Rajinikanth overseas market doubles from Sivaji’s

When a dubbed version of the Rajinikanth starrer Muthu (1995) became a surprise hit in Japan, it was little more than a quirky footnote in the career of the South Indian star. The performance of his latest film Endhiran is another matter entirely. Fans across the globe have been lining up at theatres, voting with their wallets several times over.

K Karunamoorthy, CEO, Ayngaran International, (a subsidiary of Eros International that specialises in taking Tamil and Telugu films overseas) believes, “The combination of Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai raised the expectation beyond imagination. The curiosity factor saw a lot of people come to the theatres.” This includes a surprisingly huge non-Tamil audience which opted to go for the Tamil Endhiran, because they were drawn in by the English subtitling. It has justified Endhiran’s ambitious global distribution strategy.

Singapore, a market with a sizable Tamil speaking population, saw the film hit 22 screens with 16 prints; a record for an Indian production. “Not even My Name Is Khan had such a wide release,” says Krishnamoorthy.

The film has already collected S$2.5 million. Figures from Eros International put the overseas collections at Rs 61 crore so far.

According to S Ramanathan, head of the Tamil Nadu Theatre Owner’s Association and a distributor on Sivaji, “Endhiran is doing as expected. It opened in as many theatres as possible to avoid piracy — when you can easily get a ticket, why go in for a pirated CD? That idea worked very well.” While Sivaji started off on 18 screens across Chennai, Endhiran began on 32. The almost 24-hour screening schedules lasted only through the first week.

However, the 8:30 early morning show continued to be a draw at both Ramanathan’s Abirami theatre complex and at the Sathyam multiplex chain in Chennai. The market was rife with rumours about theatres cranking up their prices to cash in on the craze for the film, but Ramanathan disagrees: “I don’t think any theatre raised ticket rates. Many charitable organisation bought tickets and gave it as a return for donations. It went to a good end somewhere.”

Previously, a film hitting a silver jubilee or managing to be on screens for over 100 days was a definitive measure of its success. But according to Ramanathan, “That’s no longer a view the filmmaker has. It’s more about the money that can be raised out of the film and not how long it runs. Has it made or crossed a box office collections record? That’s what’s important.”

However, he adds, “It will complete 100 days but in one or two theatres.” What’s worked for Endhiran is the fact that it is an unusual film in the Rajinikanth canon. ‘Rajini’ Dilli, the head of a rasigar mandram (or fan club) in Chennai has already seen the film 10 times.

He observes, “It’s not just the hardcore fans driving the success of this film. It’s a huge hit with the family audiences as well.” The record to beat though is Rajinikanth’s previous blockbuster, Sivaji which earned an estimated Rs 128 crore worldwide.

According to Karunamoorthy’s estimates Endhiran has made 2.5 times as much as Sivaji and is the highest grosser in Ayngaran’s 13-year history, through the course of which it has distributed approximately 600 Tamil and Telugu films in the overseas market.