Box Office Collections

[irir123]

Cinema is not only business for some people. For some it is an art as well.

Paraphrashing director Mahendran from an interview "தமிழ் மக்கள்/ரசிகர்கள் எந்த படமாக இருந்தாலும் அதை பார்க்காமல் இருக்க மாட்டார்கள் - ஆனா அவங்க எதை வேணும்னாலும் பாப்பாங்கன்னு இஷ்டத்துக்கு அவங்க ரசனைய மதிக்காம படம் எடுத்தா அது அவங்களுக்கு நாம செய்யற நம்பிக்கை துரோகம் - நான் முடிஞ்சா வரைக்கும் அவங்க ரசனையை மனசுல வச்சு தான் ஒரு காட்சியையே compose/conceive பண்ண முயற்சிப்பேன்"...

When Mahendran was asked about ppl whom he can never forget, he spoke about working with IR and then much to the surprise of the interviewer (as well as ppl like me), shared the following incident about Kamal:

"'முள்ளும் மலரும்' படம் எடுத்த அனுபவம் பத்தி பேசணும்னா, கமலை பத்தி சொல்லியே ஆகணும் - 90% படப்பிடிப்பு முடிஞ்சு போன நேரத்துல, தயாரிப்பாளரும், பணம் முதலீடு செஞ்சவரும் அது வரை எடுத்த படத்தோட rushes பாத்துட்டு, இனிமேல் காசில்லன்னு கை விரிச்சிட்டாங்க - அவங்களுக்கு ரஜினி மாதிரி ஒரு action star வச்சு இப்படி ஒரு ஊமை படம் மாதிரி எடுத்துட்டேன்னு பயம் கலந்த கோபம் - எனக்கு என்ன செய்யறதுனே தெரில - அப்ப வாஹினி (or AVM) studioவுல ரொம்ப கவலையா நான் உட்கார்ந்துருந்தப்ப அங்க கமல் ஏதோ பட shootingla இருந்தவர், என் பக்கம் வந்து 'சொல்லுங்க மகேந்திரன், என்ன பிரச்சனை? ரொம்ப dullஆ இருக்கீங்களே'ன்னு விசாரிச்சார் - நான் 'முள்ளும் மலரும்' படம் பிரச்னையை சொன்னேன் - கமல் என்கிட்ட 'மகேந்திரன் இன்னும் படத்தை முடிக்கறதுக்கு என்ன தேவையோ, அதுக்கெல்லாம் நான் உதவி செய்யறேன் - நீங்க தைரியிமா முடிங்க - படத்தோட கதை, நீங்க எடுத்த விதம் எல்லாம் ரொம்ப கலை அழகோட இருக்கு - இந்த மாதிரி படங்கள் கண்டிப்பா வரணும்'ன்னு சொல்லி - படம் மீதி 10% முடிப்பதற்கு உதவி செஞ்சு கொடுத்தார் - அந்த விஷயத்த நான் மறக்கவே முடியாது - படமும் வெளி வந்து, எனக்கும், ரஜினி, சரத்பாபு, ஷோபா, எல்லாருக்கும் நல்ல பேர் வாங்கி தந்ததோட இல்லாம, படம் வணிக ரீதியாகவும் வெற்றி பெற்றது"

Kamal did this at the young age of 24-25?!!

வேற எவன்யா இந்த மாதிரி செய்வான்?

In spite of having attained stardom and beyond, Kamal has not sacrificed any of that original passion or spark, even an inch - and continues to be successful in that, despite all the brouhaha abt his BO status…..

'Mullum malarum' is by far one of Rajinis best (top five - as far as movie quality is concerned)- none of his later movies come anywhere close to this film or for that matter any of Rajini's films with Mahendran - 'kai kodukkum kai' was the one low-point - most 'sindu mundus' arguing here have probably not seen Rajini's heart-rending performance in Panju Arunachalam's script 'Bhuvana oru kelvikkuri' - that Rajini is gone - he simply 'killed' his own talent..

That, even for such a movie like 'Mullum malarum', Kamal had a (major) role in helping it come out of financial doldrums is sweet justice and renders meaning to this whole debate...

[irir123]

THat said, it doesn't mean kamal films wont care about returns, profit, at all. In fact Kamal has given industry's biggest record breaking blockbusters like Aboorva Sagotharargal, which had a very long run where 3 rajni films came and went out of theaters! AS was still running! And AS is the 1st south indian film were the overeas market was expanded as FMS(Foreign Malaysia singapore) and also AS revived the about-to-be-closed theaters in Singapore and Malaysia and gave new life to them!

And then 2 blockbusters in same year 1996 that is Indian and AvvaiShanmugi. Indian broke Baasha records square one and also had a very wide overseas success. Tenaali too had great overseas business which lead KSR to title kamal as Ulaganaayagan. Then Dasavatharam broke Sivaaji records.

Aboorva Sagotharargal - இந்த படம் Box officeல பண்ண அமர்க்களம் சொல்லி மாளாது - it ran 100 plus days in every single theater it was released in the city of Bangalore and suburbs! it has been re-released so many times in Bangalore-Hosur areas, and each time its re-released, it has ran to packed halls for at least a few weeks!

The same goes for its Telugu version - throughout Andhra it was a rip-roaring success and re-released to packed houses!

The Hindi version was a silver jubilee and a major draw when shown on TV

[irir123]

becos i didnt want to hurt u more. already Indian >>> Baasha, AS >>> (RajathiRaja/Siva/RajaChinnaRoja), Dasavatharam >>> Sivaji wud have done it!

