Lingaa

[MysteRy]

KS Ravikumar speaks on 'Lingaa' & Rajinikanth

Rajinikanth and director KS Ravikumar go a long way back. Lingaa is their third project together after Muthu and the sensational Padayappa. In between two of their films got shelved –Jaggubhai and Rana. In an exclusive interview KSR as he is known in the industry opens up on the eve of the release of Lingaa.

Lingaa is facing plagiarism charges. Please comment.
It has become fashionable in the industry to make charges of plagiarism against big films just before release. In case of Lingaa too some people have made some wild accusations that we copied. Let the film release and then you decide. Some people told me that Dhoom 3 is a copy of my Ajith starrer Villain, but when I saw the film I realised the plot is similar but not even one scene is the same. Only if screenplay is copied exactly can I say it is plagiarised.

Tell us about Lingaa story?
Pon Kumaran has written the story and the basic thread is life and times of John Pennycuick who built the Mullaperiyar dam.  However it is not a bio pic or something like that. Lingaa is a pucca commercial entertainer catering to Rajinikanth’s mass fan base.

How did Lingaa happen ?
Rajinikanth and I share a nice bond. He is the complete professional and a joy to work with. We were in discussion for a long time. And this March he wanted to do a quickie, his first live-action film after Enthiran. The only condition he had was that the film should release for Diwali. But I did not have a script ready. Once I started working on it, the script fell into place.

How do you work on your scripts?
If I work with a star like Rajinikanth, I always keep his image in mind while writing the final script. I feel in commercial cinema the star’s image is the most important factor that drives the expectation around the film. I’am a common man’s director and not a Bharathiraja or a K Balachandar . I try to make films that will work with the mass audiences. Normally in my films story will be woven around the hero’s star image.

Did Rajinikanth watch the film and what did he say ?
Rajinikanth saw the final copy of the film two days before release at Media Artist preview theatre. After seeing the film he came and hugged me and thanked me for making Lingaa. Now it up to  audiences, I’m confident it will work with mass audiences.

[MysteRy]

Lingaa Movie Review

Director: KS Ravikumar
Cast: Rajinikanth, Sonakshi Sinha, Anushka Shetty, Santhanam, Jagapati Babu

Rajinikanth’s KS Ravikumar directed much hyped Lingaa was completed in record time but has arrived almost twenty years too late. It is a predictable old-fashioned entertainer that's a throwback to those mid-80’s mass masala films, and it’s hard to tell if there's anything original to this story at all.

Lingaa is a mixed bag. The star charisma of Rajinikanth is intact but the film is long with a weak storyline that flounders with a long drawn out climax. Rajini films are always well packaged and have powerful supporting cast, most importantly a deadly villain and a story with a foundation.

Lingaa follows the same tried and tested formula of KS Ravikumar with a typical Rajinikanth template. A comic first half leading to an emotionally charged flashback and a long drawn out climax. There are two Rajinikanth’s- Raja Lingeswaran a King who constructed a dam for his people against the machinations of the British and Lingaa his grandson a petty thief who does the unfinished job of his grandfather.

The vintage Rajinikanth is back with his style and dialogue delivery intact. The film is a treat for his die-hard fans who have not seen him in a live action for nearly four years. Among the two heroines Anushka has a better role while Sonakshi is wasted. The villains Jagapathy Babu and some unknown foreigners are the film’s biggest drawback. They do not match up to the hero in a single scene, which makes it lacklustre.

The music of AR Rahman is a big let down. Not even one hummable number and picturisation is very similar to earlier Rajinikanth films. Technically, Lingaa is just average except for the grand visuals of cameraman Rathnavelu, who has done a neat job. The VFX in the climax are tacky and clearly indicates that things were done in a jiffy.

The screenplay of Lingaa skittles from cliché to cliché, packing in every stereotype you can think of. What saves this film from complete disappointment is Rajinikanth the larger-than-life superstar. On the whole, Lingaa is a well-worn, formulaic fare that might appeal to viewers who find comfort in the familiar, and who are still excited by the age-old hackneyed stories about a mass hero turning savior to a village. If it's not entirely unwatchable, you have Rajinikanth to thank!

