Lingaa (2014)
This page has been put together by North Indian scholars researching Thalaivaa Rajinikanth
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
Sources include...
The Times of India <> The Times of India <> The Times of India
...and other sources mentioned in the body of the article.
See also
For more photographs from Lingaa (esp for Mona Gasolina/ Monaa Monaa) and for a complete biography and filmography of the Thalaivaa see the main entry Rajinikanth.
Fact file
'U' censor certificate without cuts.
Running time: 174 minutes
Languages: Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.
It would be the first time ever in superstar Rajinikanth's 40 year career, that his movie is releasing on his birthday. 12th December
Year: 2014
Crew
Produced by Rockline Venkatesh
Directed by KS Ravikumar
Music: AR Rahman
Camera: Rathnavelu.
The film is directed by KS Ravikumar, who had earlier given hit films to Rajini like "Muthu" and "Padayappa". Rathnavelu's cinematography and Anthony's editing.
A.R.Rehman has composed music for Rajinikanth for the 7th time in all while it is the third time to give the music for the combination of K.S.Ravi Kumar and Rajinikanth.
Cast
Rajinikanth in a dual role. According to rumours he was paid Rs 60 crore for the film
Heroines: Sonakshi Sinha and Anushka Shetty.
Jagapati Babu in a lead role.
Superstar comedians Santanam & Brahmanandam in important roles
Title of Lingaa
Apparently, the film has been named after Rajinikanth’s grandson Linga, who is the son of actor Dhanush and Rajinikanth’s elder daughter Aishwaryaa R Dhanush. Indian Express
Plagiarism?
Rajinikanth took strong objection to a petition lodged by aspiring filmmaker KV Ravi Rathinam of Madurai that the story of Lingaa has been plagiarised from his script, based on the life of Colonel John Pennycuick, a British engineer behind the construction of the Mullaperiyar dam, which he had written for a movie titled 'Mullai 999'. KS Ravikumar, who directed the film, and Rajinikanth himself filed a counter affidavit claiming that Lingaa is based on a story written by Mr. Ponkumaran
In his affidavit, Rajinikanth accused the petitioner that the plagiarism allegations on his film have been levied to tarnish his image. "The name, fame and repute enjoyed by me worldwide have been tarnished as if the film 'Lingaa' is a product of a copy-cat. I have been roped into unnecessary controversy. I hereby reserve my right to proceed against the petitioner for damages. Besides, a film needs to have 13 continuous scenes similar to that of the script written by the complainant for it to be considered as plagiarism. A bare reading of the affidavit filed by the petitioner does not disclose such an allegation," Rajinikanth said, adding that the subject of Mullaperiyar dam and nationalisation of rivers cannot be claimed as a copyright.
Case dismissed
The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court dismissed the writ petition seeking a stay on the release of Lingaa, saying merits of the rival claims made by both parties that they owned the story cannot be investigated in summary proceedings in a writ petition.
Justice M Venugopal of the bench said the appropriate remedy for the petitioner was to file a civil suit “before the competent forum or avail other remedies available under general law or criminal law, if he desires so”. The judge said the case did not have the merit for hearing as a writ petition. ”The petitioner himself is not sure of his rights or what duty he seeks to enforce through which by way of present writ of mandamus. On the basis affidavit and typed set of papers of this case, it is a fit case to be dismissed in limine as not maintainable,” the judge said. ”The petitioner cannot claim copyright in an unpublished work. The statements in Youtube do not constitute publication of story,” the judge said.
The court said even without knowing or attempting to know the exact story line of Lingaa, the petitioner had ventured to file the present plea on a mere guess and surmise with an intention to gain undue publicity for himself and hold respondents to ransom and make illegal gain out of it. Also he filed the petition “with an inordinate and unexplained delay at this eleventh hour” which disentitled him from maintaining the present writ, the judge said. In his petition, filmmaker Ravi Rathinam had alleged that the story-line of Lingaa was same as that of his 2013 movie Mullai Vanam 999. Justifying his claim, he said the entire story was uploaded on YouTube on February 24, 2013.
A second case (appeal)
Mohamed Imranullah S.,The Hindu
On 6 Dec 2014, six days before the scheduled release of Lingaa, K.R. Ravi Rathinam filed a writ appeal challenging the dismissal of his writ petition by a single judge two days before. He contended that the single judge should have considered the contradictory statements made by Mr. Rajinikanth and the film’s director, K.S. Ravikumar, in their counter affidavits with respect to the script and screenplay of the movie.
He pointed out that the actor had asserted that both the script and screenplay for Lingaa had been penned by S. Ponkumaran. On the contrary, Mr. Ravikumar had claimed that it was he who wrote the screenplay for the basic storyline of Mr. Ponkumaran.
Third case
A junior script writer, P. Sakthivel, also claimed ownership of the script of Lingaa and requested a Chennai city civil court to halt the release of the film. He said that he wrote a story ‘Uyir Annai’ in 2011 based on life history of Colonel John Pennycuick, a British engineer behind the construction of the Mullaperiyar dam. He registered the same in Film and Television Producer’s Guild of South India in 2012.
