Rajni’s old films to be re-released!

Distributors are scrambling to snap up as many movies of the superstar as they can

Now that Rajnikanth’s magnum opus ‘Sivaji - The Boss’ is a huge hit, distributors are falling over each other trying to get hold of his old movies. Some smart distributors — in a bid to make most of the Rajni fever — are planning to re-release them.

For instance, his Hindi films like ‘Gireftaar’, ‘Andha Kanoon’ and ‘Hum’ are most likely to be re-released in theatres shortly. Says distributor Pankaj Jaisinghani, “Yes, it is true that a lot of distributors are clamouring to get hold of the rights of Rajnikanth’s old Hindi films. They realise that he is a star who brings in huge profits and even his old films will run. With Rajnikanth anything is possible. He is one actor who has such a tremendous following in spite of him never making any pretence to hide his age or anything. It is amazing to see how much his fans adore him.”

In fact, even most of Rajni’s South Indian movies are also in the process of being re-released. Dilip Shah of Aryan Productions in Chennai has bought the rights of ‘Annamalai’, an old Rajnikanth movie in Tamil. He is also planning to buy the rights of three more Rajni movies.

“All distributors have realised the potential of Rajni movies and are trying their best to acquire the rights of as many Rajni movies as possible. Most of his movies were made under the ‘AVM’ banner and distributors are trying to bag them. They are all planning to dub them in Hindi and re-release them. Even his black and white movies are being sought after. Everybody is frantically searching for Rajni movies. It’s a huge craze now,” he says.

It is ironical that at a time when most Bollywood heroes are finding it difficult to find distributors for their brand new films, those very distributors are busy digging up Rajni’s old movies! Just more proof of the man’s incredible appeal.