[MysteRy]

'Lingaa' worse than 'Baba'? Fans share their thoughts

The highly anticipated film of 2014 is out. Supestar's Lingaa has everything going for it. A fortuitous release date on his birthday, direction by KS Ravikumar, a soundtrack by AR Rahman and two stunning heroines. Unanimously, fans love Rajini's screen presence. But the same doesn't got for the film.

Was it all hype for nothing? Well, that's what a few Rajini fans told post the first-day first show. In fact, some feel it rivals Baba in levels of disappointment. Here are their thoughts on the film:

A S Kumar: As a Rajini fan, the movie has appeal. But as a movie lover, the movie disappoints. It is a drag, the story is explained in detail and that gets boring too often.

A director who works with Rajini best is Shankar and not KS Ravikumar. The movie has too many loopholes and many an instance which is unbelievable. The fans are clearly taken for granted by KS Ravikumar.

Lingaa is a movie, a celebration on Rajini's birthday, a one time-watch. The movie will not be a failure like Baba. KS Ravikumar is a great disappointment and he is under-utilised.

It is hard to believe AR Rahman is the music director, even his third level assistant would be able to churn out the music in Lingaa. Songs are what keeps the movie alive even after it leaves the theatre, but Lingaa songs are a complete disappointment.

Even the dialogues seem forced. Anushka has done a better job than Sonakshi. Sonakshi fails in establishing a connect with the audience. Santhanam is also wasted. The movie would have been a brave attempt had it been a play in college culturals, but as a movie it is a failure. And the blame lies solely on KS Ravikumar.




Bharat Kumar: For a rajini fan it is a must watch, a one-time watch. The script is a let down. AR Rahman is a let down. KS Ravikumar is also a huge let down.

Rajini is there in every frame. It could have been presented better. It was a huge disappointment.

Concept was good but script could have been better. Flashback was done well. Rajini's charisma, style, costume and dance are the plus points. But he was better in Padayappa. Here, the flavour is missing.




Aamithh Ram: Movie was mass entertainment. Excellent screenplay. Awesome fight. Complete Rajinimania. The climax fight is not needed.

Rating: 4 on 5



Shivaram PK: With the Superstar's birthday and LINGAA releasing even the Rain god's were waiting to catch a glimpse of Thalaivar!! Yes Rajinikanth as Lingeshwaran for sure is to take you by storm and leave you in a state of frenzy. The grand opener starts off at the Ferrari World and what's more, Rajini looks dashing as ever.

First few minutes of the movie has a certain lag which could possibly dampen your spirit. However, Rajinikanth compensates for the loss in momentum with his trademark dialogue delivery and ever mesmerizing style quotient.

First half of the movie breezes past with the music portion in shambles right from the word GO.

Second half with full focus on Lingeshwaran you get the privilege of the Marana mass dialogues. Yes, and I mean it!! This man has the uncanny knack or should I say the gift of dialogue delivery which is phenomenal.

With a roller coaster ride in the story line Lingeshwaran emerges a man of the masses and leaves behind a very apt tag line for one and all 'Got to leave a mark of life lived and valued for/by the rest.'

Heroines Anushka and Sonakshi Sinha have done a decent enough job with the limited scope. ARR a very big let down with the background score that leaves a fanatic like me fuming.

KS Ravikumar had to bundle too many things and deliver, which has not probably clicked. However, with the Superstar in the lead who cares!! Lingaa - Thalaivar all the way!!'

[MysteRy]

'Lingaa' opens big worldwide

Superstar Rajinikanth’s Lingaa has opened big worldwide, though the film carries mixed report. The film took almost a 95% opening in Chennai city and suburbs, where it started with early past mid-night shows as early as 1am and 4 am. At the TN box-office the film has taken a flying opening.

The tickets for the early morning shows were priced at three to five times the market rate, but still went houseful. Early reports from Rentrak, Hollywood’s tracking agency, revealed that Lingaa had beaten popular franchise Hunger Games 2 at the US box office by grossing $206850 from just 91 screens compared to the $190000 the Jennifer Lawrence film collected from 1583 screens.

It took a monstrous opening at USA. According to the distributors in US, the film grossed $404,556 for its Thursday premiere and broke many top hero  films’ all time box office collections.

The premiere collections alone made Lingaa in the all time top seven films with respect to box office figures. Now all eyes are on the weekend report to know if it will break Rajinikanth’s earlier records in US. Remember, Rajinikanth’s Endhiran and Sivaji are the top two highest grosser in US.

