Lingaa

<p>In the small village of Solaiyur, the is a symbol of hope and prosperity for the villagers. However, the corrupt MP Nagabooshan wants to destroy the dam and build a new one to get millions from the construction contract. When a dedicated dam inspector refuses to report it as unfit, Nagabooshan kills the inspector. In his dying moments, the inspector manages to hide a pen drive with the inspection report in an abandoned temple and warns the village head, Karunakara, to open the temple. Karunakara firmly believes that only the descendant of Raja Lingeswaran, the noble builder of the dam, can open the temple. Thus, he sets out on a mission to find his descendants. Lakshmi, Karunakara’s granddaughter and a journalist, takes up the responsibility to locate the descendant. Lakshmi’s search leads her to Lingaa, a witty and cunning thief; he hates his grandfather for having left his family penniless. Lingaa initially refuses to get involved, but he’s trapped by Lakshmi to accompany her to Solaiyur. To his surprise, the villagers welcome Lingaa with great joy and celebration. Karunakara reveals a secret about the temple’s – it is made of an extremely valuable emerald stone. Tempted by the wealth it holds, Lingaa hatches a plan to steal it. However, his scheme is thwarted when he is caught by a diligent security guard. In a stroke of quick thinking, Lingaa pretends to perform a religious to deceive the villagers. Karunakara reveals the true history of Raja Lingeswaran, A government officer, a freedom fighter and his man start getting killed in a train. Afterwards giving the warning to them, Lingeswaran who valiantly fought against the British to build the dam for the benefit of Solaiyur. The British collector talks about sending Raja Lingeswaran to the palace under any situation. Due to the British greed, Lingeswaran was falsely accused after completing the dam and banished from the village. Mani Bharathi, who is in love with Raja Lingeswaran and is involved in dam construction. When the villagers found out the truth, they tried to bring Lingeswaran home, but he refused, saying he was satisfied that his work on the dam would last forever. Karunakara’s father vowed that until Lingeswaran returned to the village, the temple Lingeswaran built would be closed; Karunakara kept the promise. Knowing the truth about his grandfather, Lingaa decides to mend his ways, and agrees to help Karunakara save the dam. Nagabooshan tries to carry out his plan by bribing another inspector, but Lingaa, Karunakara, and Lakshmi stand in the way. Lingaa reveals the pen drive the previous inspector hid in the temple, having found it when he broke in. Nagabooshan tries to erase the file, but Lingaa’s cohorts have already published it online to ensure the report doesn’t disappear. Lingaa also reveals Nagabooshan’s plans, having suspected him and had Lakshmi get proof; Nagabooshan is exposed, causing his downfall. Now desperate, Nagabooshan kidnaps Lakshmi and takes off in a hot air balloon rigged with a bomb to destroy the dam. Lingaa manages to get on the balloon and kick Nagabooshan out, killing him. He also kicks the bomb into the , saving the dam from destruction. Lingaa prepares to leave the village, wanting to become respectable like his grandfather. However, the police catch up with him, intending to arrest him for his past crimes. In a surprising twist, the police let him go due to his heroic actions. Lakshmi joins Lingaa, and they set off on a new chapter. The script as well as screenplay for were penned by , who had registered the story with the South Indian Film Writers’ Association under the title in 2010. The story is loosely based on who built . Eros International was confirmed to distribute the film worldwide. was announced as producer. was roped in as the music composer for the film and as the cinematographer. was confirmed to handle the art direction for the film. Samjith Mhd, who had worked with Ravikumar earlier in (2013), was confirmed as the film’s editor. Hollywood stuntman Lee Whittaker was recruited to frame the stunt sequences. During the audio launch of the film’s soundtrack album, Ravikumar said the title was suggested to him by Rajinikanth. Director earlier had the rights to the title for his next project but handed over the rights to Ravikumar for Rajinikanth. In April 2014, and were selected to play the role of Lakshmi and Bharathi. But later both of them were replaced due to date issues. was considered to play Bharathi but her unavailability lead to casting in the role of Bharatahi. Then came out of the project due to her Telugu projects. In late April 