his Anniyan only at the big Sathyam theatre which means that Mumbai Express will be in trouble! Ravichandran claims that the 550 seater, Shantam in the same Sathyam Cineplex will not be able to accommodate a big film like Anniyan and he has already blocked 50 odd theatres all over Tamilnadu. The problem is that there is only a gap of about three weeks between the release dates of both the films.
The latest we hear is that as a part of his marketing strategy, Ravichandran is planning to buy the Srikanth-Sonia starrer Sathurangam in some areas and release it on April 14 and play it in theatres booked for Anniyan. Meanwhile Kamal Hassan has said that he will definitely release Mumbai Express on April 14, come hell or high water.
The views expressed in the article are the author's and not of Sify.com.
Share | 
Print | Rate 
