Vijay’s Leo and its controversies are reminiscent of Kamal Haasan-starrer Viswaroopam’s release issue

There is indeed some truth to it. To evoke the cliche adage, there’s nothing called bad publicity. Viswaroopam got the attention of even those people who step into a theatre once a year, like the boring Jessie from Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya. That’s exactly what’s happening with Leo.

One of the biggest marketing weapons of Vijay is the speech he doles out at his audio launches. For Leo, his arsenal ended up unused as the audio launch was cancelled on the pretext of high demand for tickets– a reason many Vijay fans refuse to accept. An ardent fan believes Vijay is being targeted for his political aspirations and immense fanbase. In his head, Vijay is the rebel fighting an unfair system. This narrative seems to work well for Leo as there is an extremely high demand for tickets. Reports are making the rounds that tickets are being sold for more than Rs 1200.

Ever since the poster of Leo was released, problems started plaguing the film. The song “Naa Ready” featured Vijay smoking a cigarette, which some said was glorifying smoking. However, the biggest clash between Leo and the Tamil Nadu government ensued when the film’s production house knocked on the doors of the Madras High Court seeking permission for early morning shows. All this was happening a few days ahead of the film’s release. While Leo was doing record business in the UK and other foreign markets, the ticket booking didn’t open as the timing for the first shows was undecided. (This is also similar to what happened with Kamal’s Viswaroopam. While the film was released on time in many countries abroad, it failed to be out on time in India.)

The High Court directed Leo makers to negotiate with the Tamil Nadu government for 7 am shows. The court refrained from making any specific statements regarding 4 am shows, which indirectly nullified the possibility of such shows. All such closing doors only kept increasing the hype among fans and the general audience. A few theatres, which opened the bookings, sold all the tickers in a matter of minutes. However, problems piled up for Leo. A City Civil Court in Hyderabad stalled the release of the Telugu version of the film as a petitioner claimed the rights for the title ‘Leo’. Later, Sithara Entertainment claimed that a person from their production house had filed the case without their approval. Naga Vamsi, the owner of the production house, claimed the issue is sorted and Leo will be released as per schedule.

Parallelly, there was an issue of profit sharing between theatre owners and distributors. A source told The Indian Express that the amount distributors demanded was too much. When further probed why the issue was happening only to the particular film, the source refused to comment. While the movie is finally gearing up for release, many popular theatres in Tamil Nadu have announced that they are yet to strike a deal with distributors.

While all these last-minute uncertainties have affected the smooth film-watching experience of the fans, it hasn’t affected the anticipation. Social media continues to be abuzz about Leo. However, there is a huge difference between Leo and Viswaroopam. Kamal Haasan’s film faced issues due to its content and that created intrigue among people to see what the whole issue was about. On the other hand, with Leo, the problems are of no concern to a layman. While the controversies have been in favour of promoting Leo, for the film to exploit the fame, it has to be good.