Kollywood to spin magic overseas

If Bollywood goes to the US and UK to rake in the moolah, can Kollywood (Tamil film industry) be far behind? Except, perhaps, for its choice of countries like Japan and Indonesia.

Chandramukhi, the latest movie starring Tamil actor Rajnikanth, is to be dubbed for the overseas market.

"We shall explore and revive the Japan and Indonesia cinema markets. The movie has a few fantasy elements that pull the crowds to the theatres in these two countries," said G Ramkumar, managing partner, Sivaji Productions, producers of the mega-budget movie.

For Indonesia, the producer plans to dub the movie in the local language and screen it within a few weeks of the release of the movie in India.

"It will take about two weeks to translate the dialogues and dub them for Indonesia. Japanese audiences, however, are quite satisfied with sub-titles, the facilities for which are available in Mumbai," Ramkumar added.

Chandramukhi will be released in theatres in Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Australia, Canada, Gulf Cooperation Council countries and in some European countries.

The overseas rights are estimated to have been sold for between Rs 2.25 crore (Rs 22.5 million) and Rs 2.5 crore (Rs 25 million). The movie is expected to collect $1 million revenues from its overseas release.

Sanjay Arjun Das Wadhwa, partner, AP International, the overseas distributor for the movie, said, "The expectations for the movie is high as the audio is already a super hit. It should do well in most countries especially in Malaysia where there is a high Tamil-speaking population."

Wadhwa is also the overseas distributor for Kamal Hassan's forthcoming movie –'Mumbai Express'.

Chandramukhi will open in 37 theatres in Malaysia, 15 in Europe, nine in Sri Lanka, seven in the US, four in Canada and GCC countries and two in Australia and Singapore.

Sivaji Productions hopes to get some prints released in the theatres of Indonesia and Japan failing which they plan to release it in the video format and for TV audiences.

"There is a lot of money to be made from video release and TV rights sales," Ramkumar said. Rajnikanth's earlier movies like Muthu and Yajaman have tasted success in Japan.

However, the release of Chandramukhi will be looked at closely in India and abroad after his much-hyped 'Baba' fell flat at the box office. Chandramukhi is slated for an April 14 release in India.