D-Day!
The day is finally here. As I write this, the BOSS must've already arrived in Chennai, Singapore, Malaysia and a few other countries lucky enough to be in the right places on the globe and he will be gracing US screens just a few hours from now. The excitement has reached dizzying heights and its really tough to focus on work here. To add to the excitement, Rediff has published a new set of stills and the first still and the photo where Rajni is in the metal ring in the stunt sequence are mind-blowing. With the release so close, I know that now's not the time for a rant but I really need to get this off my chest.
I've seen posts and comments about the high prices for Sivaji tickets in the US. Tickets for Tamil movies in the Bay Area have never crossed $10 before but tickets for Sivaji are priced at $20 for the preview shows and $16 for regular shows. I think some locations(like New Jersey) have charged $25 for preview shows. People are complaining about this, blaming everyone from Rajni to AVM to the US distributors and I've seen atleast 1 blogger calling for a boycott claiming that the high price is a reason for piracy!
The complaints are coming from the same people who shelled out money for Rahman's concert, paid big bucks for watching the recent World Cup on DISH network, etc. Can't you listen to the same Rahman songs on your CD player? Can't you watch the matches online or on DVD a few weeks later? Are Rahman or our cricket players not getting a cent of the money you willingly paid? You paid because you felt it was worth it. So why is paying more for Sivaji tickets any different?
At the risk of repeating myself I have to say this... Cinema is purely simple business for those in it. Everyone in it is out to make money. In this case, Shankar's penchant for spending money is well-known. That + Rajni's renumeration makes this an expensive film and AVM will obviously want to get back their money(and more). In recent times the foreign market has become real lucrative and so they sold the movie for a high price to the distributors.
As for the distributors here, the situation in foreign markets is quite a bit different that what it is back home. They can't get as many theaters here(unlike back home where u have a huge number of theaters and virtually no competition) and can't hope for a very long run(whether we like it or not, movies are available online real soon and technology makes downloading them a breeze). So they have to make money as soon as possible. The stakes in this case are also higher since they've obviously paid a huge amount and are at a huge risk if the film turns out to be a flop. If word of mouth gets out that its a bad movie, audience after the first couple of days will dwindle rapidly. So as many shows as possible and as high ticket rates as possible the first few days is just basic business sense.
Whether we pay or not is entirely upto us. Thats gonna depend simply on whether we think the movie's gonna offer enough entertainment for the money we pay. Its just a question of whether we will get our money's worth. If you don't feel that the pure electric excitement of watching Sivaji in the first few days with like-minded Rajni fans is worth $16 or $20 or whatever, you don't buy tickets. Its as simple as that. Please don't make a big hue and cry about it!
Whew! Now that that's out of the way, I'm all set to welcome the BOSS...
Balaji's Thots... [Permalink]
Your Thots (54)
54 Comments:
The one difference between ARR's concert and Rajini's film is - the profit from ARR's show goes to chairty, not to further some individual's bank account :)
I agree :-)
though i spent 16$*2 for tix. it feels like it's little too much.
Sigh...arvind, you have a point...but you must take BB's writeup objectively...Rajnkanth,AVM,Shankar all want to make money...None of these 3 clain that they are doing any charity...so, theres no point in getting angry with anyone including BB as he has just stated the facts. If you are so pissed off and so righteous, dont see Shivaji - boycott it...
Anon.
That is bull ; They call it charity concerts but not 100% of the profit goes to the charity organizations . May be 5%, or 10% or some arbitrary % .
well said BB..nobody is putting a gun to people's head forcing them to watch the movie. And I'm sure most people here, including myself, rip songs, watch movies on the net, get thiruttu vcd/dvds and have saved a lot of money this way. So complainers, get off the moral high ground!
Kumar
Just saw "shivaji" already. But let me tell u, it does not meet the GIGAGANTIC ecpectations. i was a little disapointed with the film. It seems Shankar has just reharshed his own "mudhalvan" and "Gentleman" with a bit of "Anniyan" into the mix.
The first half is a pro Rajni film with the highlight being the lakalaka spoof. The comedy was okay.
We realize it is a Shankar film onli in the second half. His direction touchers are the clearly visible here. The "Athiradee" song picturisation is mind blowing. "Vaaji vaaji" song was also grandly picturized.
