#ValimaiUpdate??” As hashtags go, that one had a nasty habit of popping up everywhere—as placards during the India-England cricket matches at Chepauk, at election campaign meetings in Tamil Nadu and even as T-shirt blurbs. It was an expression of frustration and curiosity by eager fans of Tamil film hero Ajith Kumar wanting to know when his next movie Valimai (Strength) would hit the theatres.
Since Boney Kapoor’s film unit, which is producing the movie, has chosen to remain silent on its progress, the hashtag became the preferred medium for Ajith’s fans—who call him “Thala” (short form of Thalaivar or leader)—to ferret out some information on the film’s release. Soon it became one of the most trending hashtags. “We could understand their disappointment since Valimai was aimed for a Diwali release in 2020. But then Covid and lockdown kept pushing the release date and we now hope to hit the theatres in August 2021,” says Suresh Chandra, Ajith’s manager.
Ajith, 49, is one of the three top heroes of Tamil cinema whose films have been repeatedly tripped by Covid delays. The shooting of his film had commenced in December 2019, but ground to a halt in March with the lockdown. It resumed again towards the end of 2020, but has again halted due to the second Covid wave. “We still have an action sequence to be shot abroad and that can happen only after the present restrictions are lifted,” says Suresh. “The dubbing is almost complete and once the finishing touches are done, the movie would be ready for release. The big question is whether theatres would reopen by then as the Tamil Nadu government has closed them again from April 26.”
The disruption caused by Covid had thrown up unprecedented constraints when shooting resumed, the Valimai team learnt the hard way. “We had shot many scenes with continuity artistes in big sets before last year’s lockdown,” says Valimai director H. Vinoth. “When we resumed the shoot, many of those artistes, especially the elderly, refused to return out of fear of infection. So we had to reshoot with another set of artists, using newer film sets. Similarly, locations, especially office spaces, where we had shot earlier were not available any more and we had to look for similar office spaces to continue.”
The other two top Tamil stars are Vijay and Rajinikanth, who after decades of dominance, appear to be on the wane. Ajith and Vijay have a devoted fan following not just in Tamil Nadu, but also in Kerala. Any new movie of theirs is a mini festival for the fans and cinema halls in these two states. Their fans also nurse an intense mutual rivalry—until a few years back, they used to clash with each other while erecting cutouts if movies of both the stars released on the same day.
Though used to a mish-mash of action and family drama, Ajith’s fans had stood solidly behind their Thala in his last film Nerkonda Paarvai (Unwavering Focus), a remake of Bollywood blockbuster Pink in which he played the defence lawyer. Not to disappoint his fans Ajith had also included an extended fight sequence to prove that a middle-aged lawyer can also fight. And Valimai was touted as a return to the Ajith formula of family and action—following his humongous hit Viswasam (Loyalty). It had naturally raised the expectations of his fans. Their wait was stretched to such a limit by Covid that the hashtag #ValimaiUpdate has become their only solace.
While Ajith had a couple of hits, Rajinikanth is still searching for one after four lacklustre movies that have raised serious doubts about his box office appeal. When Rajinikant’s Petta and Ajith’s Viswasam had simultaneous theatrical release in January 2019, the Rajini film was nowhere in the race. So the superstar picked Siva, the director of Viswasam to direct his next movie Annathe (Elder Brother), which is being bankrolled by Sun Pictures, hoping that the Ajith formula might also work for him.
What Rajinikanth did not anticipate was the repeated delays. Rolled out in early 2020, the film has hit so many speed bumps due to Covid that at a stage it became doubtful whether it could be completed at all, as it clashed with Rajinikanth’s political plunge— now abandoned—in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections of April 2021. After the lockdown froze production for six months, the film’s shoot resumed at Hyderabad’s Ramoji Film City, only to be halted after a few members of the film unit tested Covid positive. Rajinikanth himself had to be hospitalised for breathlessness, which forced him to ditch his political plans in December 2020. “Before it could boost Rajini’s sagging film career, Annathe ended his political career,” quips a standup comedian.
The superstar returned to the film sets, but the shoot progressed at a snail’s pace due to Covid protocols. “We need to test every unit member once in four days for Covid and enforcing the bio bubble for the actors, cameramen, makeup artistes and costumers is also time-consuming and nerve-wracking,” says a member of Sun Pictures. Only those actors who had combination shots with Rajinikanth were allowed anywhere close to the superstar. The team finally wrapped up the shooting by May-end and hopes to release the film by mid-August.
While these two stars and their film units had to battle the coronavirus, the other superstar Vijay has been busy shooting in distant Georgia. But as a sizable portion of his 65th film—yet to be titled—needs to be shot in Chennai, the film’s expected release for Diwali this year hangs in the balance due to Covid constraints. Vijay was lucky to release his last big hit Master for Pongal in January 2021—after a Diwali 2020 release did not materialise—even though Covid restrictions permitted only 50 per cent occupancy in theatres. “While his diehard fans thronged the theatres, the family audience was still hesitant to venture out. The producer had to release it on OTT within a month to improve the film’s reach and also his profits,” says film journalist Bismi.
Unlike other stars like Surya, Dhanush and Sivkarthikeyan—who have taken the OTT route to release their movies—these three actors swear only by theatrical release given their star power and the expectation of their huge fan following to see them first on the big screen. The cinema halls also depend on these big releases to revive their businesses, which has been crippled by repeated shutdowns due to Covid. “Unless theatres are back to doing normal business with full occupancy, this year many cinema theatres in Tamil Nadu are staring at doomsday. At least 50 per cent of the standalone theatres would have to shut down forever,” predicts Tiruppur Subramanian, secretary of the exhibitors association. A lot rides on Tamil cinema’s big three.
By G.C. Shekhar in Chennai