RajathiRaja/Siva - yes I remember - ஓடின கொஞ்ச நஞ்ச நாட்கள் எல்லாம் பண்ணைப்புரக்கaaரர் உபயம் (Ada Maappillai - Keeravani tuned to suit Rajinis image (indha ooril pala perapaathupputtaen rings of sweet keeravani), aid vanmathi - kickass interludes)

RajaChinnaRoja was 'ottufied' in Udhayam

[irir123]

Openinig up on collections and posting like Bollywood sites, - Most commercially viable and super stars ன்னு தங்களையே சொல்லிக்குறவங்களும் அப்படி ஆக ஆசைப்படுறவங்களும் தானே அதுக்கு முயற்சி எடுக்கணும்?! அவங்களுக்கே அந்த தைரியம் இல்லைன்னா எங்கயோ ஏதோ தப்பு நடந்திருக்குன்னு தான் அர்த்தம்! (கேட்டா தன்னடக்கம்னு சொல்லிப்பாங்க அது வேற! )

Kamal diverted from being a commercial only superstar, from Naayagan (even b4, like moondram pirai etc) and then he was experimenting heavily with films like Gunaa Mahaanathi Hey Raam, which heavily dented his box office in many ways. he lost much of family and lady audience. Our families and lady audience will even watch double meaning dialogs like the ones in chandramuki, if given in pukka regular, tested commercial format but wont support movies which take different routes even though they were clean of such vulgar stuff(like gunaa)

Of course Kamal always had (and has) the confidence that he can make those lost common audience too turn up to his films which was proven by Blockbusters like Indain Avvai Shanmuki AborvaSago Thenaali Dasavatharam VR VV etc

above all, Naayagan itself was almost a blockbuster. And Rajnifans coudnt come up with a poster or proof that Manithan which clashed Naayagan ran in chennai for 100 days! And then they told a gupsaa to Sandiyar Karan that it ran 9.45 morning show(a non existent show those days! ) in AVM Rajeswari

SKV - pls dont include Nayagan anywhere here - humble request - Tamil cinema is NM and NP (munn/pinn) - full stop… bringing down that film to a cheap BO debate is beyond ridiculous…

We couldn't get tickets for the first 80 days straight! seriously, in those days, no freaking youtube, internet and no TV channels other than DD - Nayagan did not even have posters printed properly - yet, woM did it!

Damn it man, we got the info abt Nayagan from the cycle mechanic in our neighborhood - who rarely watches any non-Sivaji film - and he recommended the film as phenomenal!

4-6 months after its mega silver jubilee run in its original release , it was re-released in Nagesh Theatre in the Panagal Park area of those days - it ran to a packed house for an entire month!

I can't think of any other movie combined such heights in terms of artistic and acting grandeur as well as BO success - and further set a standard for how films are made..

Nayagan's impact can be seen in that it was as popular as Sunil Gavaskar's 96 in the Bangalore test the same year! given that cricket was on everyone's mind, that a regional film made impact all over the country says a lot!

from thespian Dileep Kumar to the late Ashok Kumar, to Shyam Benegal, and Adoor Gopalakrishnan, accolades simply poured in...

[ajaybaskar]

Indian is shankar and rahman's almost 4th or so film. and then he didnt go to them or use them continuously like rajni

3rd film

[Avadi to America]

At that point of time "Indian" helped Shankar to become more popular and achieve a bigger status.. But Kamal's dependency on Shankar is minimal..

The terms and condition between kamal and shankar was not good even during Indian days....Then they tried for ROBO but for multiple reasons it did not fell through....

[omega]

RajathiRaja/Siva - yes I remember - ஓடின கொஞ்ச நஞ்ச நாட்கள் எல்லாம் பண்ணைப்புரக்கaaரர் உபயம் (Ada Maappillai - Keeravani tuned to suit Rajinis image (indha ooril pala perapaathupputtaen rings of sweet keeravani), aid vanmathi - kickass interludes)

RajaChinnaRoja was 'ottufied' in Udhayam

ஆஹ ஒரு படம் கூட ஓடல...
ஓடுன படத்துக்கும் காரணம் அவரில்லை...
அப்புறம் எதுக்கு இவ்வளவு தம் கட்டுறீங்க...

எல்லா பயபுள்ளயோட உண்மையான சுயரூபம் இப்பதான தெரியுது..

[faithiu11]

Dont know WHR to post this so posting here....in linga rajini acted superbly in raja portions and present portions plays the spoil sport and for uthamavillain its reverse...

[Adox]

'Mullum malarum' is by far one of Rajinis best (top five - as far as movie quality is concerned)- none of his later movies come anywhere close to this film or for that matter any of Rajini's films with Mahendran - 'kai kodukkum kai' was the one low-point - most 'sindu mundus' arguing here have probably not seen Rajini's heart-rending performance in Panju Arunachalam's script 'Bhuvana oru kelvikkuri' - that Rajini is gone - he simply 'killed' his own talent..

That, even for such a movie like 'Mullum malarum', Kamal had a (major) role in helping it come out of financial doldrums is sweet justice and renders meaning to this whole debate...

I've seen most of his top performances including his villain roles he donned with Kamal. He had a big fan following right then as he was doing negative roles clashing with Kamal even in the late 70s, early 80's. He has drifted away from such. BTW, I've also read that Kamal was offered Sharath Babu's role in MM but dont know the details.

[Adox]

The terms and condition between kamal and shankar was not good even during Indian days....Then they tried for ROBO but for multiple reasons it did not fell through....

Rare and Unseen 'Enthiran'/'Robot' Photoshoot Pictures of Kamal Haasan, Preity Zinta

http://www.ibtimes.co.in/rare-unseen...y-zinta-627524

Priety Zinta is cute.