Rajnikanth fever to hit over 130 theater halls in the US.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: The upcoming opening of Kochadaiiyaan, India’s first ever motion-capture film, could see the widest US release ever for a Tamil movie, with more than 130 screens in the States and some 3,000 locations in total around the world.
Kochadaiiyaan, starring Tamil superstar Rajnikanth and Bollywood starlet Deepika Padukone, is a ground-breaker for Indian cinema. Shot entirely via the very same motion-capture technology utilized in films like Avatar (the highest-grossing film in history) and The Adventures of Tintin (the highest-grossing animated film in India), Kochadaiiyaan is Rajnikanth’s first film since his 2010 release, Enthiran.
That film received the largest release ever for a Tamil film at the time, as it was released on 136 US screens, with versions in Hindi and Telugu, in addition to Tamil. Now, Kochadaiiyaan will likely top it, giving Rajnikanth his widest berth yet and increasing the film’s financial expectations even higher than they already are.
Reports indicate that Kochadaiiyaan’s budget is Rs. 125 crore, easily putting it as one of the most expensive Indian films of all-time. For comparison’s sake, Enthiran had a slightly higher budget of Rs. 132 crore, at the time making it the most expensive Indian movie ever, and grossed Rs. 318 crore worldwide. Kochadaiiyaan is expected surpass that haul, largely for the novelty factor of seeing an Indian mo-cap feature and because of Padukone, whose star has skyrocketed over the last year with movies like Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela and Chennai Express.
Indian movies are experimenting more and more with unique release strategies for the US market. Last year, Saif Ali Khan’s Bullett Raja released in the US earlier than it did in India, to capitalize on the Thanksgiving holiday (the film ultimately flopped badly, leaving the experiment inconclusive). Also last year, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Dhoom:3 registered enough opening weekend ticket sales in the US to land a spot on the box office top 10 in May and December, respectively.
Distributors in India are increasingly aware of the fact that their films can make a significant portion of their total gross in non-Indian markets, and have begun tailoring their films’ content and marketing to appeal to broader audiences. Kochadaiiyaan, with its computer-generated effects and action/adventure storyline, is hoping to bring in an audience that consists of more than just Tamil movie fans and Rajnikanth die-hards.
Kochadaiiyaan, which also stars Jackie Shroff and has music by Oscar-winner A.R. Rahman, will hit theater screens May 9. That release date is that the beginning of the summer movie season, which will see it face stiff competition from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (which will be in its second week of US release), and the raunchy comedy Neighbors.
A firm US theater count for Kochadaiiyaan has not yet been announced, but if Enthiran’s template is anything to go by, the majority of screens will go to the Tamil version of the film, followed by Hindi screens, and Telugu screens will get about a quarter of the total locations.