PremiumNo regrets about releasing Thalaivii in theatres, says producer Vishnu Induri
The film entered into profit zone much before its theatrical release, he claims
Last Updated: 07.22 PM, Sep 13, 2021
Many claimed that Vishnu Induri, the producer of Thalaivii, took a huge gamble by releasing his magnum opus, Thalaivii, the multilingual biopic of actor, politician Jayalalithaa, in the theatres on September 10. The AL Vijay-directed film, starring Kangana Ranaut, Arvind Swamy, Bhagyashree, didn't exactly set the box office on fire in any of the languages in the first weekend either but the producer still stands by his decision of opting for a theatrical release. He shared his experiences on producing Thalaivii with the media in Hyderabad earlier on Monday.
"We managed to recover the budget entirely from the non-theatrical revenues and earned more than what we invested in the film. I have no regrets about releasing Thalaivii in theatres. We were so confident about the film that we began hosting premieres a week before release. I didn't have any sleepless nights at all. We didn't rely on the theatres for profits," he said. They were approached to release the film on OTT on several occasions throughout the year but remained confident that the film merited a big-screen experience.
Vishnu Induri opined that it's not fair to judge a film's fortunes by its box office collections in the COVID-19 scenario. "We've got back the money we put into the film. Going by how many people are watching the film now and also later, Thalaivii is a successful production." His aim was always to make a pan-Indian film and rope in talents who could take the story to a larger audience in the best way possible. "We roped in Vijay because of the Tamil connection. I was sure there could be no better person than Vijayendra Prasad (garu) to script the film," he stated.
The decision to cast Kangana Ranaut in the title role didn't go well with a few initially, Vishnu said. "She may not be a known face in Tamil Nadu and many were apprehensive if she could pull off such an iconic role. All such doubts were put to the rest with the film's release. As a producer, it's satisfying to hear that our move paid off at the end of the day." Vishnu Induri's next release as a producer is the sports film 1983, which he assures will make it to the theatres. Multiple projects revolving around the digital age, patriotism and politics too are in the offing.