[MysteRy]

'Lingaa' trimmed by nine minutes

Despite mixed word of mouth, Superstar Rajinikanth’s Lingaa collected a whopping 32 crs (approx) nett in Tamil Nadu alone. Now the makers have decided to trim the film by nine minutes so that the film will be racier than the original cut.

Sources say that from today, Lingaa’s trimmed version will be shown in theaters and some of the key theater owners in Tamil Nadu have confirmed it.

Sources from theater owners also say that many Rajini fans have asked them to trim down the climax for the poor VFX and over the top action sequence.

Lingaa has Rajinkanth, Anushka, Sonakashi Sinha and many to its star cast.

[MysteRy]

Real Figures of ‘Lingaa’ Profit

Superstar celebrated turning 64 with the release and phenomenal success of his 174th film, ‘Lingaa’. The first weekend for any big release is a golden goose. In that regard, there have been numbers floating on the cyber that point to a century crore bucks for the legendary period-set flick that was released on the eve of Thalaivar’s birthday. But as it does seem quite obvious, 100 crore rupees is a rather far fetched dream. But it is certain that the film has grossed close to 60% of that figure! Here we have the actuals of the collection.

Highest contributor to this whooping sum is undoubtedly the state of Tamil Nadu, standing proudly at 30 crores for ‘Lingaa'; Chennai city alone contributed 2.7 crores. Singapore, Malaysia, Middle East countries and the United Kingdom,  together have given the film a collection of roughly about 10 crores. USA fans have sky rocketed collections for ‘Lingaa’ at 11 crores, standing the second highest contributing conglomerate, after the collection of screens in Chennai. The rest is accounted by Kerala, Andhra, Telangana and North Indian fans. Pinning hopes on the dream figure of 100 crores, we can confidently say that ‘Lingaa’ is fast progressing towards the fancy of the record collection of highest sum of money for any movie!

[MysteRy]

Rajinikanth Mania helps ‘Lingaa’ The Movie cross 100 Crore Club in 3 days!

The Rajnikanth mania associated with a Rajinikanth movie has been yet again proved with LINGAA breaking all box office records and becoming the fastest Tamil film to join the 100 crore club! The movie according to trade pundits has collected a colossal Rs 102 crore rupees in its first weekend.

Though the movie has not gone down well with few hardcore film critics yet movie buffs have given their thumps up and declared the movie super hit.

The typical Rajinikanth Mania was seen to be believed at the premier of LINGAA which was held at several theatres at 1 a.m. on Friday. Film fanatic had thronged the theatres even before Thursday midnight to watch the premiere. The theatre management had hard time controlling the crowd. There was furor and turmoil all around with chanting of ‘Happy Birthday Rajinikanth’ echoing all around!

On its first day (Friday) itself, the movie managed to gross Rs 32 crore becoming the first Kollywood movie to do so. Interestingly LINGAA also collected Rs 33 crores worldwide on its first day, making it First Tamil movie to have biggest-ever first day collection.

Elated at the heartening response from audience Nandu Ahuja, Theatrical Head, Eros International, said, “There is just one word to describe reactions post the film’s release – Unbelievable! We have got fantastic showcasing for the film pan India and overseas with some theatres running as many as 72 SHOWS DAILY!

The Rajinikanth mania associated with the superstar reached places outside the South states as well. According to reports from certain screens at PVR where shows were booked well in advance and are still running into packed houses.

In Mumbai too, renowned Aurora theater in Matunga witnessed people thronging the cinema hall in huge numbers right through the weekend

[MysteRy]

K.S.Ravikumar asks the fans to get out of cinema halls before the climax

One unanimous negative point that everyone quoted who watched the ‘Lingaa’ was the climax fight and made fun of it in the social network. In a recent interview, K.S. Ravikumar says that the movie is over before the gravity defying stunt and he asks the people to step out the cinema hall if they don’t want to watch it.

He adds that the fight was placed only to suit Rajni’s mass appeal and he had witnessed children are enjoying the same fight sequence which went under the knife of critics. It is worth mentioning that the ‘Lingaa’ movie got trimmed about 9 mins owing to the negative remarks by the media and the general public.

[MysteRy]

Rajinikanth's 'Lingaa' limping at the box-office?

Lingaa was sold to distributors at exorbitant prices and now we hear that the buyers of the film are far from ecstatic and have started demanding a compensation from the Superstar for their losses.

