The distributors of actor Rajinikanth’s Lingaa have been promised fair settlement by the filmmakers, just weeks after they held fasts claiming they had suffered huge losses.
Well-known Coimbatore-based distributor, Tirupur M. Subramaniam, who had earlier helped with settlement after Baba (2001), had been entrusted with the responsibility of going through accounts and submitting a report to the producers.
“The producer, Rockline Venkatesh, was really upset with the campaign by the distributors. He didn’t want to give in initially, but then decided to compensate a fair share of the losses,” said Mr. Subramaniam, a veteran film distributor and friend of Mr. Rajinikanth.
It has been reliably learnt that a report on the losses suffered by the distributors had been submitted to the producers on Monday and the settlement is due anytime this week.
Actor Rajinikanth had reportedly expressed his displeasure at the manner in which the distributors flagged the issue in full public glare, but had nevertheless insisted that nobody suffer losses because of his film.
While the actor had compensated the entire loss suffered for Baba , a full refund looks unlikely for Lingaa . “There are a few instances where producers of highly anticipated movies have refunded 25% of the money,” said Mr. Subramaniam.
One of the distributors, who does not want to be named, said a decision on the settlement would not have happened without the intervention of Mr. Rajinikanth.
“Over the past three days, detailed reports of collections have been submitted. I had given mine on Monday. The information we have is that the money will be refunded,” he said. The distributors, who had protested to gain the actor’s attention, are expected to hold a press conference to thank the actor for his gesture.
