Rajinikanth, who is usually praised as the one who could never fail at the box office, had to deal with an unexpected misfortune during his 2014 released movie Lingaa. Besides the great publicity, the huge ticket sales, and the magnificent showing, the movie did not come up to the high expectations of the viewers and the film distributors, thus changing what was supposed to be a joy for the star into an industry-wide warning tale.
High Expectations and corresponding losses
Rajinikanth’s team-up with director K. S. Ravikumar in Lingaa raised fans’ hopes for an extraordinary cinematic experience. Their previous films together, their past hits, Muthu and Padayappa, had been unexpected blockbusters. But this film, even after starting with a good opening, did not manage to recover its costs. About ₹33.5 crore in losses was reported for the distributors in Tamil Nadu alone, while Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala together had over ₹20 crore in losses, making a total of ₹54 crore in losses.
‘He Stepped Up’: Rajinikanth’s Compensation Move
After the fallout, Rajinikanth and producer Rockline Venkatesh each gave ₹5 crore to make up for the losses of distributors; thus, a total of ₹10 crore was paid out. The very action of giving financial support followed protests and cries of hunger strikes from the distributors who were outside the actor’s house in Chennai, which revealed the seriousness of the crisis. The majority of the industry was of the opinion that the gesture was just purely humanitarian.
Lessons for the Industry
Lingaa represents the risks in making big-budget films, even when they have star actors. Experts in the film industry are of the view that the huge star power could not make profits when production costs are very high and the reception of the audience is poor. Despite Rajinikanth’s compensation being a precedent, it showed the pressure that star-backed projects put on the distributors in the case of the Tamil film industry.
