when Ravikumar narrated a story, Rajini could smell a hit. Ravikumar said: “When I met Rajini sir, I told him my long time associate Ponram had a story that suited his image and it would work commercially. After he listened to my narration, he said –‘ Let’s start the movie’. He had only one condition that the film should release in 2014. I’m happy that we completed a big budget film which has a period flashback portion in less than 150 days.” Meanwhile Lingaa is in the final stages of post-production and will be submitted to the censor board by the end of November. The film produced by Rajinikanth’s close friend and Kannada producer Rockline Venkatesh has been sold to Eros for all world rights for a rumoured and whopping Rs 160 Crore. It is said to be the single biggest deal for a Tamil film which will also be dubbed into Telugu and Hindi and will have a simultaneous release with the original version. The satellite rights have been procured by Jaya TV. Shankar who directed Rajinikanth’s Sivaji and Enthiran said : Ive been told the business of the film (Lingaa) has already surpassed Enthiran. I am sure it will do much better than any of Rajini sirs films.” The trade buzz is that Rajinikanth was paid Rs 60 Crore for the film, which was made for around Rs 100 Crore. It is said to be the highest ever amount of money paid to an Indian actor for a film. Please note Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan make films under their own banner and even if they work outside, nobody has got this kind of salary. For Rajinikanth, Lingaa has become the most important film in his career. The film sold to Eros has to become a blockbuster if it has to recover the cost it was sold to the buyers. Rajinikanth will be 64 by the time the film releases, so he is no spring chicken. KS Ravikumar himself said Lingaa took over 100 days to be completed as he did not want Rajinikanth to exert himself. So he shot the actor‘s portions for only three hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. A lot is riding on Lingaa for Rajinikanth. He has to prove that he has the same kind of clout at the box-office, as he had at the time of Enthiran, which released in 2010 and is reported to have made nearly Rs 200 Crores from theatricals, domestic and overseas and all other rights. The big question is – Can Lingaa surpass Enthiran at the box-office? The answer to that will determine Rajinikanth’s future moves.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 04:20:35 +0000