Revival dose: The resilient Brand Rajini returns to theatres today

But the only brands Rajinikanth himself has endorsed are Palm Cola, in the 1980s, and now his daughter's social media app, Hoote

“Superstar Rajinikanth is a genre unto himself,” says Sivakumar Jayakumar (better known as Siva), director of Annaatthe (Big Brother), Rajini’s latest film that hits screens on Diwali (November 4) If the actor’s last five films — Darbar, Petta, 2.0, Kaala and Kabali — are anything to go by, Siva is not exaggerating. The movies together collected between Rs 1,700 crore and Rs 2,500 crore, proving yet again that Rajinikanth remains one of the most bankable actors in India.

For years, brands have chased him. And for years, he has evaded them, endorsing only two during his long cinematic career that began in 1975.

One of them was Palm Cola in the 1980s, a 100 per cent natural local cola brand by the Tamil Nadu State Palm Care and Fibre Marketing Cooperative Federation. Palm Cola, says P Shankar, chief executive officer of Tamil Nadu Khadi and Village Industries Board, stopped production some time back. It is believed the actor appeared in the television commercial for the brand only to support the palm climbers and the regional industry.

The second is, Hoote, a voice-based social media application co-founded by his daughter Soundarya Vishagan, which was launched barely 10 days ago. “I am very happy to launch this innovative, useful and first-of-its-kind Hoote app in my voice,” he said at the event.

Goodwill has, on rare occasions though, seen him lend his name to products and services. Freshworks is a recent example. This Saas (software as a service) firm’s founder and CEO Girish Mathrubootham is an advisor to Vishagan’s company. For Freshworks’ dream IPO at Nasdaq, Mathrubootham says they gave the code name “Project SuperStar”, as a mark of respect to Rajinikanth, whom he describes as his “maanaseega guru (role model)”. Every time a Rajini movie releases, Mathrubootham books tickets to it for his employees.

Incidentally, Rajinikanth’s contemporary Kamal Haasan, too, has shied away from endorsing brands and appeared in his first ever commercial only in 2015 for a green campaign by textile brand Pothys.

While Rajinikanth, who is now 70, might not put his weight behind brands, every new film of his has companies queuing up to be associated with it. His last movie, Darbar, had four major brands — Airtel, BookMyShow, SpiceJet and Cadbury (Mondelez) — launching national campaigns around it. This is in addition to a number of local brands that tied themselves to the film.

Asked how Sun Pictures, which has produced Annaatthe, will capitalise this corporate attention, COO Sembian Sivakumar says, “We are in the process (of doing so). We will be able to talk about it only after the film’s release.”

Industry sources indicate that like always, a number of brands are expected to be part of the Rajini fervour this time round, too. The film posters, for instance, show Rajinikanth seated on a Royal Enfield motorbike, with a sword in his hand.

Revival dose for Covid-hit industry

Multiplex chains, theatre owners and distributors are upbeat about the release. “Rajini Sir is like God for many, and all are awaiting his film,” says Rajender Singh Jyala, chief programming officer, Inox Leisure. “We expect a grand Diwali for the industry that was going through a bad patch. We expect the 2019 numbers during the first week of Diwali to replicate this year.”

Cinemas are expecting that Annaatthe will garner between Rs 112 crore and Rs 150 crore in the first week.

“The movie has all the ingredients (comedy, action, emotions) that people expect in a Rajinikanth film,” says Daggubati Suresh Babu, whose company, Asian Cinemas, has won the theatrical rights for Annaatthe’s Telugu version to be screened in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. “I expect it to be one of the biggest hits of recent times. This is going to be a perfect boost for the industry that is trying to get back on track.”

The Covid impact, meanwhile, is visible. The Telugu rights have been reportedly sold for around Rs 12 crore, some 66 per cent lower than the Rs 35-odd crore films like Shivaji and Robo got. According to unconfirmed reports, Rajinikanth, too, has reduced his remuneration from Rs 118 crore for Darbar to Rs 58 crore for Annaatthe. 

“This time, the number of brand associations may be less but the movie is going to be the biggest grosser in India since the pandemic affected our industry,” says Tiruppur M Subramaniam, president, Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners’ Association. “In Tamil Nadu alone, the movie is being released in 700 theatres.”

According to cinema owners, almost 70 per cent of the tickets were booked as on Tuesday (November 2) for Day 1 and they expect the first week to be a houseful for all the 700 theatres.

Irrespective of the success at the box office, one question will linger: “When will the god endorse a brand?”