Ajith’s Vivegam , which opens this Thursday, is all set for a mammoth worldwide release, with its Tamil Nadu theatre count touching upwards of 700 screens. The film’s theatre booking has already begun, with the biggest screens being reserved for its release.
The stage is set for the film to take on the opening-day collection of Rajinikanth’s Kabali , which collected a record ₹21.5 crore from Tamil Nadu alone. Given that Ajith’s previous film, Vedhalam (2015), had collected ₹15.5 crore on day one, this target doesn’t seem far out of reach.
Apart from the massive opening, another factor that connects both Kabali and Vedhalam is that they were released during the reign of former Chief Minster J Jayalalithaa. Both films managed to get the benefits of a U certificate, and were exempted from paying entertainment tax. These films were also allowed to screen multiple early morning shows on day one.
A different time
A lot has changed since then, after the passing away of Jayalalithaa. The State’s political instability has affected the film industry as well. There are no tax benefits, as GST has been implemented and the Government’s promised ‘cinema policy’ is still a mirage. But Ajith’s star power and fan base may enable Vivegam to create a new opening-day gross, with higher ticket rates following GST. Vivegam ’s advance booking has been phenomenal, and theatres are announcing early-morning shows on their social media handles, and they are being lapped up by the fans.
Meanwhile, Kollywood is facing a major crisis in the distribution and exhibition pipeline, due to non-payment of distributor/producer settlement amount for films that released after July 1. Since the Tamil Nadu Government has not come out with a policy following GST implementation, there is lot of lacuna regarding the new taxes. Plus, the State government has said there will be a ‘local body tax’, applicable in addition to GST. And there is no official Government order on new ticket prices, which have been arbitrarily hiked by theatres following GST implementation.
Time to pay back
Theatres fear that they will have to pay local taxes from July 1, 2017. As a result, a few screens have held back the share amount meant for distributors and producers from July 1. A prominent theatre owner says, “Normally, we settle the distributor share after a week, but now we are only settling a part of it, as the Government is yet to clarify whether they will charge additional taxes. If the Government says it is applicable from July 1, where do we go then?”
The full settlement for films like Ivan Thanthiran, Vanamagan, Vikram Vedha, Meesaya Murukku, is yet to be sorted out. The Tamil Film Chamber of Commerce is trying its best to get clarity on the local taxes situation, so that theatres can pass on the share amount without deductions.
A lot is riding on the Ajith film, the first superstar release in Kollywood, after GST. It is rumoured to have fetched ₹100 crore and more from the sale of theatricals and other rights. A lot of high-budget films are due in the next three months, like Sivakarthikeyan’s Velaikkaran , Mahesh Babu’s Spyder , Suriya’s Thaanaa Serndha Koottam and the big Deepavali release, Vijay’s Mersal .
