Ajith shoot in Mount Road Chennai from March 9th - Arjun Kapoor in Comali remake

 

Ajith's next shoot will begin on March  9th in Mount Road Chennai set erected in Ramoji Rao film city Hyderabad. Valimai Hindi ( same name) will have 1000 screens in North India, biggest for a Ajith Kumar film. Producer is not bothered about how the distributor is going to get screens but  Valimai will release on scheduled date Feb 25 even if Gangubhai of Alia Bhatt is coming on the same date as Boney Kapoor says both are different genres.  Arjun Kapoor is going to act in  Jeyam Ravi's Tamil film `Comali' remake and F2 (  Varun Tej's Telugu). R J Balaji's Veetiliya Visheshangal ( remake of Badhai Ho ) and Udhyanidhi Stalin Nenjuku Neethi  (Article 15) will release in first half of summer.

A confident Boney in an interview said that with little promotion, he is sure  that he will do good biz with Valimai. He says that he is not expecting Rs 100 cr biz in North but only a decent output. Even before Pushpa, Boney sold Hindi theatrical rights. His daughter Jhanvi's next release is Mili , remake of Malayalam film Helen..

His son Arjun Kapoor will reprise Jeyam Ravi's role in Comali remake and Varun Tej's  F2 in Hindi. Anees Bazme will be directing F2 remake and there is talk that Bazmee will being doing No Entry sequel with Salman Khan. Boney said he is keeping his fingers crossed. Luv Ranjan will direct Comali remake.

Boney's upcoming Maaidan with Ajay Devgn will clash with Prithviraj in June. Maaidan is coming on June 3 and following week is Prithviraj ( AkshayKumar). Here too he rules out any change  in  dates.  Valimai OTT release dates yet to be set says Boney. Zee5 is the OTT rights holder. PEN who is distributor of Valimai was also for Ravi Teja's Khiladi Hindi. On first day, there wasno  morning shows and till date there is no box office figures.

Thalapathy Vijay v/s KGF 2 in April

 Thalapathy's Vijay  Beast, Ajith's Valimai, Simbhu's ‘Vendhu Thanidhathu Kaadu’ are three blockbusters that are confirmed to come in April and so also KGF 2. With producers not willing to back out, Pan Indian film like KGF 2  will have to literally wash their hands off Tamil Nadu, feels trade.

Sun Pictures with Beast, Madurai Anbu- Boney Kapoor's Valimai and Dr Ishari Ganesh's VTK are three big production- distribution houses in Kllywood. Already, trade had agreed that three weeks from date of release , Valimai will be given more than 60 % screens. At that time it was RRR that was a competitor. Now Sun Pictures has made it amply clear that it will release Beast on April 14 and it seems Actor Vijay too has made it clear that there should be no going back on it. KGF being an All India release too cannot back out.

Trade can juggle with Valimai and VTK release dates to give each at least two weeks between Beast. But RRR and KGF 2 ?. Here again, RRR will stick to March 18 Friday release as on April 14th, Bollywood has Aamir Khan's Lal Chaddha coming. Given this scenario, Radhe Shyam is stuck and might move to OTT.

Given this scenario, Gautham Menon film Joshua with new face Varun and produced by Dr Ganesh ( hero happens to be producer's nephew and his debut) as well as Sani Kayidhidam starring director Selvaraghavan and directed by Arun ( Rocky fame) are to release on OTT. In February itself, Sun Pictures is coming with Etharkkum Thunindhavan  starring Suriya. After Jai Bhim, Suriya has got a good reach all over India, This could see it's Hindi release too.

Ajith's Valimai to get three week run post lockdown assures theaters

Ajith's Valimai will get be the first film to release post the present lockdown as per the meeting with distributors - theater owners . Producer Boney Kapoor and TN distributor Madurai Anbu has assured that Valimai which is skipping the January 14th date would never go for an OTT premiere . Exhibitors have agreed that the maximum number of screens will be given to  Anbu  when releasing and added to that a three week assured run will be given in all these screens.  It means RRR and Radhe Shyam will have to renegotiate for screens when they come with Valimai.

Anbu had asked distributors to take back the money given as advance. None wanted to take back the advance . It was informally agreed that Valimai being a straight film would get a three week window in all screens and not to compete with any Telugu films. It was alsi agreed that even if any Tamil film was complete would be asked to defer release till Valimai's three week run.

Vishal's film that is looking to release with Covid restrictions will have to do so on a commission basis. No distributor is willing to give any advance as a full lockdown too could be enforced.

RRR postponement fall out - Will Valimai fill the vacuum ?

 

RRR postponement  news has created  many repercussions in the trade especially in South India.  In USA, thousands of tickets sold has to be refunded. Producers of Telugu films who shifted their releases due to request from RRR producer and director feel that they were left and high and dry and are now scrambling to fill the vacuum. All eyes are on Madurai Anbu as to whether he would advance the release date and fill it with Valimai on Jan 7th.

Close to Rs 20 crores was spent on promotions in all South States and Mumbai. This is a washout. Distributors who bought the film in the South are unhappy as the decision was taken after listening to North distributor Gada. They feel that with 50% occupancy they could have recovered the money within a week ( Jan 7- Jan 13) after which Ajith's Valimai is released. In TamilNadu there is no strict compliance of 50 % slab in single screens a majority in the State.

