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Alai Payuthe finds the going tough

Aarkay

It is a time-honoured trend. In the weeks before Tamil New Year's Day, you find little teaser ads in print and on television, talking of films to be released on the occasion. But when the day approaches, you find that a good few films back off from the launch -- some because of production glitches, some through sabotage.

This year was no exception. Mani Ratnam's Alai Payuthe led the box office parade on the day, with Vallarasaon, Rajakali Amman, Veeranadai and Santhitha Velai being the other releases.

However, James Bondu, Kandukondain Kandukondain and Vetri Kodi Katta missed the bus for various reasons. James Bondu's re-recording could not be completed on time. Vetri... had a song sequence still to be shot and Kandukondain...'s no-show was a clear case of sabotage.

The word within the industry is that Mani Ratnam's people saw the song sequences of the Rajiv Menon-helmed Kandukondain... and told him that they were superior to those in Alai Payuthe. Having tasted two successive failures, Mani Ratnam did not want to take a risk and thus advised music director A R Rahman to go slow on the re-recording.

This phase of production took over 17 days, with the result that Menon had to delay the release of the film. Now the buzz is that Kandukondain... will now hit the marquee on April 28.

Now, for a look at the films that actually made it to the marquee on April 14. Of these, Santhitha Velai already looks to be a flop. The second directorial venture of Ravichandran, who debuted earlier with Kannedhire Thondrinaal, has Karthik, Roja and Koushalya in the lead, but the response from the public has been lukewarm, and the film is not expected to hold its place on the marquee beyond four weeks, at best.

The Satyaraj-starrer Veera Nadai, directed by Seeman, had a hiccup when ace comedian Goundamani stayed the release through a court order. Later, a compromise was worked out, allowing the film to hit the marquee on the auspicious day. All that effort and heartburn, however, appears to have gone waste, with the audiences less than enthusiastic about the film. At the point of writing this, the box office verdict on Veera Nadai is that it will limp to 'below average' status.

Mani Ratnam's Alai Payuthe, with Rahman's music as one of the highlights, was sold to distributors for a song, to compensate them for the huge losses sustained through Mani's earlier releases, Iruvar and Uyire (Dil Se in Hindi). Thus, the Tiruchi territory was sold for a paltry Rs 20 lakh, while Madurai went outright for Rs 30 lakh.

And despite this, initial reports are not too encouraging -- it is expected that Alai Payuthe will, at best, do average business in the A territories, but prove a miserable flop in rural areas. Which, incidentally, will complete a hat-trick of flops for Mani Ratnam.

Vallarasu is the silver-lining in this clouded scenario. Scripted and directed by N Maharajan, the film is a re-telling of the Sunny Deol-starrer Zor, and stars Vijaykanth, who over the last year or two, has had a great run at the box office.

The film got off the blocks with a bang, and has already been proclaimed a hit, doing very good business in all centres throughout the state. The initials were quite high, and though the industry expects it to drop during subsequent weeks, there is no doubting the fact that Vijaykanth can chalk up another money-maker against his name.

Interestingly, Raja Kaali Amman, a film of which not much was expected, is proving to be the dark horse. Produced by K Balachander's Kavithalaya under the Adi Bhagavan Films banner and directed by Rama Narayanan, the film is doing very good business all over the state.

One advantage the film has is that it was sold for relatively small amounts in the major centres, and word is that it is expected to get its money back within three weeks. In fact, women have taken to the film in a big way and if the trend continues, the film is expected to become a superhit, especially when schools and colleges close and the family audience troops in.

The verdict, thus, is that this film is the only one of the six released on April 14 that could prove to be a real jackpot.