But stilll, nothing is going to stop me from watching it again these weekend.
one more review..
http://hawkeyeview.blogspot.com/2007/06/movie-review-sivaji-99-style-1.html
arvind, i don't know if that's true but if it is, good for him. but that's not the point of this post. this is not an anti-rahman or anti-cricket post. i was just irked by people complaining about the high ticket prices while they're perfectly happy shelling out money for other forms of entertainment :)
j, ... with the post i hope. then thanx :)
anon, once u've spend it don't think about it. can't enjoy the movie then :)
anon, exactly! they r in it for the money and if we don't wanna play that game, we just don't buy the tickets. why make a big deal out of it :)
anon, again, not what i intended in this post :)
Kumar, thanx :)
skanda/anon, will read other reviews after writing my own :)
More recently, I have kept mum on several of your posts, Balaji, as well as posts from fellow bloggers; more so because I disagree with a lot of what has been said here in the last few days.
But today's post in particular, gives me the impression that you don't care for people who 'raise a hue and cry' over a high price of tickets. Are you indeed saying that nobody has the right or freedom to voice their disagreement over the ticket prices for this film?
There is also an underlying problem that I see brewing in all of this. If those of us who disagree with this pricing scheme don't voice this, every big film with huge star helming it, will turn this into an inflated dollar fest at our cinema halls. Case in point, Dasaavathaaram which will release for Deepavali later this year.
We pay $9.75 for a movie at Century Theaters here. We get awesome entertainment with great sound and trailers every single time we go to the theaters.
For $20, what are you getting? Two very mediocre theaters with very poor sound and no extra frills, providing us with the latest Rajini film. (This time around, not even an IMC or a Naz)
You have every right to say that "I am a Rajini fan and I am going to a preview show for $20, $21 or $25 only to see him." (for which you are rightfully entitled), but as much as you have a right (and a blog to declare that thought), you (fortunately or unfortunately) do not have any hold on any of us over raising a hue and cry to call this an 'overpriced charade.'
I'm surprised that it bothers you so much that people are calling these tickets expensive and are calling for a 'boycott.'
You would be surprised that a lot of avid Rajini fans who have been watching his films almost their entire lives, are having to deal with the unfortunate situation of economics ruling over desire this time around. That doesn't make us any less of a Rajini fan just because we feel financially unviable at this particular point in time! :-(
anon, if you've been reading my blog for a while, u'll know that i'm the last person who says people shouldn't voice their disagreement.
as i said, people r welcome to say they feel the prices r too high. i was irked by a blogger who called for a 'boycott' and this post was a direct result of that. what difference does it make if its a rajni movie, a concert or cricket. we pay if we want to. u didn't see anybody call for a boycott of rahman's concert just cos it was expensive. if i felt it was expensive i wouldnt go for it, thats all. thats all i wanted to say. nothing more :)
Balaji,
Let me add something. The trip to ARR Concert was the first for me in the last 8 years in the bay
area.
I can tell you this - If the next time they increase the prices by 100%, do you think I'll go..no I won't !
==
I know you've been here for a while..and gosh..you are even a great movie critic ( I love your reviews), tell me how many movies so far have you paid over 10$?
If it's demand supply, let them release the tickets out in Ebay and let's see where the bid goes after 2 days? YOu think it will command 20$?
Bottomline - If Sivaji succeeds, this will only start a trend and I pity you, you'll end up paying 30$ for the Next movie.
Looking forward to your review.
Check out this clip
I am only a king
Am not boycotting. $16 or $20 ..am in. Am going tmrw unlike some other lucky people here :(
I agree with u.. It is up to the theater owners to charge they want.. but as Narayanan pointed out, it shouldn't become a bad precedent.. but unfortunately it will.. Dasavatharam will not be cheaper and now on, all 'big' releases will get expensive.
You compare this with Hollywood flicks.. No matter what the budget of the movie is, the tickets are always the same; and here also the issue of online downloading (in fact with far superior quality, from several P2P sites) persists. Moreover, the budget is humongous. True there is an order of magnitude difference in the volume of audience, but still 15+$ - Pure Greed..
BTW, when r u going - Friday or already watched?
