The Shiva Rajkumar-Sudeep starrer The Villain is gearing up for a worldwide release on October 18 and the advance bookings opened on Thursday. According to reports from trade circles, balcony tickets have been priced higher at both single screens as well as in multiplexes. We hear that balcony tickets at single screen theatres will be priced at around Rs 200 each while tickets in multiplexes will be around Rs 400 each. The price hike is applicable only in the first week, according to industry sources. The logic behind this ticket hike seems to be the budget of the film. The Villain has been made on a budget of Rs 45 crore and its makers seem to be keen on recovering the amount within a short span.
Speaking to TNM, Manjunath, a distributor, said, “The price was increased by the producer. It has cost Rs 45 crore to make the film and because of this the rate of admission has been increased by 10-20% for the first week. Balcony tickets usually cost Rs 340-350 in multiplexes and they have made it Rs 400.”
He added, “This is the highest budget film in Sandalwood history and if it doesn’t generate revenue, producers might not invest in Kannada films in the future. For this reason, the rate of admission for this film has been kept a little higher.”
Directed by Prem, The Villain will have Shiva Rajkumar and Sudeep sharing screen space for the first time in their careers. Amy Jackson plays the woman lead while others in the star cast include Srikanth, Mithun Chakraborty and Sruthi Hariharan. Arjun Janya has composed tunes for this flick while Girish R Gowda has cranked the camera with Prakash Irbail taking care of the editing. This big budget film has been produced by CR Manohar under his banner Tanvi – Shanvi Films.
Made in Kannada, sources say that the makers have plans to release it in other languages such as Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. According to reports, the film’s Hindi rights have already been sold for Rs 5.4 crore. We also hear that a big portion of the budget has been allocated for the graphics work.
With both Shiva Rajkumar and Sudeep being top stars in the Kannada film industry, fans are eager to catch this film on its release day. We hear from sources close to the film unit that Shiva Rajkumar’s get-up in the film would be its highlight. Also, there are some daredevil stunts that would be a feast for action movie buffs.
(Content provided by Digital Native with inputs from TNM staff)