New Delhi: It is almost indigestible to imagine that Rajinikanth's movie will flop at the Box Office but ‘Lingaa' is one of those rare movies that have unfortunately landed the superstar and the producers on the brink of ‘financial deficit'.
Demanding compensation for the loss incurred after ‘Lingaa's failure, the distributor R. Singaravadivelan, who administers Thanjavur and Trichy districts, has sought the permission of the Madras High Court to go on fast in Chennai. Associated with Marina Pictures, the distributor has submitted his petition to the court on Tuesday.
"Since most distributors suffered heavy losses due to the failure of the film, we had urged the producer and actor Rajinikanth to repay the initial investment. Since there was no response, I submitted this petition to go on a fast”, R. Singaravadivelan said in an interview to IANS.
The movie's distributors have suffered huge losses after the flick unexpectedly bombed at the box office.
When distributors asked about the return of the advance payment, the ‘Lingaa' producers requested them to wait until Christmas. But after not getting any convincing reply, the distributors and theatre owners have decided to go on a hunger strike on January 10 at Valluvar Kottam, Chennai.
The Madras High Court, led by Justice T.S Sivagnanam, urged the intervention of the government in this matter.
Earlier, it was seen that Rajinikanth returned the part of his money to distributors when his film ‘Badshah' didn't performed well at the box office.
In Lingaa's scenario, according to a leading daily, over Rs 120 cr was made by the movie in its first week and Rs 140 cr collection is done till date. However, according to distributors the movie made noise only in its first week and thereafter failed to create any buzz.
The said collection can't be considered a profitable amount from the distributors' perspective as they paid mammoth money bags to the producers in advance thinking that the movie will strike gold.
One of the reasons for Lingaa's failure was its critical remark, which didn't work in favour of the flick. The movie was out an out a Rajinikanth movie, which was hence refrained from any sensible treatment. Thinking that superstar's flick will automatically garner TRPs, it actually fell flat.
The movie was screened in massive 4500 screens all over including 1,000 abroad, 750 in Andhra Pradesh, 250 in Kerala and more than 200 screens in Karnataka.
After two weeks, when it was set for its release in North India during Christmas festival, the movie hardly managed to get many screens since Aamir Khan's PK occupied the entire space at box office. The overwhelming success of PK even masked the Anurag Kashyap's highly acclaimed flick ‘Ugly' and refrain it from claiming many screens.
Moreover, Lingaa's bad word of mouth severely affected its revenue and turned out to be the last nail in its coffin.
After the devastation, none of the screen owners was ready to take risk by releasing it here in North India circuits.
In Indian film industry, its a common phenomenon that distributors stake highly citing the ‘big names' involved with the movie, as it is considered a sure-shot formula for success. But if the tables turn around, it leaves the distributors with nothing but heavy losses.