Fourth case
The Times of India The Indian crab refused to let Lingaa rise. Three days before the film’s scheduled release M/s Balaji Studios Private Ltd, Saligramam, Chennai, requested the Madras high court to hold up the release of "Lingaa" on the ground that the film was an "unauthorized copy" of the Telugu film "Indra," starring Chiranjeevi and Sonali Bindre. M/s Balaji said that they had purchased all rights to "Indra" in 2010 and intended to remake it in Tamil soon.
M/s Balaji argued that, like Indra, Linga was about a man surviving the murders of his family members and his return and success in building a dam for the villagers.
Distribution
Trouble in Kerala
"Kochadaiiyaan" Loss haunts Rajinikanth's "Lingaa" in Kerala Prakash Upadhyaya IBTimes December 2, 2014
"Kochadaiiyaan" did not do well in Kerala. Prakash Upadhyaya IBTimes reported that ‘this seems to be haunting his latest movie "Lingaa" as its theatrical rights were not sold in Kerala [till ten days before it scheduled release]. Apparently the Kerala distributors' association told all its members not to buy the rights until the dues of "Kochadaiiyaan" were cleared by the concerned people.
The Plaza Group had acquired the rights for "Kochadaiiyaan" and in a bid to outdo competitors, it had quoted a fancy amount. But unfortunately, the Soundarya Ashwin-directed flick failed to live up to expectations [in Kerala] causing huge loss to exhibitors and distributors.
Distribution in Kerala, TN and Karanataka
Three days after the film distribution unit in Kerala ran into trouble, and just a week before the film's scheduled release, Vendhar Movies stepped in and acquired the distribution rights for Lingaa in Kerala and many parts of Tamil Nadu. (Silver Screen)
Tamil Nadu area rights:
Sukra Films is distributing the film in Coimbatore in 85 theatres – much higher than that of Chennai.
Mannan Films will take care of the movie’s screening in Chengalpet
Capricorn is in charge of it in the North – South Arcot region.
Vendhar has the rest of TN.
In Karanataka rights were sold to Sri Gokul films for a record Rs11 crore. Much of the film was shot in the state, which is the producer’s home state.
Business
Eros pays Rs 120 crore
Rajini’s Lingaa record breaking pre-release business Indian Updates
The movie is being produced by Kannada producer Rockline Venkatesh. The entire distribution was procured by the Eros International for ₹120 crores [two respectable publications including New Indian Express confirm this figure].
This is a never-heard-before record value for a South Indian film. Lingaa is going to have a theatrical release in both Tamil, Telugu and Hindi versions, and Eros is rumored to possess the Indian rights of all the language versions of Lingaa.
Meanwhile, the slick Tamil teaser of the film had zoomed past forty lakh (four million) views a week before the film’s release; its Telugu trailer had attracted 7.9 lakh (0.79 million) views; and the Tamil song Mona Gasolina had been viewed 15 lakh (1.5 million) times.
‘Rajini's Lingaa brings home Rs.200 crore even before release’
On 17 Nov ’14, almost a month before the film’s release India Today wrote: "Rs 55-60 crore are all set to come in for the satellite rights of the Tamil and Telugu version.
“Further, Rs.60-65 crore offer is already there for the taking w.r.t. Tamil theatrical rights in India. Telugu theatrical rights are further fetching them 30-35 crore. In addition, the film is being sold overseas for approx. 30 crore just for the Tamil version. In addition to this all, there are music rights which are with Eros.”
Analysts’ predictions
The industry and traders have pinned high hopes on the film and expecting Rs ₹200 crore [theatrical] business worldwide. Indeed, three weeks before the film’s release trade circles believed that Eros had sold the theatrical, overseas and satellite rights for Rs200 crore Great Telangaana (i.e. Eros had already made a profit of Rs80 crore on its investment).
Hanji 22 predicts: i) lifetime domestic collection Rs 200 Crore. ii) Rs 50 Crore in overseas circuits. iii)Total box office collection Prediction: 250 Crore.
Filmy Lovers predicts: Lingaa Film (in Telugu alone) will easily collect Rs 7-8 Crores on it’s 1st day (Friday) opening box office.
Rs 200 crore-plus insurance cover?
Industry estimates suggest that Lingaa has secured a mega-insurance cover, including production insurance and loss of revenue in India and overseas. The size of the cover could be well above Rs 200 crore. This includes upwards of Rs 100 crore for production cover apart from cover against force majeure incidents that could disrupt the screening of the film.
Sumant Salian, head of media and entertainment, Alliance Insurance Brokers, said: “They have covered loss of revenue overseas, since his films are very popular abroad.”
As a concept, film insurance came into existence in the early 1990s. Taal was one of the first movies to be insured. Sanjay Dutt’s arrest during the making of Khalnayak prompted Subhash Ghai to insure his next movie Taal, for which he paid Rs 15 lakh as premium for a film valued at about Rs 11 crore.
