IS TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT HELPING THEMSELVES OR THE EXHIBITORS BY LETTING THEM HIKE THE ADMISSION RATES TO RS 1400 & ADMISSION CAPACITY TO 100% FROM THE DAY RAJINIKANT’S ANNATTHE IS RELEASED ALL OVER TAMIL NADU? - by Jyothi Venkatesh

Even as Rajinikant has been bestowed with the coveted Dadasaheb Phalke award for his meritorious service to the film industry for the past 45 years, news is getting trickled about how the admission rates for his Deepawali release this year Annatthe (Tamil) have been increased and people in multiplexes will be required to pay a whopping amount of Rs 1400 per ticket - Jyothi Venkatesh

The title of the film was originally Thalaivar 165 but it was changed to Annatthe. The film starring Rajinikant, Keerthy Suresh, Prakash Raj, Khushboo, Meena and Soori in key roles has been produced by none other than Sun Pictures and D. Imman has composed the songs for the film.

Produced by Sun Pictures, Annaatthe has an ensemble cast comprising names like Nayanthara, Khushboo, Meena, Keerthy Suresh, Prakash Raj and Soori in important roles.

The film directed by Sivakumar Jayakumar is slated for release all over the world on November 4, 2021, a day earlier than Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi (Hindi).

Chennai is home to India's thriving Tamil film industry - and Rajinikanth has been its reigning superstar for as long as one can remember.

In a career spanning four decades, the 70 year-old actor has starred in over 170 films, most of them in Tamil language.

One of Asia's highest paid actors, Rajinikanth is considered one of the most bankable stars in India.

Even before its release, Kabali, a gangster drama, had raked in some $30m (£20m) in film rights sales.

It will also be dubbed in Telugu, Hindi and Malay. Rajinikanth enjoys a fan following that cuts across generations and even continents.

His 1995 comedy drama Muthu (Tamil) was dubbed in Japanese and became a super duper hit in the country.

The All India distribution rights have been produced by Red Giant, which is reportedly a wing of Sun Pictures, also controlled by the Karunanidhi clan, as the owner of the firm is none other than Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi .

No wonder it is being whispered in the South political circles that Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Mr Stalin has relaxed all the stipulations that theatres in Tamil Nadu should can function only up to 50 % of their seating capacity thanks to the pandemic.

Reportedly the theatre owners had pleaded with Sun Pictures that only if the theatres were able to open 100% of their capacity can the film Annatthe manage to make money in theatres.

The last big hit in theatres all over Tamil Nadu was the Tamil hit Vijay starrer Master.

Right now the theatre owners are angry that though they have been allowed to function with 100% capacity, they are now required to part with 75% of the collections of the film with the producers.

The theatre owners are also angry that Red Giant Movies have categorically asked the theatre owners to screen only Annaatthe in maximum number of theaters thereby edging out up and coming young producer- actor Vishal’s Enemy from the race.

The theatre owners are also worried that their very existence will be at stake if the distribution concern Red Giant in collaboration with the government starts controlling the theatres since they feel that the 75:25 agreement will wipe them out as they have a lot of expenditure too like electricity, payment to the staff, municipal taxes etc etc.

It is equally interesting to note that in a bid to recover most of the money invested in Annatthe, Sun Pictures has decided to not limit the Sun Pictures production to the Southern market but also release in theatres across the North India also thanks to UFO Moviez.

In the region of North India, UFO will also be releasing the Telugu version of the movie which is titled Peddanna.

Sun Pictures, which is bankrolling actor Rajinikanth’s next Tamil film, has decided to cut the salary of the veteran star by half following Darbar’s failure.

Darbar, directed by AR Murugadoss, had incurred losses of Rs 70 crore. It’s said to be one of the biggest disasters of Rajinikanth’s career, which is after Baba, in which Manisha Koirala was his leading lady.

According to a trade source, Kalanithi Maran of Sun Pictures met Rajinikanth and convinced him to take a pay cut following Darbar’s heavy losses.

“Maran met Rajinikanth on the sets of Annatthe and following the failure of Darbar, Maran requested Rajinikanth to take a pay cut and when the latter was surprised by the decision, Maran was even ready to shelve the project.

After much deliberation, Rajinikanth agreed to cut his salary by half. After being paid Rs 118 crore (including GST) for Darbar, Sun Pictures reportedly offered to pay Rajinikanth only Rs 58 crore (including GST).

Now, we hear that Karthik Subbaraj had narrated a script to Rajinikanth during lockdown and he was quite impressed with it.

The Kaala star asked Karthik to wait till the end of this year to make it official. A source says, "After quitting politics, Rajini has been listening to scripts from many young directors.

It's true that Karthik met Rajini and narrated a script as well. However, nothing has been finalised yet."