According to distributors, the film opened well for two days but from third day  collections are not at all encouraging  and they are paranoid about even recovering fifty percent of their investment!

Distributors say that theater owners are repeatedly calling them for compensation and they are not able to get proper response from Vendhar Movies who distributed the film in Tamil Nadu. Lingaa has also failed to take off in Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra, according to trade reports.

Now the distributors have requested Rajinikanth to interfere and compensated the losses incurred to them. It is worth a mention that the Superstar has compensated distributors for his loss venture Baba.

[MysteRy]

Vendhar Movies:'Lingaa' will be a profitable venture

Following the news on Lingaa limbing at the box office, now the Tamil Nadu’s distributor Vendhar Movies have issued a statement saying that the film will be profitable venture,
 
As a matter of fact, Vendhar Movies accepted the other distributors’ comments in their statement. The statement reads “Lingaa’s box office collections have slightly fallen short than expected “. Vendhar Movies cited the release strategy of screening the film in 600 screens and also the half yearly exams.
 
Vendhar Movies also said that the collections are picking up from Friday and weekend shows are getting filled.
 
Vendhar Movies say that Children and family like the film hence 'Lingaa' will be a profitable venture.

[MysteRy]

‘Lingaa’ collections: Vendhar Movies talks tough

Vendor Movies have hit out at those who were ‘spreading rumors that Superstar Rajinikanth’s ‘Lingaa’ was not making brisk collections in the box-office. In a statement, T Siva of Vendhar Movies said strict legal action would be taken against such persons, as collection figures released by them (Vendhar Movies) alone were authentic.

“It’s true that revenues were little less since the film hit the screens during half-yearly exam season and it was simultaneously released on more than 600 screens in Tamil Nadu. But starting Friday evening (December 19), people have been coming to theatres with their families and shows are house-full,” he added.

[MysteRy]

Lingaa: Distributors demand police protection

Though Vendhar Movies have issued a press statement stating that the film will be a profitable venture and not to believe the claims of fake distributors, some of the key area distributors have asked for police protection for their meeting plan with Rajinikanth at Sri Raghavendra Mandapam today at Chennai.

According to the petition given to Police commissioner, the distributors stated “We bought Lingaa for exorbitant price but the collections are not up to the mark so that the theater owners are pressurizing us. Regarding this matter, we are planning to meet Rajini at Raghavendra Mandapam and distributors across Tamil Nadu are attending the meeting, hence we seek a proper police protection”.

Looks like the Lingaa box office is like a maze that no one knows the real truth except for the producers and distributors involved. 

We might get a clear picture after today’s meeting; keep tabbing this space for more updates.

[MysteRy]

‘Lingaa’ row to be sorted out Wednesday?

Distributors have dropped their plans to carry out a procession to Sri Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam to present their case (‘Lingaa’ losess) to Superstar Rajinikanth, following an assurance from Vendhar Movies.

According to sources, Vendhar Movies has assured the distributors that the issue would be sorted out before Wednesday.

Following this, distributors have put on hold their procession plans. Meanwhile, it is said the issue has been taken to the attention of Rajini.

[MysteRy]

‘Lingaa’ reviews upset Anushka

Lingaa, the much looked forward to Superstar film is running successfully, thouhg amidst mixed reviews. Then again, reviews never matter when it comes to Rajnikanth films. He appears in the film? Of course we’ll make it a hit. But the reviews seem to have hurt Anushka more than anyone, as most of the negative comments on social media have been about this actress.

The comments and reviews state that Anushka did not have much scope to shine with her acting in the film and also that she wore ill fitting outfits which did not suit her at all in Lingaa. Sources close to the actress said that this upset her very much, though she keeps up a brave front up for the public. Anushka feels that her lack of workouts is the reason and she has been really busy shooting for four films at the same time, namely, Yannai Arindhaal, Lingaa, Bahubali and Rudramdevi. This actress has promised herself that she will get back into shape after the shoots of the remaining three films and will be a show stopper in her upcoming film in Telugu for which the shoot is yet to begin.

[Nick Siva]

movie nalla movie choose pannitu flim la nadikkanum rajini hero nu sonnathum storey enna nu kekkama nadicha appadi dha upset agum... padam nadikura intha anushka upset ... padam patha nanga yenna nu solrathu.?