Laabam and Thalaivi, two Tamil films, rejected by the theater going audience , was a profit earner for the producer- thanks to OTT - Hindi dubbing and Satellite rights. The main reason for this is presence of Vijay Sethupathi in Laabam and Kangana Ranaut in Thalaivi who have become the favourite of the OTT platforms. In case of Vijay Sethupathi, the reason is that his presence as villainy - character actor across multiple languages and opposite top Stars has given him a pan Indian image and hence the OTT platforms believe that the film of his will get viewers in non Tamil languages.
The business details of Laabam is - Rs 10 crores invested by Seven Seas banner and Rs 10 cr remuneration of Vijay Sethupathi. Big payment made- Rs 2 cr to director Jananathan - Rs 1 cr to Sruthi Haasan and Rs 50 lakhs to Music director D .. On the table profits - Total Rs 18.50 cr . Breakup : Rs 8 cr from Netflix, Hindi dubbing rights - Rs 2 cr, Sun TV - Rs 6 cr and overseas Rs 50 lakhs. Theater revenue : Rs 3.5 cr got as MG from distributors for theater release ( though need not be given but will be refunded since it is a disaster. Close to Rs 1 cr on publicity and Qube charges for distribution by producers in many areas were also added to loss. Out of Rs 6.50 cr on table profit, nearly 5 crores had to be forgone due to theater loss. Net Result is that Vijay Sethupathi is left with Rs 5 cr . In short if he was just an actor he would made Rs 10 cr .
If Netflix and Hindi dubbing rights money was not so huge, Laabam would have left producer with just Rs 3.5 cr . It was Vijay Sethupathi's pan South presence that saved the day.
Thalaivi was produced at Rs 75 cr ( including Rs 10 cr incurred for interest due to shooting being stopped due to Covid 19) The film was bought by Zee for Rs 85 crores. The film was certified in Tamil - Telugu versions. Producers made a profit before release. Zee sold the film on a profit sharing basis to Trident Arts. Two weeks theater run in Tamil Nadu is sort of no loss - no gain for distributor- Zee. If producers had not got the Zee deal, and followed the four week window norm by theaters plus OTT , they would have got not more more than Rs 45 cr ore from OTT.
Presence of Kangana Ranaut ( said to have been paid close to Rs 30 crores for dual versions) had got Zee intrested in the Jayalalithaa biopic. Apart from the sale to Netflix and Amazon OTT which gave Rs 42 crore , Zee would market the film's Telegu- Tamil versions in all the four South languages TV channels it owns. It also will screen in the Zee's multiple Hindi channels.
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