Kulesan sets good example for distributors

In stark contrast to the hype surrounding Rajinikanth’s latest flick Kuselan, which was purchased at a whopping Rs 64 crore by the Pyramid Saimira group, the film’s box office returns fizzled out by the third day of its release. This has put the ‘Kuselan proves Rajini is Kuberan’ totem under the scanner. Many distributors, who were waiting to cash in on the Rajini phenomenon, now remain the proverbial Kuselan as sources say that there was a big drop of upto 50 per cent of the film’s ticket sales in the city as well as B and C centres. Ironically, the superstar had recently visited Tirupati to offer prayers claiming that Kuselan was running successfully.

According to reliable sources, about seven distributors and 50-odd theatre owners thronged the city and made a representation to the Saimira group. Speaking to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, a distributor expressed his frustration saying, “This film is neither a Rajini film nor a Pasupathy film. Had it been a Pasupathy film, we could have collected at least 50 per cent. It’s supposed to be a film about friendship, but now it is clearly evident, who has looted whose money to help a friend.” Insiders say the total budget of the film minus Rajinikanth’s remuneration was only Rs 6.5 crore. Rajini was paid about Rs 26 crore and the three producers including K.Balachandar, Vijayakumar and Aswini Dutt were given a share of Rs 12 crore each.

So what went wrong? Another big distributor who claims that he suffered almost 75 percent loss with respect to Kuselan says, “When the movie was sold for such a big price, it was Rajini’s ebullience that misguided us We were under the impression that the film has enough substance to satisfy Rajini fans. So we agreed to a huge ‘minimum guarantee’ amount.” Referring to Rajini’s speech at the film’s audio release function, which was attended by all those who bought the release rights to the film, the distributor says, “We were carried away by superstar’s speech. He said that although he gave only a five-day call sheet initially, he was so impressed by the script that he ended up giving a 30-day call sheet. Obviously, we thought there must be something great in the film.”

Says Naga Ravi who bought the distribution rights for the Gulf Countries Consortium, “I bought it for Rs 1.2 crore and the return so far is only 10 per cent, which is almost negligible for a Rajini movie. We ran it on 12 screens and we were forced to pull out two prints because of poor turnout at the theaters. Also we could not afford the heavy rentals of the theatres.” According to him the weekend rush in Gulf starts from Thursday itself. But the film was trailing behind on Friday. “Earlier, I distributed Sivaji there which fared reasonably well and I thought the same trend would continue if it had been a Rajini film.