Lingaa distributors met the press yet again to ‘clarify’ their stand. Accused of killing Lingaa’s run at the box office with their claims that the film was a flop, the distributors declared that they will not be ending their fast till they receive compensation.
Speaking on behalf of everyone, Singaravelan, distributor of the Trichy -Tanjore area, said, “Lingaa was dead by the sixth day. When we met the press for the first time, collections were low. Claiming that we were responsible for the low BO numbers of a Rajinikanth film is offensive to the Superstar. We are mosquitoes in front of Rajini sir. We didn’t even say anything to offend him. Rockline Venkatesh is the one insulting the Superstar by making such claims.”
The group has also been accused of ‘creating negative publicity’ and deliberately ruining the movie. “How can a group of people kill a Superstar film? How can one interview destroy a mega budget movie? Even though Lingaa wasn’t doing well, there were ways to make it better. Vendhar Movies could have come up with innovative ways to pull up the box office numbers, but they didn’t. In the age of new technology, all they did was promote the movie through newspaper, radio and television ads.”
Addressing the huge outcry against their fast, Singaravelan said, “Even when Thalaivaa flopped at the box office, Vendhar Movies’ T Siva got Rs 5 crores as compensation from its hero, Vijay. Ajith Kumar compensated for the failure of Red by making Billa for the production company concerned. Nobody protested at that time. Why are you protesting now? From a moral perspective, we are totally in the clear asking for the actor to help us monetarily.”
Singaravelan also alleged that T Siva wanted to exclude him from a meeting with the distributors. “Six of us went to the meeting. T Siva told us that the Superstar was very angry with us and asked us to give him a written apology. He didn’t tell us if he would compensate our losses. All he wanted from us was an apology letter.”
Singaravelan will also file a defamation suit against Vendhar Movies shortly, and will begin the process by the end of this week. “Representatives of Vendhar have publicly damaged my reputation – personal and business. I am under severe emotional distress and I mean to get compensation through the legal system.”
He also tendered an honest apology to Superstar Rajinikanth. “I heard that Rajini sir felt offended by what I said. I was under a lot of stress at that time and would like to apologise to him.”
Image Courtesy: Red Pix