Balaji,
I know you are a big Rajini fan... I'm not a huge fan but I like many of his comedies. I would have loved to watch this movie on the first day too. But come on... It doesn't deserve $16 by any standards. As someone else pointed out... We get to watch this movie in substandard theater. And I'm sure the movie will be your average masala with some special effects (decent by desi standards). And I'm sure Rajini fans will have a gala time.
It is pretty clear AVM is ripping off all the Rajini fans and non fans alike who decided pay sky high prices for such a fare.
But that should not affect other tamil movie fans who want to watch tamil movies in big screen. Unfortunately it is affecting others and that's were the problem comes in.
I'm boycotting this movie and if the ticket prices do not come down, I'd have no problems watching this movie in a pirated DVD. When production houses turn this greedy, I welcome pirators. I'm sure people would say I'll miss out on all the special effects and such.
Well, I don't care.
Krish
Oh! And BTW, for the exact same reason, I didn't go to the A R Rahman show. Though, I would argue that a ARR show has much more value, since we get to see that in a great location with all the amenities.
And there is no way you can compare World cup coverage to this... You get to watch so much cricket for just $200 and if only India come up the Semifinal stage, we would have gotten way too much money's worth compared to this.
Krish
One more thing... There is a grossly incorrect assumption in your blog... "If the word is out that the movie is bad, then crowd will dwindle..."
Probably you don't know the advanced booking details in Bay Area...
Already some 2000 or so tickets have been booked. And you still think they will not make their money...
It's a bad assumption to start with. Big star cast always gets the cash register ringing... I'm sure they are going to make a killer profit in this movie... And I hope you will be very satisfied when you spend $35 for the upcoming big banner movies...
Production houses always follow the "rusi kaNda poonai" plot very well.
Krish
Krishna,
No offence to you, but saying that one should support pirated dvd because the ticket price is high is quite stupid. If you had said you will wait for the official dvd to release and then watch the movie, that's understandable.
I was of venkidu's reasoning in a way..
since there's no other thing to compare to.. ARR's music show looked ok for the first time goers.(I watched some 8 yrs back in LA).
After been to one of his shows,which was 60-70% hindi and rest tamil. I said enough. more over ARR's past 5-10 yrs haven't produced much hits.Yuvan and rest of the gang rule the south. OK. Don't say Sivaji songs are good and it is because of ARR'. It's just Rajini and Deva would have been better.
Reg WorldCup. There's always that India's performance to compare to.. and next WC rates has to come down.
199$ for what?
Kamal's Dasavatharam will be priced atleast above 13$. infact may be 15+.Mostly it's because Kamal likes to spend other people's money.I donno how they bet so much on him, while atleast there's a minimum gurantee (even for a huge budget) with Rajini or to the lesser part Vijay.
Some of these huge spending movies needs to be a super duper flop(sorry I don't want to wish bad luck for the producers. but they kind of underestimate the tamil movie fans taste) before these guys come to realise the real market potential for a tamil movie.
these guys shouldn't price it for 16$ and cry about piracy.
In India, it's kind of better as the rates are reasonble(50-120 in madras). Obviously AVM knows how to get the money back with volume pricing.finally I hope they bring it back to 10$.
Balaji is a very good moderator. Fair and balanced(no pun intended),dipolmatic and nice. we shouldn't find too much fault.
hey, thats just me - nathan
disclaimer:
I m watching it for 16$ as my better half wants to watch in the big screen.
"You compare this with Hollywood flicks.. No matter what the budget of the movie is, the tickets are always the same"
Its really not fair to compare Hollywood which has great reach of audience to Tamil flicks, I wudn't even compare it to Hindi movies.
I too share the view about price being high but like BB said its ur choice whether you want to watch or not and I doubt this will set any example for future movies may be Kamal's that's it....I cant see ppl buying $15/tix for Vijay's or Ajit's or anybody else for that matter..may be after few years, by then its inflation :-)
Krish,
Cricket is betta coverage but as u pointed u wud only watch Indian games and if they had come to semis then it wud have been 10 games i.e. $20/game yes it is 6 hrs cmp to 3 hrs Rajini entertainment ;-)
I wud compare Soccer WC with Hollywood movies..large audience normal price but Cricket its less hence milk from whom u can..
