"Over 375 cinemas have lost heavily due to the film being a disaster at the turnstiles. We have announced a movement for non-cooperation against 'Kuselan' producers K. Balachander and Seven Arts International and are meeting on Aug 23 to chalk out our plans with regard to Rajnikant," S. Palaniappan, head of a distributors' body, told reporters Monday evening.
"The loss will cross over Rs.250 million in the short term unless adequate remedial measures are initiated by the actor, who has immensely benefited out of our labours in the past. We were taken for a ride by the producers who claimed it was a full length Rajnikant film, which it was not," Palaniappan added.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the distribution company Pyramid Saimira, which is showing the film across Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, said the movie had so far collected Rs.210 million since its release Aug 1. He expressed confidence about "Kuselan" covering the costs of Rs.600 million before being taken off theatres.
Saimira however, was noncommittal about accepting the compensation and did not react to the allegations made by the other distributors and exhibitors.
Sources close to Rajnikant told IANS late evening that the thespian's "fabled munificence will ensure none would be out of pocket".
While the star did not charge any fee from the Tamil producer and his mentor K. Balachander, the Telugu version's producers had paid Rajnikant a fee of Rs.100 million.
The movie icon had Friday recommended several cuts to improve the collections of the movie.
The matinee idol had underwritten the losses of his earlier flop "Baba" (2005) to the tune of over Rs.250 million and helped distributors and exhibitors stage a smart recovery through his subsequent release "Chandramukhi" (2005) which created box office history.
"Chandramukhi" ran for 800 days consecutively in Shanti Cinema, owned by the company that produced the film in the heart of the city - breaking the 64-year-old record created by "Haridas" (1944).
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