Tamil New year makes no difference for Kollywood industry

Chennai, Apr 12 (UNI) Kollywood has been having a bad year in terms of business at the box office, and the April 14 New Year, which ushers in auspicious times for Tamil film industry, is going to make no difference, thanks to the May eight assembly elections.

The two mega stars, Kamal Hassan and Rajnikanth, whose last Tamil New Year's release 'Chandramukhi' is completing a record run of one year, have no new release, though not due to the polls, exactly.

While Kamal's latest film ''Vettayaadu, Vilayaadu'' is stuck again in a legal wrangle, this time over the finances of the film, Rajni's latest ''Shivaji'' for the prestigious AVM banner, is still to be completed. It is expected to be released on Deepavali.

Incidentally, both, especially Rajni are keeping off the elections.

With the election fever already gripping youth, who normally work for fan clubs, to put up publicity material during new releases in the districts, a few films have been put on hold due to lack of buyers. With the result that only one big release is due on April 14, from the famous AVM banner.

''Elections have nothing to do with lean releases. Only the business is down'', says the publicity manager of AVM whose film ''Tirupathi'' starring popular actor Ajith is the only big release as scheduled for the New Year.

Kamal's 'Vettayaadu Vilayaadu' was scheduled for release on April 14. But it is caught in a legal wrangle with an earlier buyer of the film moving the court seeking compensation, as the new financier for the film sold the film to another distributor in the same area. The film, however, is expected to hit the screen by the end of the month.

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