The News Minute | January 11, 2015 | 08.40 am ISTDistributors of Lingaa in Tiruchy and Thanjavur districts went on a one-day fast after claiming that any effort at getting compensation from the producer of Lingaa for losses incurred screening the movie went in vain.However, the producer of the movie, Rockline Venkatesh said that it was absurd that a movie was declared a flop on the fourth day of its release, reported Deccan Chronicle. “Had he spoken after four or five weeks of the film’s release, it would have made sense. He was trying to bring disrepute to a star like Rajinikanth sir who was so magnanimous. The Superstar said that Singaravelan was speaking thus out of frustration. ‘If the condition remains the same even after four weeks, we will sit down and come to an amicable solution’, he told me. No one asks an actor to compensate them when a film runs at a loss; yet Rajini dealt with the issue in a humanitarian way,” he had said.He also challenged Singaravelan’s claim that business to the tune of Rs. 220 crore had been done whereas the investment had been a mere Rs. 45 crore. Let him call 10 people of repute from the industry, and prove that the figure he is mentioning is correct and I will compensate those who have made losses. If not, he has to apologise in front of the entire industry and repent for what he has said about Rajinikanth and close the issue,” said the report.He said he would take legal recourse if the distributor went to court on the issue. He said if proven guilty, he is ready to give in to the demands of the distributors, who staged a fast here Saturday seeking compensation for the heavy losses incurred by them.Venkatesh told reporters here that if "proven guilty of cheating the distributors, I'm ready to accept their demands" and had no swindled or cheated them by pocketing the profits. On Thursday, distributor R. Singaravadivelan, who bought the Trichy and Thanjavur area rights of "Lingaa", moved the Madras High Court seeking permission to go on a fast along with four other distributors.Venkatesh called the fast a "publicity stunt" aimed at "tarnishing the image of Rajinikanth"."Some distributors said the film was released during the wrong time of the year. But we had announced the release date on the first day of the shooting. If they had any problems with the release date, they should've requested us to change it in the first place," he said.On allegations that the film opened to empty houses on release day in some centres, Venkatesh said: "How many of you believe that the first day shows of a Rajinikanth film will ever be empty. They have ruined the prospects of the film with these baseless statements."Venkatesh requested the distributors to stop their protestThe distributors, who observed a day-long fast, said they're only doing so to draw the "attention of Rajinikanth"."We suffered losses of over Rs.35 crore distributing 'Lingaa' across Tamil Nadu. Our efforts to get compensation from the producer failed. Hence we are observing the fast to draw the attention of Rajini and persuade him to talk to the producer and help us to overcome the losses," Singaravadivelan told IANS.In the past, Rajinikanth helped distributors overcome losses when two of his films "Baba" and "Kuselan" bombed at the box-office.With inputs from IANSTweetFollow @thenewsminute