Vijay-starrer Mersal has been hit by another controversy. This time over whether the Deepavali release had in fact made losses, despite reports claiming huge box office collections.
Actor S Ve Shekher, who is also propaganda secretary of the BJP, recently claimed that Mersal suffered a loss of Rs 60 crore. In an interview to IndiaGlitz, Shekher cites the "illogical costs" borne by the producers as one of the reasons for the loss.
He says, “I have heard that Mersal has suffered a loss of Rs 60 crore. All the issues are over. The actor has received money. The director, who received Rs 3 crore in the last film has now got Rs 13 crore. If a director gets Rs 3 crore, he should get Rs 5 crore in the next film. How did he get Rs 13 crore? There should be some reason for the expenses spent on a film.”
But it’s not just S Ve Shekher to claim that Sri Thenandal Films, the makers of Mersal, suffered losses from the movie. In a debate on News 7, Producer Suresh Kamatchi also alleged that Mersal, which the makers have claimed is a box-office hit, had made losses amounting to around Rs 50 crore.
In another debate on Makkal TV, when actor and director Praveen Gandhi was asked whether Mersal made a profit or loss, he said, “Big loss. These people are saying Mersal got Rs 100-150 crore collection and inflating their salaries. The truth is the producer has not come out in the open about his problems.” He further explained that there was a loss of Rs 20 crore as there was no control over the budget while making the film.
Incidentally, S Ve Shekher, Suresh Kamatchi and Praveen Gandhi made these statements on Mersal while reacting to the suicide of producer Ashok Kumar following alleged harassment by loan sharks.
Slamming their allegations, National Award-winning writer and producer Dhananjay Govind called the speculation over Mersal’s losses a “motivated campaign”.
Wondering how each of them arrived at their individual loss figures, Dhananjay tweeted, calling their statements exaggerated.
Shocked to read such exaggerated statements that #Mersal incurred huge loss. Looks like a motivated campaign. When the Producer is not talking about it, how come others are quoting such figures? On what basis? My calculation is it's a profitable film. Truth may be out soon https://t.co/wPPHhFi1Rw
— Dhananjayan Govind (@Dhananjayang) November 29, 2017
My view is #Mersal has earned the biggest share to all distributors, exhibitors, theatre owners, vendors & everyone involved. So, it can't be a loss to the Producer. Let the Producer declare the numbers. Others should stop speculating & quote illogical numbers as loss
— Dhananjayan Govind (@Dhananjayang) November 29, 2017
Speaking to TNM, Dhananjay Govind says, “The producer has not come up with any loss figure. Are they (S Ve Shekher, Suresh and Praveen) aware of budget, revenue and economics? They all have different figures, how did they come up with this?”
Noting that the film had garnered huge box-office collections both at home and overseas, Dhananjay says that the producer may be facing a “temporary lull”.
“The money may not have come to the producer from the theatres because of GST. Theatres usually send collections only after 30 days for a film," he says.
Reiterating that this was a motivated campaign against actor Vijay, Dhananjay also says that speculation over losses incurred by the film is “scaring the industry”. The writer adds, “Communication over the figures should come from the producer. But Hema Rukmini (producer) has already said she is willing to work with Vijay, so where is the problem?”
Meanwhile, S Ve Shekher reacted to Dhananjay on Twitter, stating that cinema is nothing but a gamble these days.
If the producer openly says he earned a biggest fortune in this movie we are all happy. According to the profit GST also paid to our govt. nowadays Cinima is nothing but GAMBLING. Let’s accept the truth. No speculation on the other side also. Wait till March 31st 2018. https://t.co/F1pCBAOibT
— S.VE.SHEKHER (@SVESHEKHER) November 29, 2017
Directed by Atlee, Mersal starring Vijay, Kajal Aggarwal, Samantha, Nithya Menen and SJ Suryah released on October 18. India Today reported on November 8 that Mersal had earned Rs 220 crore in box-office collections worldwide, with Rs 150 crore coming from India.
According to IB Times, the film earned over Rs 14 crore in Chennai, making it the second highest grossing film in the city after SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali 2.
Soon after its release, Mersal courted controversy for some of the dialogues in the film, which took a dig at the BJP-led Centre’s policies such as GST and Digital India.