In this case the movie wud have costed 50Cr + and AVM to recover that will atleast need 5 times (250 Cr+) in revenue (considering other costs and only 30% for AVM).
Arun,
It's not stupid at all... There was a blog post by someone, maybe Balaji... I don't remember.
It said, they would not donate anymore to Udavum Karangal in future because some volunteers of that organization created some problems to their viewing experience in a previous Rajini movie. If people can hurt children for such random issues, why can't I hurt a very very greedy production house for creating this kind of a situation. Believe me I'm no fan of pirated DVD's. I've been involved in the past with producing DVDs of movies with proper rights. If I can be made to give in to piracy, you should know how much I hate this greed. In my opinion, excess greed is much worse than piracy.
And anyway, if you think the DVD producers of many of the DVDs that we get to rent from the stores have rights to those movies, you would be sadly mistaken. I've mistakenly rented the Sruthilayam DVDs from many Bay Area stores only to find that they are all pirated (In fact many of them come in DVD-R discs and not the silver discs). And there are no alternative DVD's available for those movies. So what are we to do. Are we supposed to pay $2 for someone who steals those movies anyway?
Krish
Babu,
I saw your price break down for World cup matches... Many of us buy the coverage and share it with a bunch of friends, right... So, even though it is $200/dish, it is usually shared by two or three (Fours years back 7 of us shared it and it was great fun to watch that India Pakistan game). This World cup was a bummer, but we didn't know what was coming when we booked it, right (similar to a movie)... In that sense World cup has way more value for the $200 we pay.
But Sivaji... You know my opinion already. :)
Krish
Did you read this review?
http://katchucrap.blogspot.com/2007/06/sivaji-movie-review.html
C'mon Mr. krish ,Arvind & CO...there comes moments in life when u jus don ind spending sme extra moey jus fr the sheer saisfaction u get out of ur spending..and rajini's movie is one such kind and the difference ofcourse is bought by the fact there is a whole whole lot of ppl not minding to spend more fr a rajini movie...and as balaji says itz all business equations aplicable same as to an ARR show and more so applicable with cricket ...and a big sorry if u thought a MAJOR chunk of such concerts go to charity...such world tour organizers are nay fools u knoe....
For all of you who are against the price of the ticket, no body is forced to buy the tickets. But when the Government forces you to pay tax, you will pay thinking all your tax are going for development. Then how come all the politicians are becoming rich. AVM is not greedy, the budget of the movie is high and they expect decent returns. Does Anybody will sell any of your products less than the manufacturing costs. It all depends what is the product you purchase. You have a 50Rs shirt and 2500Rs shirt. Those who buy 2500Rs shirt are not raising any issues that the company is greedy. Sameway you have Rajini the saleable hero and Vijay the imitation. Does anybody is ready to buy a Vijay movie ticket for this rate. It all depends on what product you are investing and the returns you are getting. Last but not least teh ticket rates will be low after sometime. You are free to watch the movie later with your low rate of ticket.
If you wish for 'athirudhele' while watching, you have to spend some amount. Nothing is FREE in this world.
There is a difference between watching a "Live" show (be it an ARR show or a Cricket match) and a movie. It is like asking why someone is spending $75 to $100 to a Broadway show and only $10 for the best movie. The fact remains that "good" movies should draw more audiences for the same price and not the same audiences for a much higher price.
I am sure people will not have a problem paying $75 for a live "Rajni show". But not $20 for a movie.
And then I will see lots of superlatives on this blog saying that Shivaji was a "blockbuster". broke lot of records etc.
I for one would care less about this movie if it is 20 bucks. If it is called a boycott so be it.
Have fun watching it though...
narayanan, i dont think this is the beginning of a trend. this is rajni and he is truly king. for other actors, other things will be less - production costs, foreign sale price, etc. so the tickets will be less too.
on the other hand, if it is a trend, it is upto me to decide if i will $30 or not. and thats kinda the point of my post. whether its a movie or concert or just any product, i decide if what i get is worth what i pay.
raju, the economics of hollywood flicks r different. for instance, about 90% of income for theaters is from sales at the concession stands. this is not gonna happen for tamil movies for sure.
krishna, when u say "... ARR show has much more value" thats EXACTLY what i was trying to say. each of us sees a certain value in each thing and pays accordingly. while u saw more value in the arr show, other people see value in a rajni film.
anon, its all perceived value. people who perceive value of 20$ in watching rajni on the big screen with fellow rajni fans will pay the $20. thats all...
