At one o’clock on Thursday night, all the five screens at Film City here began to show Pulimurugan . Every ticket had been sold out.
The action film starring Mohanlal has created an unprecedented frenzy across the State. It is estimated to be the biggest hit in the history of Malayalam cinema.
When Tomichan Mulakupadam decided to produce Pulimurugan , director Vysakh told him that he should be prepared to risk about Rs.10 crore. The Abu Dhabi-based producer was game and green-signalled the Rs.25-crore project.
Tomichan feels the Mohanlal-starrer would become the first ever Malayalam film to earn Rs.100 crore. “I knew that there was a risk involved, but then, that is the way I have always approached all my business,” he told The Hindu on Friday. “I thought the film had the potential to become a big hit, but I could not have imagined this kind of success.”
He said he had not merely invested heavily on the production of Pulimurugan – the cost of its computer graphics alone would have been enough to produce an average Malayalam film – but on marketing as well.
“I gave full-page advertisement in newspapers, though I was advised against doing so,” he said. “But I have seen Hindi films doing that and I thought such an ad would create a buzz about Pulimurugan .”
Vysakh said he too was surprised by the scale of the film’s success. Pulimurugan is estimated to have earned about Rs.30 crore from the box office, from across the 300-odd cinemas across the State. Even before the release, it is said to have earned Rs.15 crore from television and overseas rights.
Vysakh said he was happy that he could prove that technically superior films involving huge production costs were viable in Malayalam too.
“Veteran director Joshiy was among the first to call me up after watching Pulimurugan ,” he said. “He told me that the film would be a trendsetter.”
