Rajinikanth’s Rs 100 cr film with director behind two of his biggest hits bombed; distributors lost over Rs 54 cr; he stepped in to cover losses amid protests

No matter how big a superstar one is, there’s no escaping failures, even if they are few and far between. A 100 per cent success rate is no piece of cake, especially for actors who won’t be the creators of their movies all the time. Even Rajinikanth, one of the greatest and most successful superstars Indian cinema has ever seen, has faced failures at times. One of his most shocking box-office disappointments came in 2014, when he joined forces with director KS Ravikumar, who had previously given him two of the biggest hits of his career. Although the movie, Lingaa, earned good money, it was eventually labelled a box office bomb as it failed to break even against its massive budget. This even led to a controversy, as several distributors came forward demanding refunds.

One of the most anticipated films of the year, Lingaa marked Rajinikanth‘s first collaboration with hitmaker KS Ravikumar in 15 years. They had previously worked together on Muthu (1995) and Padayappa (1999), both of which were massive blockbusters. Naturally, expectations were sky-high for Lingaa. The film featured the superstar in a dual role as a civil engineer and his grandson. While a 37-years-younger Sonakshi Sinha played the wife of his first character, a 31-years-younger Anushka Shetty portrayed the second character‘s love interest. The movie also featured K Viswanath, Jagapathi Babu, Santhanam, Karunakaran and Brahmanandam in key roles. Bankrolled by Rockline Venkatesh under the banner of Rockline Entertainments, Lingaa boasted music by Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman.

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Although the film opened strongly at the box office, after releasing on Rajinikanth‘s birthday (December 12), it received poor reviews and its momentum dipped soon after. Mounted on a reported budget of Rs 100 crore, although the movie performed well in terms of worldwide gross and overall business, it didn’t translate to profits for everyone, particularly the distributors. According to a 2015 Firstpost report, producer Venkatesh sold Lingaa to Eros International, who later sold the Tamil Nadu distribution rights to Vendhar Movies, which in turn sold the film area-wise. Mentioning that the film had become overpriced by the time it reached distributors at the end of the chain, the report added that, given the amount spent, they wouldn’t have recovered their investment even if Lingaa had become a blockbuster.

‘Lingaa distributors lost Rs 54 crore’

A stakeholder who distributed the movie in Tuticorin, Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli told Dailyo that he managed to recover only about 30 per cent of what he had paid. In conversation with IANS, distributor Singaravadivelan revealed that Eros International bought the theatrical rights of Lingaa “at a whopping price of over Rs 100 crore.” While Tamil Nadu distributors alone reportedly faced a loss of Rs 33.5 crore, distributors from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and overseas markets reported an additional loss of over Rs 20 crore, taking the total close to Rs 54 crore. Rajinikanth’s close confidant and official mediator Tirupur M Subramaniam also confirmed this at the time.

The issue soon escalated, with distressed distributors demanding that the makers compensate them for their losses. M Reuben, a distributor from Kanyakumari district, told NDTV that he had paid Rs 4 crore for the rights to screen the film in 29 theatres but managed to recover only half his investment. “Normally, for Rajini movies, we easily get 20 per cent profit. But this time there’s a huge loss. That’s the worth of the movie. Let them deduct the theatre collection and return the rest. …for a Rs 10 product, they can’t charge Rs 100,” he said.

Demanding compensation, some distributors even threatened to stage a mass “begging protest” outside Rajinikanth’s residence in Chennai’s Poes Garden, IANS reported. “They’ve made us beg for the refund. And we will do it as we’ve run out of options. We will beg right outside Rajinikanth’s house,” Singaravadivelan told the news agency. They also reportedly held a symbolic day-long fast in front of Valluvar Kottam to draw the superstar’s attention after he allegedly refused to meet them.

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Rajinikanth, who had previously compensated distributors when his films Baba (2002) and Kuselan (2008) bombed, decided to step in once again and offer financial relief. According to The Quint, Rajinikanth and Rockline Venkatesh each contributed Rs 5 crore to compensate the distributors. The Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council announced that a total of Rs 10 crore had been handed over to the distributors. “We’d initially demanded Rs 35 crore and lowered it to Rs 30 crore. Though the compensation is just a third of the actual settlement we expected, we are happy with the gesture. We wouldn’t have resorted to the protests had it not been such a big loss for us,” Singaravadivelan told the publication.

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Sources close to the superstar, meanwhile, stated that he was deeply upset by the entire controversy. “They behaved very arrogantly and threatened to beg in front of Rajini sir’s house. This entire drama is a conspiracy. Every year, more than 200 films get released in Tamil Nadu and none of these distributors have threatened to do such things against any other actor/producer. These distributors earned lot of money through Rajinikanth’s movies and they never offered him a share in their profits. Rajini sir agreed to pay Rs 10 crore only on humanitarian grounds and yes, he is very upset with this entire issue,” those close to him told the Times of India. Reacting to the controversy, actor Sarath Kumar — who was involved in the negotiations — told The Hindu, “It has been made very clear that he (Rajinikanth) has no obligation to repay the money. After all, distributors don’t pay back when they make profits.”

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‘Rajinikanth interfered in the editing table’

But what really happened to Lingaa? How did the hit Rajinikanth–KS Ravikumar duo stumble? Almost a decade later, the filmmaker opened up about the movie and revealed that the superstar‘s unnecessary interference had proved detrimental. Alleging that Rajinikanth altered the second half of the film and removed key elements, Ravikumar claimed that it was the actor who insisted on adding the much-criticised balloon-jumping scene. During an appearance on Chat With Chitra, he said, “Rajinikanth interfered in the editing table, did not me give time for CGI, changed the second half of the movie completely, removed a song featuring Anushka, removed a surprise twist in climax, added the artificial balloon jumping scene and completely messed up Lingaa.”

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