‘Vivegam’: Can Thala Ajith Beat Rajinikanth’s ‘Kabali’ Opening?

Will ‘Thala’ Ajith Kumar retain his title as the ‘king of openings’ with ‘Vivegam’?

Ajith Kumar popularly known as Thala is a Tamil superstar who along with arch rival Vijay is fighting a fierce fan battle for the Kollywood throne. Two years after his super hit Vedalam (2015), Ajith’s new film Vivegam is releasing on Thursday, 24 August worldwide. The man who has been ruling the industry for the last three decades, superstar Rajinikanth, is under pressure as the fans of Ajith and Vijay loudly proclaim in social media that their hero is being anointed as the next king.

Tamil cinema stardom over the years has been driven by superstars who have been pitted against each other by media and fans. First it was MGR versus Sivaji, followed by Kamal versus Rajini, now it is Vijay versus Ajith that keeps the box-office pot boiling for the fans. The barometer of an actor’s popularity today is the social media and it is almost equally divided between Ajith and Vijay fans who are constantly at each other’s throats.

Thala as he is lovingly called has a huge fan base especially among the youth audiences and is known as the king of openings. His stylised action hero image along with his salt and pepper look laced with punchlines with a liberal mix of English is part of his on screen image. The trailer punchline of Vivegam which has Ajith saying slowly in an angry mood in English (obviously referring to the villain) – You will see my rage, has his fans licking their lips in anticipation of the big budget action extravaganza.

Vivegam, directed by his favourite Siva (Veeram and Vedalam), is their third film together and is the star’s costliest film, rumoured to have cost around Rs 80 -90 crore. The film was extensively shot in Eastern Europe by Sathya Jyothi Films (TG Thyagarajan, the veteran producer was the co-producer of Rajinikanth’s iconic 1995 blockbuster Baasha) and is rumoured to have sold all rights for nearly Rs 120 crore.

Buzz is that Ajith will be doing his fourth consecutive film with Siva again from early next year. One of the highlights of the film is said to be the on-screen clash of Ajith with Vivek Oberoi , who is playing the bad guy in the film, which also has Kajal Aggarwal and Akshara Haasan in key roles. The music of the film by Anirudh Ravichander has already gone viral and is topping the charts.

Ajith’s last release Vedalam (2015 Diwali) was a super hit and created a new day one opening record gross of Rs 15.5 crore from Tamil Nadu theatricals. The record was broken a year later by Rajinikanth’s Kabali which collected Rs 21.5 crore gross on first day from Tamil Nadu. Now the trade feels that with higher ticket rates following GST implementation, Vivegam has huge potential to break the superstar’s day one Tamil Nadu box-office collections.

Vivegam is getting a worldwide release in over 2000 screens worldwide and 700 plus in Tamil Nadu.

Ticket booking apps and theatres across the state are facing tremendous pressure to grab the first day first show tickets.

Ajith is the most reclusive superstar down south, who does not take part even in the promotions of his own films. The entire Vivegam promotions including media interviews was done by director Siva and the rest of the cast and crew of the film. The star does not attend any public functions or give media interviews, not even television sound bytes like Rajinikanth. The star spends most of his time at his fortress like seaside bungalow on the East Coast Road in Chennai. There are the occasional Ajith sightings at airports, with airline staff or lucky fans posting selfies with the actor.

Though Ajith is not there in any social media platforms, the actor’s fans have a huge presence and at times they have been accused of trolling. Last week, Ajith issued a statement through his lawyers that he has no official fan clubs nor any social media handles. His lawyer’s statement said:

Ajith Kumar our client has been in the film industry for the past 25 years, is an honest and regular tax payer, supports many social causes privately and a law abiding citizen of this country. Our client does not have any official page or account on any social media platforms, especially on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram. However, there are a few unauthorized self-proclaimed individuals, groups and associations, passing off their personal views and opinions on social and political issues under the guise and likeness of our client, through the unauthorized use of our client’s name and image. Such persons misusing our client’s name have also been trolling members of the film fraternity, journalists, critics and other individuals. . While it is important to identify such miscreants to be held accountable, our client unconditionally apologizes for any hurt or harm that this may have caused knowingly or unknowingly.

Meanwhile, Ajith, also one of the highest paid actors in the south with a rumoured salary in the range of Rs 30 -35 crore, is all set for the release of Vivegam. A lot is riding on it for Ajith, who has to now beat the record of Rajinikanth’s Kabali day one figures to retain the sobriquet – king of openings!