Friends, Indians, Countrymen, Rajnikanth Fans and non-Rajnikanth Fans.
You are welcome to vent out your frustrations for the high prices.
No one stopped you from not going to see the movie paying the high ticket price (if you feel that way).
Will anyone stop going to theatres and stop seeing movies and wait until the video arrives in whatever form so that you can watch them at your leisure paying $1 or $2. The answer would be a big NO for many and YES for some.
If you want to not pay and stop the precedent then don't go and watch the movie or the concert or the cricket match.
As long as the demand is there the prices will always go up. Like how we all expect our PAY TO GO UP every year when the PERFORMANCE REVIEW is done, so are the stars conducting the concerts, matches or releasing movies. It is no different if you look at it that way in simple terms.
People can always voice their frustrations and discontent and probably not spend the money if you have the patience to wait.
Just don't spoil other people's enjoyment. if they want to enjoy let them have the fun, adrenaline rush etc.
I am ready for the bullets and daggers that are going rain on me for this.
It is democracy people. :-) :-)
Cheers
Venkat
comparison to AR Rahman concerts and
cricket world cup is pretty weak imo..
AR Rahman concerts and other events are events and they are pricey to begin with...They have a huge troupe and rehearsals and they have to do it live..it takes them couple of days to put on a show...and they happen utmost once in a year...halls rented are quite expensive..
but screening movies has been going on day in and day out...
increasing the prices just because the demand has slightly increased is akin to what the gas company folks are doing..
like somebody said, if the demand is high let the market forces decide the price...not artificially
increase the price..
but rajini fans are not going to be bothered..too bad to say that this started a trend where regular fans have to grin and bear it..
SO.. in the end.. PIRACY WILL RULE
Well said!!!
[background} Clap! Clap! Clap!
I am willing to side with Balaji a little bit in this. I can see where the protestors are coming from. I can understand their concern. But this is not some compulsory tax thrust on the people by the government to call for any boycotts. It is your individual decision. Just like how a poor Gujarati restaurant in small towns and cities in US charge $8 for a poorly made Pulao. It is up to me to go or not go there the next time, even if it happens to be the only Indian restaurant in town and thus enjoying some sort of monopoly.
I dont think this will kick off a trend either. Let them hike the price to $20 for Kireedom or Bheema. Lets see how many people go for the first day show. When the crowd starts dwindling the prices will begin to drop too after a couple of films.
And since our TN government had suddenly decided to lower the ticket prices by more than half in Chennai and TN, it becomes even more imperative for AVM to make as much money as they can from overseas markets.They were probably thinking -those rich NRIs, let them pay out of their noses :-))
Maye you guys should sign a petition and send it to a local senator to take necessary steps to place a bar on ticket prices, much like how the TN government has done in recent times :-) I am not serious here.
"but rajini fans are not going to be bothered..too bad to say that this started a trend where regular fans have to grin and bear it..
SO.. in the end.. PIRACY WILL RULE"
so why should the regular fan grin and bear it? No one is forcing him to.
And if he is willing to bear it then he doesnt mind paying high prices either. Actually its such fans who are being exploited here. Their craze is taken advantage of. Good business I would say.
Secondly, if Piracy rules so be it.
Maybe that would help bring the ticket prices down. People will always find cheaper alternatives.
Again, the decision is in YOUR hands.
Make money overseas because of lower ticket prices in India? Hmmm !. What an attitude !.
Even more reason to say 'NO' to AVM for this kind of attitude.
Balaji and others,
Just to clarify my stance on this - i firmly believe that market is the determining factor - how is willing to pay how much will determine, what sells at what price.
And yes, individuals decide what they want to do with their money -true.
My biggest gripe is not to compare a for-profit initiative with a non-profit initiative. Yes, the % of revenue that goes to charity might not be very high, that is because, (as i am given to understand, don't know the veracity of my claims) ARR does his part free of charge, but all travel costs, and musicians/performers don't work for charity, and hence they have to be paid.
