CHENNAI: If the Tamil industry thought the year’s biggest box-office clash was the Beast-KGF Chapter 2 in April, clearly it was wrong. This week features a bigger clash in the offing with Mani Ratnam’s multi-starrer Ponniyin Selvan (PS-1) playing against Selvaraghavan’s Dhanush-led Naane Varuvean.
Releasing on September 29, Naane Varuvean is Selvaraghavan’s first venture with brother Dhanush in 11 years while PS-1 is the big-screen adaptation of Kalki’s celebrated eponymous novel. In the latter’s favour is the high-voltage publicity campaign for a release date announced months in advance. Naane Varuvean’s release, however, was only announced a week ago, catching industry insiders off-balance.
Exhibitors believe that scale of promotions will decide the opening day collections, tipping the scale in favour of PS-1, starring Karthi, Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Trisha, Aishwarya Rai, and Vikram Prabhu, who have been on a national promotional tour.
“The minimal promotions are going to affect Naane Varuvean’s opening. Producer Kalaipuli S Thanu tends to promote his films on a huge scale, so I am not sure why the promotions are rather low-key this,” said distributor Tirupur Subramaniam, president of Tamil Nadu Theatres’ Association. PS-1 is all set to open to packed houses across the State, he added. “The pre-booking is excellent, and more importantly, we expect a huge turnout from women as well.”
Subramaniam said Tamil Nadu is equipped with enough screens to accommodate both films. “There are over 450 multiplex screens, in addition to all the single screen theatres across the State. PS-1 will be screened in about 65% of the theatres while Naane Varuvean will take the remaining 35%.” Hari Haran of Chennai’s Udayam complex concurred. “We have allocated three screens in our complex to PS-1 and one to Naane Varuvean. The weekend looks strong for PS-1, but Naane Varuvean looks a bit dull at the moment, due to no promotion.”
But word of mouth can make all the difference, Subramaniam added. “Naane Varuvean might pick up once the word is out. Selvaraghavan’s style of filmmaking enjoys huge following among youngsters, so it could translate into footfalls if the film delivers,” he said. Ruban Mathivanan of GK Cinemas is of the view that both films will do well. “I haven’t seen this kind of pre-booking in the past couple of years. This exceeds what we witnessed for Beast and KGF 2. Bookings for PS-1 last night were sold out in less than 20 minutes. Even the front row seats are being bought online; this never happens!”
Subramaniam affirms that theatres are set to witness a healthy number of footfalls in the coming week, thanks to the puja holidays. “Both Naane Varuvean and PS-1 will benefit from this.”