CHENNAI: Theatre Owners in Tamil Nadu are demanding that actor Vijay refund a portion of the money they put up for his 50th film, 'Sura'. "We want him to refund at least 40 % of the money we put up as minimum guarantee (MG)," said Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners' Association secretary 'Rohini' Paneerselvam.
"We had paid a huge amount banking on Vijay's reputation and the hype surrounding his 50th film, but collections were not good," Paneerselvam said. On Wednesday, the association will meet with the primary agenda of asking Vijay to follow the footsteps of Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan and compensate them.
Rajni had refunded the money to theatre owners when his films 'Baaba' and 'Kuselan' bombed, while Kamal set right the losses incurred over 'Hey Ram' and 'Mumbai Express'.
Nearly 240 theatres in the state took 'Sura', at highly competitive rates, with 195 of them paying close to Rs 40 crore as MG. However, the film bombed within days of its release. "If the film had collected Rs 5 lakh in each theatre in the first few days, it would have been comfortable for all. However, it failed to fetch beyond Rs 2.5 lakh even after a week. Theatre owners have no choice but to pay up the MG and suffer losses," said a theatre owner.
Although the practice of paying MG is a long standing one in Kollywood, it is also one that runs a huge amount of risk. Regardless of collections, theatre owners have to pay up the agreed amount to the distributor.
Additionally, any collection netted beyond the MG is traditionally shared on a 50- 50 basis by the theatre owner and distributor. Paneerselvam pointed out that in the last few years, barring 'Pokkiri' none of Vijay's films have fared well at the box office. His flops in recent years include Aathi, Azhagiya Tamil Magan, Villu, Kurivi and Vettaikaran.
