Rajinikanth's latest release: 'Jailer' fever grips theatres, companies

From Nasdaq-listed SaaS major Freshworks to packaged drinking water brand Bisleri and NBFC Hinduja Leyland Finance - all are celebrating the release of Rajinikanth's latest movie Jailer

Offices and educational institutions have declared holidays so that people can watch the film, fans are travelling to Chennai from all over the world to watch it, and brands are rushing to cash in on the phenomenon. The phenomenon is none other than Tamil super star Rajinikanth, fondly called Thalaiva by his fans, and his latest movie, Jailer, has unleashed Rajinimania like never before.
 

Directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, Jailer, which hit the theatres on Thursday, has not only stormed the box office on the very first day of its release, but it has also got the corporate world making a beeline to leverage the Rajini fever that has gripped South India. From Nasdaq-listed SaaS major Freshworks, to packaged drinking water brand Bisleri, and non-banking financier Hinduja Leyland Finance, they are all trying to claim a bit of the mega star’s megawatt brand value.

Holiday for employees
 

When Business Standard contacted Dinesh Kumar, head of human resources (HR) and chief technology officer, Salem Survey Group, he was at Inox Cinemas in Salem in Tamil Nadu, watching the first-day-first-show of Jailer. Salem Survey is a digital land surveying company whose clients include the Indian Railways and several major realtors in the country.
 

Kumar announced a holiday for his 780 employees in Tamil Nadu so that they could go and watch the film. That’s not all. He said the company would pay for the film ticket if employees submitted the ticket receipt. “Some actors release their movies on holidays. When Rajinikanth releases a movie, even a working day becomes a holiday. We want our employees to celebrate Jailer,” Kumar said.
 

It is not just Salem Survey Group. Many other companies in South India, such as Madurai-based RO sales and services Uno Aqua Care and Hyderabad-based Daisy Food Products, also declared a holiday for their employees on Thursday.
 

Bisleri, on the other hand, has partnered with Sun Pictures and come out with limited-edition packs of its 500 ml, 1-litre, 2-litre and 5-litre bottles featuring the actor. “Bisleri and Jailer are a perfect union as the superstar Rajnikanth and the brand are legendary names. These limited-edition packs will captivate the audience and add to the excitement of the upcoming movie,” says Sembian Sivakumar, chief operating officer, Sun Network, according to a recent report.
 

SaaS firm Freshworks and its founder Girish Mathrubootham have also been celebrating the Rajini mystique. 

The company has booked 2,200 tickets in seven screens for its employees on August 20. Of course, every time a Rajini movie releases, Mathrubootham books the movie’s tickets for his employees.
 

Needless to say, Mathrubootham is a huge fan of Rajinikanth. In 2021 he gave Freshworks’ dream initial public offering (IPO) at Nasdaq the code name “Project SuperStar”, as a mark of respect to the super star, whom he describes as his “maanaseega guru (role model).”
 

Another company, Hinduja Leyland Finance, is organising a special show. There were media reports too of a family from Osaka coming to the city to watch the first-day-first-show of the film.
 

Reason for corporate interest Industry experts indicate the movie is set for new box-office records. “After two years, a Rajinikanth film is getting released in theatres. The film is all set for the biggest opening of this year among Tamil films, largely generating revenue from overseas markets and Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Karnataka. Everyone is eager to catch the craze and brand Rajini. Kabali (2016) was the biggest of all in terms of Rajini branding. From flights to cars, there were Kabali posters everywhere,” said trade analyst Manobala Vijayabalan.
 

Box-office numbers tell the story behind the enthusiasm for the Rajini genre. His last six movies –Annaatthe, Darbar, Petta, 2.0, Kaala and Kabali – collected anywhere between Rs 2,000 crore and Rs 2,500 crore, despite a couple of them not faring well at the box office. According to Vijayabalan, early estimates suggest a collection of above Rs 25 crore in Tamil Nadu, and above Rs 75 crore in worldwide box office of the first day. Actuals will vary upon evening and night show occupancy. Jailer is expected to outshine Beast (Rs. 72.67 crore) PS-2 (Rs. 61.53 crore) and Valimai (Rs. 59.48 crore) in world wide box office.
 

“So far, Jailer has sold nearly 900,000 tickets on BookMyShow, leading with its Tamil version in markets across south India, including Chennai, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Trichy, Madurai, Salem, Kochi, Trivandrum, among others,” says Ashish Saksena, chief operating officer - cinemas, BookMyShow. “Fans might be in for a treat as, alongside Rajinikanth, veteran actors Mohanlal and Jackie Shroff are also doing cameos in the film.”
 

By comparison, Sunny Deol-starrer Gadar 2 has sold 300,000 tickets, Chiranjeevi’s Bhola Shankar 70,000 tickets, and Akshay Kumar’s OMG 2 45,000 tickets.
 

“All 900 theatres in Tamil Nadu are full for the first four days, and these theatres have an average of 600 seats each. You can easily calculate the first-week collection. We are also getting good response from the audience after first-day-first-show,” says Tiruppur M Subramaniam, president, Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners’ Association.
 

Rajini’s last two movies had been leveraged well by brands like Royal Enfield, Airtel, BookMyShow, SpiceJet and Cadbury (Mondelez), which had launched national campaigns around them.
 

Notably, the recent brand fever notwithstanding, Rajini himself has endorsed only two brands through his long career since 1975. One of them was Palm Cola in the 1980s, a 100 per cent natural local cola brand of the Tamil Nadu State Palm Care and Fibre Marketing Cooperative Federation. The actor appeared in the television commercial of the brand to support the palm climbers and the regional industry. And the second was Hoote, a voice-based social media application co-founded by his daughter Soundarya Vishagan which was launched in 2021.
 

Why, you ask? In the words of Salem Survey’s Kumar, “Rajini himself is the biggest brand!”