And as someone else said, all music events are priced at 40 or above, and all movies are priced at 10 +/- 2 - and suddenly there is a premium.
I'm NOT asking people to, stop watching, to complain, to protest or to do anything against what they wan't to do. I'm just saying, IMO this whole exercise furthers the interest of few individual's bank accounts. Subham.
May be i'll write a post about the same.
"Make money overseas because of lower ticket prices in India? Hmmm !. What an attitude !.
Even more reason to say 'NO' to AVM for this kind of attitude."
Thats business sir, not attitude. Make money where you can.
But you are welcome to say NO. Thats my whole point. It is your decision. If enough people say NO then lets see what they can do
Arvind, if Rahman's show's prices increase by 100%, do you still think people will go to those shows just to contribute for a good cause? Right, they wont. Same here. As long as there are enough crazy fans who HAVE to see it on the first day first show in a theater, AVM can charge $100 for the tickets. Thats good business.
what they are losing in TN, they are making it up overseas. You are right. It furthers their pocket accounts, but they probably need it considering the budget and considering the fact that after the first 2 weeks piracy and reduced ticket prices(in TN) might not bring them much revenue. But you are always welcome to not go to the theater
yu read this readers review in rediff:
http://www.rediff.com/movies/2007/jun/15rrsivaji.htm
The guy writes:
I was sitting in a theatre in Atlanta after paying $21 for a ticket -- that's a Sivaji Special rate; I would think twice if I had to pay half that price to watch Spider-Man 3.
But honestly, I could give that money once more just for the movie experience. There was this guy in the theatre who wore a Sivaji-style wig, and entertained people even before the movie started. There was another guy, who spent around $50 on popcorn and distributed it to everyone so people could throw it in the air when Rajni filled the screen. Another gang brought camphor and pumpkins to show to a Rajni poster. They started dancing and yelling way before the film started.
------------------
Hmm, and then you wonder why AVM doesnt mind hiking the ticketprices? There are enough guys who dont mind spending $20 and then another $50 for popcorn and camphor :-)
Rob Peter to pay Paul attitude is what I meant.
Bottom line like Arvind says, we decide. If we decide to still go paying whatever they ask , IMHO the prices will gradually go up! I can bet on that!
Anways..It's interesting to see how we all differ in our views. For me , with a family of 4, 16 times 4 is too much !
"Rob Peter to pay Paul attitude is what I meant."
AVM is not "robbing" anyone. Thats my point. This is just business. Karunanidhi didnt ask them before deciding to slash prices.
Actually its not even AVM. They sold the rights long time back. I think its the distributors and theater guys, whoever bought the overseas rights, who are behind this price hike.
But as you can see from the rediff review above I posted, there are many who are willing to pay the money and more.
yep, i agree with u guys on the needlessly holier than thou attitude...what the heck, you take it or leave it! I've paid Rs. 500 way back in Dec '97 to attend an Aishwarya Rai "charity" show where my purpose was to drool and get her autograph! would i have cared had those 500 rupees had not gone for a noble cause?! well, I was very happy that it did but I can say honestly that at 16, my focus was more on Aishwarya Rai than Ability Foundation.
grow up, kids...! if u think dont want to waste money for a rajni film, either put that $20 in that charity box at your grocery or buy yourself the book, "How to stop worrying and start living!" ;-)
maybe the hike in prices is to weed out wannabe rajini fans and restore some order in theaters..
idhu eppidi irukku..
on a slightly unrelated topic of "let the market decides".
let the market decides the CEO's pay.
http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20070615002812000.htm
AVM released 20 + prints in madras,to get the money asap.They have to do it since TN forced them to sell the tix for less.
Man Sivaji has really made you think a lot economically though :-) :-)
Just kidding you all find it hard to believe that the ticket prices are $20 to see a Mottai Sivaji :-) :-)
Milk price is sky rocketing, Gas price is also the same and so are other things. I guess even desi movie ticket prices have followed suit.
AVM could have restrained the overseas exhibitors to a certain rate instead of a free for all. guess they probably thought let us experiment here after all it is the coming together of the current JAMBAVANS of tamil cinema especially it being a young and mottai rajni special. if it works great if it does not then let us reduce prices.
probably if the patrons stop going to the movies it might force the exhibitors to reduce the rate but will that happen the answer would be a resounding NO.
hence make hay while the sun is shining knowing full well that this phenomenon will probably work only for a Rajnikanth movie.