AP Government allowed theaters that were closed to reopen with certain riders. Telangana had permitted hike in ticket rates. Producers of Telugu films Bheemla Nayak to F3 and Sarkaru Vaari Paata which has only AP./ TS markets  as primary source of income feel that they should not have backed out. Now efforts are on to see if any one of these can come on Jan 7. Two of these films have pending work and did not complete it as release was postponed. If none of these comes, Bangarraju of Nagarjuna- Nag Chaitanya is ready to hit the theaters. It would be a big let down for Telugu film trade this Sankaranthi.. No news has come from radhe Shyam producers yet. It is to open in South and North markets on Jan 14th.

Due to massive expectation for RRR in USA markets, other regions with Indian population , ticket sales has touched $3 million and still is going on. Two type of prints for USA was planned.- one the usual Dolby version and another for select theaters using  a different equipment to screen. Sarigama Cinemas and Raftar Creations are releasing the movie in the United States. The bookings in the United States will begin from December 17th, three weeks before the release of the film. They had booked the advertising space at the famous Times Square in New York City from December 17th to 23rd to extensively promote the film. This is the first time a Telugu movie was advertised at the Times Square for so long. US distributors might have to refund close to Rs 10 crores, says a distributor.

Ajith - S J Suryah 's Vaalee already remade in Hindi- New twist to Boney Kapoor legal tangle

Why is Boney Kapoor buying Hindi remake rights of Tamil film ` Vaalee’ from NIC Arts Chakravarthy when it is already remade as Sheesha with Neha Dhupia and Sonu Sood ?. Mona Kapoor, first wife of Boney Kapoor, was the production coordinator of the film. Arjun Kapoor is her son. One of Film Producer’s is Guddu Dhanoa. It was released on February 11, 2005. The film credits show S J Suryah as story writer. The best part is that the film was dubbed into Tamil and released as `Adangathaval. The Tamil dubbed version credits S Baburaj as producer.  Madras High Court ruled in favour of Boney Kapoor who bought the rights from the producer Charkarvarthy. S J Suryah director- story writer challenged the purchase saying that he was the copyright owner as he is the creator of the film.

In some details like on the DVD cover, story is also credited to A Muthu. In the Hindi version, Ajith’s role was reversed. Heroine Neha played the dual role of sisters and Sonu Sood played the male lead. Muthu probably wrote this change for Hindi. Hindi film concentrated on Neha’s skin show and sultry scenes. It was directed by Ashu Trikha, who has directed Arjun Ramphal – Mithun Chakraborty films. His last release was Veerey Ki Wedding ( 2018) which had Jimmy Shergill in the cast.

Trade is wondering why Boney Kapoor instead of getting Hindi rights from Guddu got it from Chakravarthy ?. If Suryah name was already used as story writer of Seesha, then why did he not use this to prove his point in court ? As Hindi remake can be done with NIC Arts knowledge , Did Chakravarthy keep all involved in the loop about the Hindi remake rights ?. Guddu is cousin of actor Dharmendra and produced- directed films with Shah Rukh Khan – Sunny Deol- Akshay Kumar- Ajay Devgn. Currently he is directing Tamil film Singham 3 remake in Hindi with Thakoor Anoop Singh as hero. Thakoor played the baddie in Tamil film with Suriya as hero.

 

Update :Rajamouli v/s Boney Kapoor- Ajith's Valimai v/s Prabhas Radhe Shyam

 

 Boney Kapoor, producer of Ajith starrer Valimai by pitting his film against Prabhas- Pooja Hegde ‘s Radhe Shyam for Pongal 2022 January is said to be getting back at Rajamouli and the Telugu filmdom. He was peeved at the way Baahubali director Rajamouli announced  RRR release date on the same day that his film Maidaan with Ajay Devgn was to be released. No Tollywood trade leader or any biggie bothered to mediate on behalf of Boney, said a source.

Trade circles say that Boney by releasing Valimai for Pongal had ensured that Radhe Shyam would not get enough screens in Tamil Nadu. He also got Rahul of Romeo Pictures and distributor- exhibitor biggie Madurai Anbu of Gopuram films to be distributor of the film. Anbu has a stranglehold on the Kollywood trade.

Trade circles point out that Valimai’s business in Andhra/ TS was not as huge as Prabhas film would do in Tamil Nadu. By cutting Radhe Shyam to size, Boney was getting back at Tollywood. He was peeved that no body bothered to bring about a truce between him and RRR team.

However, battle royale will take place in North Indian markets. T series, producers of Radhe Shyam would checkmate Valimai. Boney ,says a source, has agreed to give Zee 5 , an earlier than four week window to telecast Hindi dubbed version and compensate the loss that he would incur in North Indian markets. A model that Thalaivi followed with Netflix.

There was speculation that Valimai will clash with Annaatthe of Rajini for Diwali. Later it was said that Thalapathy Vijay’s Beast would clash with Valimai for Pongal. Promo of Radhe Shyam tells us that like the love story of star crossed lovers- Romeo- Juliet, Heer Ranjha, the film too is about such a alove story. The love story starts on a taain ride in Italy. Melodious beats scored by composer Justin Prabhakaran, who last year delivered a blockbuster music album, Dear Comrade.