Digital 'Aayirathil Oruvan' to Run on 120 Screens

The overwhelming trade response for the digitally restored version of MGR’s Aayirathil Oruvan has overjoyed its makers.

Coming 49 years after its original release, the superhit film starring MGR, Jayalalithaa and Nambiar will open on nearly 120 screens across the State. While multiplexes like SPI cinemas and old cinema-houses like AVM and Albert had asked for the movie in Chennai, other theatres like Devi Paradise jumped into the fray and asked for a print on Wednesday, said G Chokkalingam of Divya Films, the firm that bought the original film and restored it digitally.

And astonishingly, despite indie films like Adiyum Andhamum and Kadhal Solla Aasai releasing on Friday, the advance reservation in uptown multiplexes like Escape have been mind-blowing. “Some of the shows are nearly full all the way up to Wednesday, which almost never happens these days,” confirmed a theatre official.

Coming from the same firm that digitally remastered and released Sivaji Ganesan’s Karnan, the MGR blockbuster has already outdone his old rivals film by quite a stretch. “Karnan was a period film, while Aayirathil Oruvan was a mass flick in 1965. Obviously, it will make waves now,” said distributor R Selvam.

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