Rajini's 'Coolie' gets ‘A' rating: Will ‘A' certificate hurt superstar film's box office potential?

Time of India

14 hours ago

P Dinesh Kumar, an exhibitor in Madurai, admits that an A certificate will 'surely affect the family audience from seeing this movie with kids', but adds that for a Rajinikanth film, the censor certificate will not affect the film — if it's good.
Superstar Rajinikanth
's upcoming Coolie getting the 'A' rating has come as both a surprise and a shock to both people within the industry and fans. While so far, 20 of Rajini's films have been rated 'A', the last Superstar film to be released with an 'A' certificate was 36 years ago — Siva (1989).
Coolie's director Lokesh Kanagaraj is known for making violent action thrillers like Kaithi , Vikram , and Leo . In a recent interview to Galatta Plus , when asked if he had made any compromise in violence because the film stars
Rajinikanth
, he had remarked, 'No compromise; it's going to be a violent film. The film will have all the emotions that can be triggered in a family audience. But at the same time, I didn't want to lose my grip when it comes to the film.
I didn't want to do a PG13 film.'
Here's how an 'A'-certified film can affect the revenue of theatres
'A Rajinikanth or a Vijay film has a large audience because of the family crowd they draw. If you take a family of four with two kids, an 'A'-certified film ends up losing not two but four tickets. If the film gets a good report, then the film will perform very well and compensate collection-wise for this segment of the audience not coming in. So, while theatres might not face a revenue loss through the tickets not being sold, they will be hit primarily with the revenue they get from food and beverages sale and parking, as it is families — compared to the youth — who spend more on them,' explains Venkatramanan, an industry insider.
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Slim chances Slim chances for UA certificate: for UA certificate: Film's PR Film's PR
Since the makers have officially announced that officially announced that that the film has been rated 'A', there are slim chances of them going back to the censors for a back to the censors for a 'UA' certificate.
-Riaz Ahmed, PR for the film
'Brand Rajini can pull in the crowd'
Meanwhile, following the announcement, fans and the trade have been requesting the makers on social media to also release a 'UA' version along with the 'A'-rated one, given the Superstar's huge following among family audiences and kids.
Interestingly, the actor's Jailer , which was rated UA, had invited criticism for the violence in it! Producer Elred Kumar, who has made films like Viduthalai and Ko , tweeted, 'Big disappointment for all Thalaivar fans Getting A certificate for Coolie is shocking,' and requested the makers to 'At least go for a UA+16 recensor.
Don't disappoint @rajinikanth sir's world wide fans. (sic)' But producer and distributor G Dhananjayan feels that an 'A' certificate 'isn't a deterrent for box office success these days'.
'Take, for instance, Dhanush's Raayan . The film did approximately ₹150 crore despite being an A-certified film, filled with a lot of violence. And in the north, Animal was a phenomenon, even though ticket prices are way higher there compared to Tamil Nadu. Over here, we have Tamil films that have earned ₹600 crore with a 'UA' certification. So, if a film is fantastic, it will do huge numbers riding solely on the youth itself,' he shares.
P Dinesh Kumar, an exhibitor in Madurai, admits that an A certificate will 'surely affect the family audience from seeing this movie with kids', but adds that for a Rajinikanth film, the censor certificate will not affect the film — if it's good. 'Irrespective of the certificate, the name Rajinikanth has the power to pull the crowd,' he states.