2014, Telugu actor confirmed on his Yahoo messenger and his Yahoo mail that he was signed on for a role in the film. was reported to have refused an important role in the film, but he however denied being approached for the film in the first place. Further, reports circulated again in August 2014 which strongly suggested Sudeep was a part of the cast as he was seen during the canning of the climax portions but he clarified that he wasn’t offered a role in the film yet. Comedian joined the team in May 2014. Actors , and were called up to play important roles in the film. British actress Lauren J. Irwin was selected to appear in the portions of the film. American actor, director and writer William Orendorff was selected to play a key role in the film and furthermore, confirming his involvement in the project through Twitter. was roped as another heroine and she joined the unit on 27 June 2014 (last schedule). Sonakshi Sinha, in an interview with , said that there are two different tracks of filming scenes, and that Anushka Shetty and her will not share much screen space and was given liberty to pick up the role she felt suitable for her. In June 2014, actor was selected to play a supporting role. Actor was selected to play a secondary antagonist role. Director and comedian confirmed that he would appear in a small yet significant role as a train driver. Comedian was selected to portray the role of a police officer. Actresses and were rumored to perform an , but the latter’s inclusion remained unconfirmed and the former denied the news saying that she was never approached. commenced on 1 May 2014 in , Karnataka, India, with a customary . Rajinikanth and Sonakshi Sinha took part in the shoot. The of the movie was filmed in May 2014 at the in Mysuru. Cinematographer R. Rathnavelu revealed that filming would be done using a . In addition to this, the camera was used for filming action sequences. The film crew shot in various locations in Karnataka like , Manuvana, , and inside the residential portion of . On 10 May 2014, Sonakshi had completed her portions for the first schedule of the film’s shooting. On 18 May 2014, Rajinikanth and Sonakshi Sinha shot some scenes dating back to the in front of the illuminated residential portion of the palace. Horses were used for the shot. Over 50 policemen and 30 bouncers had been deployed to prevent people from getting near the shooting area in Mysore. The team then moved to , for a two-month schedule, where sequences featuring the entire cast were shot for 50 days. A song sequence featuring Rajinikanth and Anushka was shot at , wherein the production team had designed a huge set for the song. On 13 July 2014, actress Sonakshi Sinha completed her filming schedule in Hyderabad. The Hyderabad schedule ended on 30 July 2014. During the Hyderabad schedule of the film, news circulated that Rajinikanth fainted on the sets while filming a heavy action sequence but Ravikumar denied this, citing that the actor was healthy. In early August 2014, the team shot some scenes near the in , with Anushka Shetty in the frame. In mid-August 2014, the production unit confirmed that 80% of the filming was completed. Filming then moved to and the , where some important scenes were canned for twenty-five days. For the film’s climax, a big statue of and dam both as set were constructed next to the Jog water-falls. Shooting also took place at the . The film’s climax requirements accounted for (US$120,000). In September 2014, the climax portion’s filming was allotted ten days, confirming the shoot in Karnataka. On 22 September 2014, Whittaker confirmed that the climax portions of the film were completed with a stunt sequence choreographed by him. The film’s shooting was wrapped up by 23 September 2014 except filming of two song sequences that were reported to be canned in Chennai and . Ravikumar stated that the climax scene, which involved a , was inspired by a sequence (1986). During the Hyderabad schedule of the film, some villagers of village in district in had tried to halt the shooting of , stating that some chemicals were mixed in the nearby lake during shoots, polluting local water. But the crew members stated that they had sought the permission of the irrigation department and the village Panchayat for shooting. The crew members also dismissed allegations of chemicals in the lake. During the shooting of the climax portions near the , environmental organisations opposed the permission granted to the production unit for shooting, suggesting a threat to the location as public entry to the dam was prohibited. The organisations also had sent a