Brand Rajinikanth’s global appeal

The word Rajinikanth spells magic across the world. How else can one explain the phenomenon when Kabali was screened at a preview theatre for the censors, the theatre’s name trended on social media that night across India! Despite Rajini’s last two films Kochadaiiyaan and Lingaa not churning big box office numbers, his upcoming film Kabali achieved the highest pre-sales in every area of business among all the Tamil films produced so far. 

Multiplex operators speak on the unprecedented demand for tickets for the film, with requests for 50 and 100 tickets in bulk, in order to watch the film with family and friends. They are also confident that tickets for the opening week and the second weekend would be sold out within a day of commencement of advance booking. 

Kabali became the most talked about film in the last nine months and even Malaysia, where the film has been shot extensively, went crazy with thousands of people trying to meet Rajinikanth and click a picture with him. Such was the frenzy that Malaysia’s Air Asia carrier came out with Kabali airplane to fly between Chennai and Bengaluru. 

Many other brands have officially tied up with the film and launched their new products close to the film’s release. This speaks of the power of the brand Rajinikanth and Kabali. The tie-ups are estimated to be valued at Rs 40 crore worth publicity and revenues for the brands associated with the film. 

If we look back at box office history, Rajinikanth has been breaking one record after another. Though Baas ha (1996) became a rage in traditional overseas markets that time, it was the film Muthu (1995), which became a big hit when it was released in 1998 in the Japanese language under the title Muthu Odoru Maharaja and collected $1.6 million in Japan. 

Padayappa (1999) broke all box office records in India and overseas markets and became his highest collecting film. Though Rajini faced a lull period between 2000 to 2004 with his own production Baba (2002) not making a mark, he bounced back with Chandramukhi in 2005, which became the longest running Tamil film by crossing 800 days in Tamil Nadu and achieved the biggest box office numbers in overseas markets. From then on, Rajini’s films started achieving big numbers in both India and overseas markets. 

Sivaji in 2007 became the first Tamil film to achieve over Rs 100 crore business in India and overseas and earned Rs 37 crore in overseas market alone ($9.25 million). Rajini’s next film Enthiran (2010) broke that record earning over Rs 179 crore world-wide with overseas markets contributing Rs 61 crore ($13.2 million). No other Tamil film has broken that record, including Rajini’s subsequent films till date. If we analyse the top 10 collecting Tamil films in overseas markets, five out of them are Rajini’s ( Chandramukhi, Sivaji, Kuselan, Enthiran, Lingaa ) and the rest come from other big artistes. The fact that his failed film Kuselan earned the top 10 position shows his star power in overseas markets. 

Rajini’s sudden illness in 2011, brought some lull in his collection record as his next two films Kochadaiiyaan (2014) and Lingaa (2014) could not achieve big numbers in both domestic and overseas markets. Since Kochadaiiyaan was a photo-realistic motion captured film using Rajini’s photo captured images, its box office numbers cannot be compared to his earlier live action performance films. The story idea and making of Lingaa (2014) did not click with the young audience and ended up collecting much lower than Enthiran in both domestic and overseas markets.

Kabali marks Rajini’s collaboration with a young, new generation director Pa. Ranjith, who made a mark with Madras (2014). Along with Pa. Ranjith, Rajini joining hands for the first time with the King of film production and marketing, Producer Kalaipuli S Thanu has done real magic with the numbers seen pre-release. The first look poster of the film was a rage online. A huge cutout of the film was placed at Sathyam Cinemas on the day of its launch. The producer ensured Rajini’s arrival made the front page news every day in Malaysia and Thailand, where the film was shot.

Kabali as per various trade sources has become the highest earning film for a producer so far in South India. Its overseas rights have earned over Rs 30 crore already, Telugu language rights have gone for Rs 30 crore, Hindi satellite rights have been sold for Rs 16 crore and from theatrical rights another Rs 15 – 20 crore is expected (Total Hindi rights revenue is expected to be around Rs 25 to 30 crore). With the music rights estimated to have been sold around Rs 5 crore for all three languages and Tamil satellite rights expected to fetch a minimum price of Rs 30 crore, the overall pre-sale revenue is estimated at Rs 120 crore.

With Kabali’s pre-release buzz and pre-sales business so far, Rajini has proven to the world that he remains the Superstar of Tamil Cinema and possibly Indian Cinema, with his films releasing in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Malay languages in an estimated 10,000 screens. Only Rajini can ensure a revenue of over Rs 200 crore for the Producer with a Tamil film, across the globe! 

With the kind of buzz around the film, the overseas markets estimate that Kabali may become the first Tamil film to achieve a gross revenue of Rs 100 crore, beating the earlier record of Rs 61 crore by Enthiran (2010). If that happens, it will be another great beginning for Tamil cinema. While Rajini’s earlier films were released in around 35 countries in overseas, Kabali is expected to hit screens in close to 50 countries, thus opening up new markets for Tamil cinema.