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the first week were sold out within minutes. As a
result it will come as no surprise to all of you that
Endhiran has emerged as the runaway winner (crushing
Anjaana Anjaani in the process as well) to become
the Indian movie with the biggest opening weekend
collections of all time in the US box office.
Endhiran (Tamil) was released on 64 screens and collected
a whopping US$ 1,520,108 also giving it the number
1 position in terms of per screen collections (US$
23,752) in its opening weekend in the US as well.
Compare this to Anjaana Anjaani which opened across
91 screens in the US and collected US$ 517,608 giving
it a per screen collection of US$ 5,688. Endhiran
dubbed in Hindi as Robot also had an outstanding opening
in the US. It was released in 36 screens and collected
US$ 481,680 giving it a per screen collection of US$
13,380. So in short the number 1 and number 2 positions
in terms of per screen collections in the weekend
of Oct 1st at the US Box office belonged to India’s
number 1 box office Superstar, the impregnable and
incomparable Rajinikanth’s Endhiran and its
dubbed Hindi version Robot respectively. When taking
into account both Endhiran and Robot, the film’s
opening weekend collections in the US were US$ 2,001,788
from 100 screens giving it a per screen collection
of US$ 20,017.
So in conclusion Endhiran had a tremendous opening
weekend in both the US and the UK, the US opening
being the biggest opening weekend of all time for
any Indian film. It also emerged as the number 1 movie
in terms of per screen collections in both the UK
and the US with Endhiran’s dubbed Hindi version
Robot coming in 2nd in the US. Do you think SRK or
Amir Khan or Salman Khan can ever in their wildest
imaginations have the dubbed Tamil version of one
of their films emerge as a winner in even Tamil Nadu
let alone the US box office? Never! Do you think any
producer out there will have the guts to spend 175
Cr on a film with any other hero in India? I doubt
it. Rajini’s star power and uncanny ability
to light up the box office like no one has or will,
gave Kalanithi Maran the confidence to make India’s
most expensive film. Within a week of its release,
India’s most expensive film has already recovered
its cost and is heading for a lot more in the weeks
to come. This is why Rajini is often referred to as
a one man industry, an industry called Rajiniwood.
I urge everyone in the Tamil film industry and fans
of Tamil films to stand up and give Superstar Rajinikanth
a thundering ovation for he has once again made the
World stand up and take notice of Tamil Cinema. People
who live outside of South India (rest of India and
the world at large) know that an industry called the
Tamil Film industry exists only when Superstar Rajinikanth
releases a film. His film releases become national
and international news. No other Indian movie star
get such coverage by the media when their films are
being released. Despite the release date of Endhiran
/ Robot (October 1st) being sandwiched between the
Ayodhya verdict and the start of the CWG, TV channels
in India voluntarily gave Rajini and the release of
his film so much of coverage and air time. This is
something that no other movie star in India gets even
when there is no other major news story being covered.
All because of the phenomenon that is Rajinikanth.
No other Indian movie star other than Rajinikanth
has that uncanny ability to capture the attention
and imagination of all of India and the world prior
to the release of their films. He has proved that
he is the one and only Superstar in Indian Cinema
with a frenzied fan following that is un-matched.
At 61, Rajini still remains the unparalleled and undisputed
king of the box office while his contemporaries (those
who started out with him) in other industries like
Bollywood and Tollywood faded away many years ago.
While other movie stars spend 20 hours a day of the
weeks leading to the release of their films promoting
their movies by giving interview after interview be
it in the print media or on TV, journalists have to
work very hard and camp out at airports to get a word
or two from Rajini about his movie. Yet the name Rajinikanth
alone is enough for tickets to be sold out for his
movies.
Since 1999, Rajini has acted in 5 full length feature
films (Kuselan was a cameo) and four of them have
gone on to re-write box office history and take Tamil
Cinema and Indian Cinema to unchartered territories.
Shoaib Mohamed from London
incredibleshoaib33@yahoo.co.uk
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