These policies cover loss to life or property on film sets. They also cover legal issues related to a film as well as post-release risks like theatre shutdown due to riots or strikes. Some policies also cover the advance paid to film stars.
In film insurance policies, the type of cover depends on the budget of the film. The premium for such a policy is usually 0.3-0.8 per cent of a film’s budget. If the budget of a film is Rs 100 crore, for instance, the premium would be Rs 30-80 lakh.
Number of screens
First reports from mainstream media suggested that the film would be released on 3000 screens. Closer to the film’s release the number seems to have increased to between 4500 (tamilstar) and 5500 (DNA India) in the three languages and overseas exhibition put together.
The film is said to be releasing on 1500 screens in overseas markets
'Lingaa' allotted more screens than 'PK'
Rajinikanth's 'Lingaa' beats Aamir Khan's 'PK'- Here's how! DNA India Tuesday, 2 December 2014
In the battle for the number of screens allotted to each film., it seems Rajini has overtaken Aamir Khan whose ambitious project PK is releasing a week later. Rajinikanth's Lingaa is expected to open huge with a screen count of around 5500 whereas Aamir's PK will release in around 4500-5000 screens all over the world. The Rajinikanth - Sonakshi Sinha starrer will have a bombastic opening in US, UK, and Malaysia circuits and the film is likely to cash in on Rajinikanth's star power.
More screens than Kaththi
Lingaa Breaks Kaththi's Record! Filmi Beat
Surpassing the record that was earlier set by Vijay's Kaththi, Lingaa is set to make its way into 45 theatres all over France while Kaththi had earlier made it to 25 theatres.
Meanwhile in Hong Kong, The Tamil Cultural Association has arranged a special screening of the film on 12th and 13th of December. The first show will be screened at the GH Whampoa, hall number 1 at 9:15 pm on 12th and the next at the same theatre hall number 4 at 6:15 pm on 13th. They have also informed that the tickets for the movie can be purchased at the Maharaja Emporium in Hong Kong. The news has managed to put a smile on every Rajinikanth fans' face in Hong Kong as they now can catch their favourite star on screen.
The making of the film
Tamil Wire <> India Glitz <> Truth Dive
Shooting
The shooting kick started in the first week of May 2014. The shoots were canned in exotic locations in and around Mysore. The intro song was canned in UAE and Macau.
The film had its share of controversies when shooting reportedly got halted once at the Mysore Palace when they were denied permission and second time at Hyderabad when the locals created havoc.
Then, buzzoop added, The Superstar is believed to have fainted on the sets while a high- octane stunt sequence was being canned.
The film, directed by K. S. Ravikumar, was making rapid progress at Ramoji Rao Film City. Rajini was reportedly taking part in a strenuous fight sequence without a body double when the mishap took place.
Sources said that he suddenly felt giddy and fainted and was rushed to a private hospital. Fortunately, there was nothing serious and doctors said that he fainted due to an allergy and was asked to take rest for a day.
However, Ravikumar rubbished the report on his social networking website. He wrote, “Early in the day, rumours started making rounds in a Tamil news daily that Superstar Rajinikanth had fallen sick while shooting for his upcoming film Lingaa. The news is false & baseless Mr. Rajinikanth is hale and hearty; very much happily active in the shooting and the news published are absolutely false ones. Ever Thankful!
On Nov 5 2014 renowned cinematographer Rathnavelu, fondly called as Randy has tweeted in his official Twitter page that the shooting of Rajinikanth’s upcoming film Lingaa was completed.
Randy tweeted, “Randy’s tweet reads as follows: “Yeah it’s a wrap! Lingaa movie shoot completed. Hugs from Thalaivar n KSR. Movie got over in lightning speed .. Thanx for my wonderful team”.
The post production works of the movie started thereafter.
Sets
National Award winning art director Sabu Cyril, who is the production designer of Superstar Rajinikanth’s ‘Lingaa’, has revealed that “We constructed a huge dam like set in a record time for ‘Lingaa’. We also built a full-fledged railway station and a train of British era,” he says.
Sabu and his team also created a palace for some important scenes. And for the ‘Mona Gasolina…’ song, which is already making waves, the production designer had to come up with a ship.
Since Sabu Cyril was elevated as production designer in Superstar Rajinikanth's 'Lingaa', he handpicked his former student Amaran as the film's art director.
Amaran, who worked for six movies with Mysskin, has done a great job in 'Lingaa' and won the appreciation of K S Ravikumar, Sabu Cyril, and of course, Rajini.
"We erected two grand sets for 'Va Mannava...' and 'Mona Gasolina...' songs. All this was done in record time," Amaran says.
Technology
Telugu One reported: Lingaa is creating the technical sensation now … Lingaa will be the first film in which a Phantom Flex 4k high speed camera is being used. Meanwhile, Hollywood's Lee Whittake is taking care of the stunt sequences in the film. He was the same person who designed stunts for Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroopam.
