Rajinikanth’s Kabali is already making the whole world hyperventilate with its release just a day away, and yet another controversy has erupted.
With the whole world in the grip of Kabali mania, Tollywood has seen it touch a high point where top producers like Suresh Babu, Dil Raju, Abhisekh Pictures and Sudhakar Reddy were vying hard to get its Telugu distribution rights.
Finally, when two young men — Krishna Prasad and Praveen Kumar secured the rights for a whopping Rs 30 crore, everything was calm again. But after they signed an agreement with producer Kalaipuli Thanu, their trouble began.
The Telugu Distribution Council raked up an old tussle with Lakshmi Ganapathi Films over the huge loss suffered on Vikramasimha, the dubbed version of Kochadiyaan, and asked the duo to pay the compensation.
“From the last few days, people from the distribution council have been harassing us demanding compensation to the loss some producers suffered with some other film. They say both are Rajinikanth films, and so we have to pay them. They should ask about it to Rajini sir or the producer of that movie. Why us?,” Krishna Prasad asks.
They even took up the matter with producer Thanu. “He told us that no one could stop the release of the film as he was not concerned with Lakshmi Ganapathi Films,” Thanu replied.
Interestingly, when Rajinikanth’s Lingaa was released in Telugu, no such issues cropped up because its producer Rockline Venkatesh is very powerful. Now, the council is taking advantage of these two young men who are relatively new to the film industry and have no much backup to boast of.
Producer Allu Aravind, who brought the rights of Krishna district, though, has not faced such issues. However, with Kabali releasing this Friday, the duo has completed business in all areas.
These cheap tactics, prior to the release of the movie, is very unbecoming of the Telugu Distribution Council, which is expected to extend a helping hand to upcoming distributors.
Rajinikanth’s Kabali was leaked online
Piracy organisations have allegedly leaked the most awaited movie of the year, Rajinikanth starrer Kabali. The leak comes after producer S. Thanu obtained an injunction order from the Madras High Court restraining more than 169 websites from indulging in online piracy and infringement of copyright.
According to reports, there are several links available to view the film in the Dark Web (overlay networks that use the public internet but require specific software, configurations or authorisation to access), ahead of its release on July 22.
The makers are trying to keep the matter as hushed as possible and are contacting the concerned authorities to pull down all these unauthorised links. When quizzed about the leaks, Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani expressed grave concern over big films being leaked online.
In an online interview, he said, “They have not spared Rajinikanth either. Kabali was censored in Chennai, so it has nothing to do with our office in Mumbai. Earlier there was Salman Khan’s Sultan. I don’t think collections of films with iconic stars will get affected by the leakage. It is the smaller films featuring non-A-listers which get hit by the leakage. Great Grand Masti is a case in point.”
