| Chaotic
Varalaru, latecomer Vallavan –
Dawn becomes dusk for Diwali releases |
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Diwali
this year has witnessed the release
of a few much-awaited releases. Prominent
of them being Ajith’s Varalaru
and Simbu’s Vallavan. While
prints of most of the movies managed
to reach the theatres on time, screening
of Vallavan and Dharmapuri were delayed
due to various reasons and the Arjun
starrer Vathiyar was not released
due to undisclosed reasons. |
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Varalaru’s chaotic
opening
Ajith’s long pending Varalaru
finally hit the screens this
Diwali after overcoming a truckload
of hurdles and obstacles. Ajith
spent a whopping 2 crore from
his wallet to help the movie
see the crack of dawn on Diwali.
Apart from that the director
K.S. Ravikumar was not honored
with his pay, which was later
settled after deliberations.
The movie was about to be stalled
from its release by a financier
for a debt of 5 lakhs, which
was also settled enabling the
movie’s release. |
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Kasi theatre was brimming with
Ajith fans and the show opened
at 8.45 a.m. The fans demanded
‘once more’ for
the ‘Innisai’ song
in the movie and when their
request was not honored, their
impatience got the most out
of them persuading them to block
the speakers behind the screens.
This caused chaos for a while
and while the theatre management
was rectifying the same, the
fans started bursting crackers
inside the movie hall. Police
was called in and close to 50
ill-behaved fans were taken
into custody. |
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Valiant Vallavan’s
trouble
Vallavan’s release was
in a tight spot until Diwali
and the movie ran into trouble
when the holder of overseas
rights of the movie failed to
pay the requisite sum that was
agreed upon. This led the producer
Thaenappan to impose an additional
15,000 per print on the local
distributors. In addition, since
Vallavan’s prints were
prepared in Mumbai there was
a delay in the receipt of prints
and the prints reached Chennai
only in the afternoon. The conflicts
were settled after discussions
and Vallavan opened later in
the evening on Diwali day. |
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| In
a prominent theatre in Chennai,
Simbu’s fans exchanged
verbal wars when the movie’s
release was delayed and there
was even a reported incident
of stabbing in the theatre.
The issue was settled after
police intervention.
Captain’s
Dharmapuri
Vijayakanth’s fast track
project Dharmapuri hit the screens
on Diwali, but much to the disappointment
of his fans, only for the evening
shows. The movie directed by
Perarasu faced financial difficulties.
Owing to the unsettled old debts
of A M Rathnam the producer,
Dharmapuri suffered delay in
its release. |
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The
issues were settled and Dharmapuri
was released for evening shows.
The
other horses in the race
The other movies that opened
for Diwali were the Jeeva starrer
‘E’, Sarath Kumar
starrer ‘Thalaimagan’,
Arya starrer ‘Vattaram’,
and Marandhen Meimarandhen.
The aforesaid movies had no
trouble in screening and as
a matter of fact, Thalaimagan
surprised the theatres when
the prints were delivered well
before - on the eve of Diwali. |
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Though
there were tensions in the theatres
of new releases, it is not quite unseen
on a Diwali day. Otherwise, Diwali
day was celebrated with all its customary
vibrancy and crackers in the theatres
around Chennai too. |
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