I am sure you will all agree here.
Venkat
I don't..
What do you mean by :
I guess even desi movie ticket
prices have followed suit.
Only Sivaji movie tickets are priced at 16$...Please don't generalize!!
arvind/narayanan/et al,
i realize this discussion has branched off. So just want to stress my main - and only - point. i'm NOT saying the concerts r overpriced. i'm NOT saying profits from rahman's concerts go to charity. i'm not even saying sivaji's ticket prices r correct or deserved. all i'm saying is that the distributors or AVM or rajni should not be labelled 'greedy' or similar adjectives.
I know i talked about concerts and cricket but my argument applies to pretty much any product made/sold by a company that is not non-profit. they r in the business to make money. they price the product based on what they paid/spent to make/purchase it and what they think people will pay for it. they charge too much and nobody will buy it. they charge too less and they lose money.
cinema is a business too. rajni and shankar charge what they feel they are worth based on their history. AVM paid them since they thot they were worth it. Distributors paid AVM since they thot the movie was worth it. and they set ticket rates and shows hoping to atleast break even and if possible, make a profit. I'm sure the company u work for charges for their product on this same principle. And if you were in this business and distributed Sivaji, u would've been forced to charge these prices(or have more shows with lower prices but I explained in the post why that doesn't work as well). People who think its worth it buy tickets. and people who don't think its worth it don't.
Hope my stance is clear :)
Updates on Sivaji release:
In TN, and Bangalore (few theaters) which ever theater it is released, it is released in all screens, and all shows as well. And tickets in counter itself is 1.5 to 2.5 times higher than regular rate. Highest rate is Rs.750 in sathyam complex, chennai is the counter rate for Sivaji.
Nothing is gonna stop this movie from creating history...and all the more important is nothing is gonna stop millions and millions being entertained to the core by thalaiavar.....
My 2 cents.. Firstly if the ticket rates are too high, then just don't go and see it. Unlike taxes, you are not forced to buy the tickets and watch Sivaji. So why all this hue and cry about rates being too high and so boycotting the movie? I am not a die-hard fan of Rajini though I do like him, but on no account will I pay more to watch Sivaji on the first few days. I will probably wait a month or two or even wait for DVD's to come by. So it's your choice.
Secondly what surprises me most is that even educated people are so crazy and fanantical to spend so much money to watch a movie and disagree/condemn those that don't like the movie. Rajini is a great guy, but come on, definitely he does not warrant so much publicity and euphoria and definitely not the heated arguments and fights that is going on everywhere if you happen to dislike the movie.
If only we could all pay as much attention, time and money towards social causes, the world would be a better place.
Sigh! Am I expecting too much??
--A disillusioned citizen
I defenitly agree with you on this one Narayanan sir,and Krishna: it is way too costly, what the hell are they thinking???? I can just watch it online anytime, anyday I want from the luxury of my Home, i don't have to spend money for gas and drive to crowded theater or pay extremely overpriced tickets for whole family, rather I can simply go to the internet on my laptop and connect the laptop to the TV, and simply go to Tamil Movie Websites and click a button and enjoy without paying a penny.
To qoute vijay :"Hmm, and then you wonder why AVM doesnt mind hiking the ticketprices? There are enough guys who dont mind spending $20 and then another $50 for popcorn and camphor " - Itz becoz of crazy fans like them that prices are hiked, face the truth people, the prices will increase for rajini movies and only raijni fans will watch in theater, the rest of us will probably watch on internet or wait until pirated dvd/vcd comes out.
anyways when it comes to Sivaji vs. Piracy : There is no doubt Piracy WINS.
Viva la piracy!!!!!!!!!!!
yeahhhhhhh
For those of u that haven't seen Sivaji, itz playing at tamiltube.com go there and you will find it, good vcd quality.i'm not advertising for the site, i just happened to watch it and wanted to boycott the price so i'm spreading word : on what websites you can watch the movie.Itz not a bad movie, but itz defenitly not worth $16 - $ 20 bucks from an average non-rajini fan, i don't dislike him, but don't like him that much either.
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