its wonderful, excellent, amazing, can't wait now,
definetly sivaji will break the records of indian film history. our best
wishes for our boss.
thanks gopal for the details updated.
Gopal Srinivasan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
BIG GETS BIGGER Shankars film Sivaji has all the ingredients
that go into the making of a chartbuster a huge budget, an ageless superstar,
stunning locales and great music. D Govardan brings you live the story of
Indias most expensive movie made at a budget of Rs 80 crore The Economic
Times, 2 June, 2007
Pin-drop silence enveloped the reasonably full hall at Kamala, a
stand-alone theatre located at Vadapalani in Chennai, showing Tamil flick
Karuppasamy Kuththgakaarar. The screen went blank for a moment and then filled
with a larger than life hero in a smart, snazzy new look.
The management s impromptu action they had just received the trailer of
Shankars new movie Sivaji, starring Rajinikant was followed by unbelievable
frenzy. The audience went crazy at the glimpse of Rajinikant on screen and
erupted into high decibel whistling and dancing. The reaction was heart-warming
for the producers of Indias most expensive film till date, made at an
estimated Rs 80 crore. Two weeks to the movies release, expectations are
soaring far higher than the summer temperatures in Chennai.
Kamala is one of the five theatres within the radius of one km that will
show Sivaji from June 15. Giant cutouts and festoons will cover these theatres
as the D-Day nears. On that day, Rajinis fans will drench the cut outs with
packets of milk and light camphor to do aarathi. The story will be repeated in
several centers from Chennai to the US to Japan where the star has a huge fan
following. Tech professionals from the state working in the US have filled
their blogs with plans to do just the same.
The Boss?
What makes Sivaji special apart from the astronomical sum went into its
making? For one, it teams up Shankar and Rajinikant for the first time both
have enviable track records at the box office. Add A R Rahman to the equation
and that will explain people queuing up in front of the audio shops at five in
the morning since the audio launch a month ago. Also, the film is backed by
AVM, Indias oldest production house.
Scale is one of Shankar's hallmarks. Factors like time and budgets simply
do not matter to him. A song in Jeans, which featured Aishwarya Rai, was shot
at the Seven Wonders of the World. Shankars focus is on his end product. So
far, he has not failed the industrys expectations his only failure till date
is Hindi film Nayak (a remake of his Tamil blockbuster Muthalvan).
His last film Anniyan, with Vikram in the lead, took his reputation to new
heights. Instances like waiting for the orchids at Amsterdam to be in full
bloom or painting a hill with portraits of MGR and Sivaji, as well as NTR and
ANR (for the Telugu version), or painting a road to look like a silk sari
spread over several kms helped the imagination of a generation of Tamil film
buffs.
Only Rajini
Fresh from the success of Anniyan, Shankar approached AVM with Rajinikant
in mind for his new script. As with Shankar, Rajini too was fresh from the
success of Chandramukhi. To AVMs surprise, the star agreed. Rajini, Shankar
and AVM firmed up the plan in August 2005. And the AVM family is said to have
paid a token advance of Rs 1,000 to Rajini. And till date, though the film is
ready for release, Rajinikant is yet to take an additional payment from AVM.
That is Rajinis style. He believes in waiting till the films release. This
helped AVM to reduce interest payments, as the film took over one-and-a-half
years to actualise.
In Sivaji, Shankar has scaled new heights with support from Rajinikant,
whose swift movements defy his age. The picturisation of the songs has been
done on a scale never seen before, as is the climax. It is sure to rock, say
an industry insider who have had an opportunity to watch the glimpses of the
movie, shot in the US, Spain, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. The movie is also
said to have huge dollops of special effects a job done by Ocher Studios,
which is run by Soundarya Rajinikant, the stars daughter. Its an honour for
me and my studio to be a part of such a prestigious project. Working for my
fathers films is always both a challenge and a joy, said Soundarya.
Very few people from the film speak on Sivaji because Shankar had asked
them not to reveal the story. In fact, no one was allowed to use a mobile phone
on the sets and visitors were banned. Shankar likes to keep his films under
wraps to build the surprise element.
Figuring out the moolah
Initially, estimated to cost close to Rs 60 crore, including a whopping
remuneration of around Rs 20- 25 crore for Rajini, in a mix of fee and share in
profits, Sivajis budget crossed all estimates at Rs 80 crore and one worried
man is M Saravanan who is heading the six decade-old AVM Productions. I have
never been so tense all my life, he said.
Yet if the estimates are to be believed, Saravanan should rest assured.
With Sivaji mania sweeping across several markets, AVM is expected to rake in a
mind boggling Rs 100 crore through the sale of film rights. If that happens, it
will be a first for an Indian film and Sivaji would have created history
straightaway. It will cross Rs 90 crore for sure. And the expectation is that
it will inch past the Rs 100 crore mark, says a veteran distributor who has
had a long association with AVM.
With sale of screening rights in theatres all over the world and the
satellite and the home video rights, AVM definitely has an ace up its sleeve.
Satellite rights are said to have been sold to the yet-to-be launched Tamil
channel, Kalaignar TV, reportedly for Rs 4 crore, and the rights for Chennai
city alone have been said to have gone for an estimated Rs 6.5 crore, again a
new record.
According to industry sources, AVM opened commercial negotiations for
theatre rights in Tamil Nadu initially for upwards of Rs 60 crore, which was
scaled up to Rs 67.5 crore subsequently. According to industry sources, AVMs
plan was to sell the Tamil Nadu rights to a single entity and even started
negotiations with Adlabs, UTV and a few other companies. But things did not
work out the way AVM expected. While the films release date got postponed
twice from April 14 to May 31 and then to June 15 a decision by the Tamil
Nadu Exhibitors Association to insist on a percentage share of revenues between
theatre owners and distributors, rather than the normal minimum guarantee,
created hurdles.
The fact that AVM went on record that it sold Telugu rights for a mere Rs 8
crore, as opposed to industry rumours of an higher amount, made it all the more
difficult for it to push the Tamil Nadu rights the way it wanted. Consequently,
AVM had to opt for the traditional way of selling the Tamil Nadu rights, by
splitting it into major territories.
Industry sources estimate the Sivaji sale to fetch Rs 12 crore from
overseas, Rs 15 crore from Telugu, Rs 2.5 crore each from Karnataka and Kerala
and Rs 4 crore from satellite rights. All of which add up to Rs 37 crore. The
big question is will Tamil Nadu give the balance Rs 63 crore to help AVM touch
the magic mark of Rs 100 crore? As far as history goes, TN has always given 70%
of the returns and there is no reason to believe otherwise.
Printing success
If cost of production and sale of rights are creating new benchmarks, will
the release be any different? Sivaji will have a very wide release in Tamil
Nadu and other markets. Especially, since the theatres in Tamil Nadu cannot
charge higher entry rates for the first fortnight.
Industry sources expect AVM to bring out over 600 prints about 400-450
prints in Tamil, including close to 100 for overseas, and another 200-250 for
Telugu. Compare this with Sony Pictures global smash hit Spiderman 3 which
released across India with 580 prints, an all-time high in India for any
Hollywood film.
This is a record only for a Hollywood film in India. But, Rajinikant and
Sivaji are in a different league and we are not even competing with them, Uday
Singh, managing director, Sony Pictures, says.
No wonder, Rajinikant, whose original name was Sivaji Rao Gaekwad, happens
to be the The Boss of the Box Office.
Yasser
(music in our blood)
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