Bigil and Kaithi wait for govt nod

Chennai: With the Tamil Nadu Government unrelenting on the application from the film distributors body seeking permission for extra shows of Deepavali releases--Vijay’s Bigil and Karthi’s Kaithi-it seems that the fans would have to made do with the usual festival routine of having the first show at 8 a.m. The government has asked the theatres to return the money taken from the fans for the tickets sold for such early shows, said to have been planned at as early as 0100 and 0300 hours.

State Information Minister Kadambur C Raju told reporters at Kovilpatti on Tuesday that there is no scope for the permission unless the distributors and theatre owners give an undertaking they would not charge extra for
such special shows. It's been the usual practice during the release of movies of big stars to have extra shows, whose tickets would be given to the various district units of the concerned star's fan clubs so they could make some money by selling them at huge profits.

“We have not granted permission for any special shows until now. Even if we do give the permission, they will have to agree not to charge extra for the tickets,” Minister Raju had told the media.

Exhibitors's association functionary Tirupur Subramanian has said the petition to the government had already given the undertaking that the tickets would not over-priced for the extra shows.

The fans, particularly of the Vijay camp, have reacted with expected anger at the Minister's statement, posting their displeasure on the social media. One of them alleged that the government was hostile towards Vijay and would wake from slumber only when his films get released and choosing to snore when the films of other stars are released to special shows in the wee hours.

‘Bigil’ is the third consecutive Vijay film to be released for Deepavali and there has been huge expectations among his fans, particularly after the star
made that speech at a recent grand show at suburban Tambaram to promote the film, wherein he had declared, “Everything will be fine if the right person is placed in the right place”. The public quickly, and easily, interpreted that statement as directed at the AIADMK and its CM.