For long in the minds of the film going public in Tamil Nadu, which I guess includes almost everyone - the countdown has been on for the Deepavali releases. The last film that set the box office on fire was in August.
Ajith turned 50 films old with 'Mankatha,' made with about 40 crores that reportedly raked in about 80 crores at the box-office. The film still manages a run at a few screens and in the meanwhile many others like Muran, Vaagai Sooda vaa and vandaan vendran released and vanished without so much as a mention.
Of the more recent films, 'Engeyum Eppothum,' the debut production venture of AR Murugadoss perhaps is the only one which seems to have captured the audience's interest. The much hyped chemistry between the lead pair and an item song by Sophie Choudary of MTV fame and even Prabhu Deva’s tested recipe for the 'mass masala entertainer' clearly hasn’t helped the cause of Vishal- Sameera Reddy starrer Vedi.
All of these makes a perfect setting for the festival to usher in the most anticipated of this year's releases—Suriya's Ezhaam Arivu and Vijay's Velayutham not to mention the film that will have a cameo by the Superstar himself—RA One. In terms of star value alone—Vijay’s Velayutham should have been on top of the list, especially considering the fact that the star’s yet to give us a substantial hit to reckon with since 'Pokkiri' in 2007.
What followed Pokkiri were 5 duds in a row—Azhagiya Thamizh Magan, Kuruvi, Villu, Vettaikkaran and Sura. Distributors and theatre owners did not take too kindly to Vijay films post the trauma, but the actor’s last film ‘Kaavalan,’ a remake of the Malayalam film 'Bodyguard,' came as a face-saver. The film apparentlymade at a budget of about 30 crores is said to have grossed around 45 crores—but taking in to account the publicity and other costs—a Vijay film sure can do better than that.
M Raja, actor Jayam Ravi's brother, who calls himself the king of remakes, is directing Vijay in 'Velayutham,' which again is said to have been inspired by the Nagarjuna starrer in Telugu called 'Azad.' Genelia and Hansika are the female leads. The stills of the movie were later discovered to be a rip-off from a video game—but again who really expected them to be original anyways?
Vijay meanwhile made a couple of promotional appearances in Madurai and Bangalore and distributed over 100 cows to poor families in Coimbatore. The hype on the ground has been relatively less for a Vijay starrer. And besides, there are many odds. The star’s political stand has ensured that the big business houses attached to the K-family do not do business with him—unless of course the business needs prevail over politics—unlikely at the moment.
Udayanithi Stalin who owns the Red Giant Movies though did recently proclaim himself to be a Vijay fan on Twitter. In fact the trailer of Udayanithi Stalin’s Oru Kal Oru Kannadi shall even play in between the screening of 'Velayutham.' But on the business front, the rest depends much on the fate of Velayutham and Vijay’s future projects. But considering Shankar’s ‘Nanban’ (remake of 3 idiots) is next on the cards—Vijay can definitely hope for a comeback soon!
The season’s most awaited film without doubt has to be Ezhaam arivu, irrespective of how Suriya’s earlier film has fared or what he’ll be doing next. Arguably the most bankable star in Tamil cinema now, Suriya’s fan following seems to be steadily rising.
With top actors like Ajith and Vijay limiting themselves to a film or maximum two a year, stars like Suriya stand to gain. He is a popular ad face and his choice of performance-oriented roles in between action entertainers has cemented his image as both an actor and a star.
The stills and trailer of Ezhaam arivu where Suriya plays the role of 'Bodhidharma' have created quite a buzz with Google trends throwing up this name in its top twenty searches list quite regularly since the second week of October. Since 'Dheena' there’s been no looking back for AR Murugadoss, who is now a filmmaker to reckon with after the success of ‘Ghajini.’ Even more so since the original Ghajini team is now getting together after 6 years -- the coming together of Suriya, Murugadoss and Harris Jeyaraj sure has to offer something bigger and better!
Murugadoss confirms the film cost them more than 50 crores to make, but many insiders easily put the budget at around 80 crore rupees. No doubt there’s much riding on Suriya! Besides, the film has Shruti Hassan making her debut in Tamil—but yes- that changes nothing.
Initially Dhanush's 'Mayakkam enna' was also to battle it out with the biggies but director Selvaraghavan later said the film might not be able to make it on time for the festival after all. But of course, the big ones would have taken all theatres leaving this one in the lurch-- so the son-in-law is not battling it out with the dad-in-law this time.
Last but by no means the least, after Endiran, Chitti is making his appearance once again in RA one in Tamil! SRK sure is a great strategist but as Rajini fans down south point out on Twitter -- Shah Rukh is only doing a 2.5 hour cameo in Rajinikanth's RA One!
So what is your pick this Deepavali at the theatres?
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