Rajini's Endhiran: A sell out in Chennai
Sam Daniel (NDTV Correspondent)
Sunday, September 26, 2010 (Chennai)
Chennai seems to have been gripped with Rajini mania as the advance booking for Asia's most expensive movie Endhiran began on Saturday. It was an instant sell out in close to forty theatres of the city, i.e., almost double of Rajinikanth's previous blockbuster Sivaji. 2000 theatres across the world will screen the movie.
"I'm disappointed as I didn't get tickets for first day first show. But I will not give up, I will try in other theatres till I get a ticket," said a Rajinikanth fan.
According to Supriya, Head, Public Relations, Sathyam Cinema, "It's a sellout. Tickets have been completely sold for the first three days, the weekend
and Monday. We are expecting more."
Sources say the Rs 162-crore movie is fetching staggering prices - 75 crore for Basha's bastion Tamil Nadu and 27 crores for neighboring Andhra Pradesh.
Although a few flicks of the superstar have bombed in the past, experts say this time the strategy would click.
"The hype is justified and the price is justified because to a large extent whatever you've invested you'd get back in the first week itself just from 200 screens," said film critic Sreedhar Pillai.
"Kalanidhi Maran's only goal was to produce India's biggest movie, but it ultimately became Asia's biggest movie," said Hansraj Saxena, COO, Sun Pictures.
The idea seems to be to screen Endhiran like carpet bombing on as many screens possible, and ensure it turns out to be a blockbuster, without allowing fans to wait for any kind of feedback.
