Lingaa distributors seek compensation

Distributors said that in many areas, the movie fell flat within three days of its release on December 12. Photo: B. Velankanni Raj

After being snubbed by the producers of Lingaa , the film’s distributors on Thursday announced that they would go on a sit-in fast in order to get the attention of actor Rajinikanth.

Their hope is that the actor would intervene and compensate for the losses they have suffered.

Lingaa ’s distributors have given a call to all distributors and theatre owners to join them on January 10 at Valluvar Kottam. “I bought the rights for North Arcot, South Arcot and Puducherry areas for around Rs. 7 crores, but I face losses of up to Rs. 4.7 crores. The film fell flat on Monday, three days after the release on December 12. The collections consistently fell over the ensuing couple of weeks,” said Sai N. Krishnakumar of Capricorn Pictures.

While the distributors who addressed a press conference on Thursday admitted that there was no legal basis to ask for compensation, they insisted theirs was a moral and ethical demand.

“We bought the film by paying what is called the ‘Non-Refundable Advance’. By this, distributors only get 10 per cent of whatever is collected above the advance they paid, with the rest of the collections above the advance going to the producers. Despite the risk, we purchased the movie only because we were told it had shaped up quite well. Now, the producers have made a lot of money and we have suffered huge losses,” rued T.T. Singaravelu whose Marina Pictures had bought the rights for Tiruchi for around Rs. 8 crores and claimed to have suffered more than 60 per cent loss.

The distributors noted that the NRA model led to the huge losses. Insisting that such demands are nothing new in the Tamil film industry, the distributors recalled how actor Vijay too had returned money after his last Pongal release,

Jilla , which didn’t do as well as was expected.

“We won’t be asking for the money back if we had suffered a loss of 10-20 per cent. We know it is a part of the business. Here, we are facing 60-70 per cent loss, which is too big for us,” said Sai N. Krishnakumar.

When asked to state what they want from the producers, one of them said: “We are ready to forego the commission. We only want Rockline Venkatesh, the producer, to compensate whatever money we have lost.”