petition to both the Deputy Collector’s office and the Deputy Commissioner’s office, who in turn, sent the petition to the , , for scrutinity. Regarding the same issue, officials of the also sent a letter to the Chief Minister asking him to end the shooting of the portions of the film there, citing that the bio-diversity and life in and around the dam would be affected. The elephants featured in the film were constructed through CGI, and a disclaimer was issued for this at the beginning of the film. The soundtrack album consisting of five songs, were composed by . The album of the original version was released on 5 November 2014, at a promotional event held at , with , and the cast and crew attending the event, except Rahman where he spoke in a video about the making of the film. The Telugu version was released on 8 November 2014, at a curtain raiser, event held at , where and attended as the chief guest. The Hindi version was released on 26 November 2014. The motion poster of the film was released on , on 29 August 2014. The first poster featured Rajinikanth walking with a temple being shown in the poster’s backdrop. The official teaser was released on 22 October 2014, coinciding with . The trailer was released on 5 November 2014 at the audio launch of the film. A 40-second song teaser of “Mona Gasolina” featuring Rajinikanth and Anushka Shetty was released on 7 November 2014. Another 40-second song teaser1 was released on 8 November 2014 of the song “En Mannavva” featuring Rajinikanth and Sonakshi Sinha. While the original duration of the film lasts about 175 minutes, the makers trimmed the original version from 166 minutes, and the Hindi version was reduced to 148 minutes, due to mixed reviews. The makers unveiled few deleted scenes from the film post-release. had bought the film from for approximately (US$16 million), which includes theatrical, overseas distribution and music rights for all languages. The film was cleared by the on 24 November 2014. Lingaa was released worldwide on 12 December 2014, which coincided with ‘s birthday, and it is the first time in Rajinikanth’s career, to have his film released on his birthday. The reservations for the film kickstarted on 10 December 2014. The film was released on an estimated 5500 screens. The satellite rights of the film were purchased by for (US$3.8 million). earned (US$2.6 million) in India and grossed (US$4.4 million) worldwide on the opening day. It earned (US$6.1 million) nett in India and grossed (US$11 million) worldwide in 3 days. M Suganth of gave 2.5 out of 5 and wrote, “The scale of the production, some of Santhanam’s one-liners and the charisma of Rajinikanth somewhat make it bearable but they aren’t enough.” rated 3 out of 5 and felt that ” is buffoonery at its most old-school”. called “a mixed bag. The star charisma of Rajinikanth is intact but the film is long with a weak storyline that flounders with a long drawn out climax.” said ” offers nothing new despite being one of Rajinikanth’s better works in the recent past.” also rated it 3 out of 5, commenting “Because two Rajinikanths are always better than one”. On 2 November 2014, the bench’s Justice M. Venugopal ordered a notice to producer ‘Rockline’ Venkatesh, script writer Pon Kumaran and director K.S. Ravikumar on account of accusations by the film maker K.R. Ravi Rathinam of the colony who claimed that script of was actually the one he had written for directing a film titled based on the construction of the by . Further, actor Rajinikanth who wasn’t involved in the film script larceny was issued notice as he had distribution rights for the film. However, Justice M. Venugopal refused to pass any interim orders to hold audio release that is scheduled on 5 November 2014. On 3 December 2014, the court dismissed a writ petition filed by Ravi Rathinam. Justice Venugopal claimed the dispute to be private and it could have been solved only by initiating civil or criminal proceedings and not by invoking the jurisdiction of the High Court. The film’s worldwide distribution rights were sold for (US$16 million). The distributors of Tamil Nadu suffered large losses and asked for their money back. A distributor under the banner Marina stated that it suffered losses in and areas and submitted a petition to go on a hunger strike. Vijayabhargavi Entertainers stated that they suffered losses in region. Capricorn Pictures incurred losses in North Arcot and South Arcot (Cuddalore-Villupuram) circles. Sukra Films and Chandrakala Movies lost money in and – respectively. The distributors claimed that after 25 days of its release, recovered only 30 percent of the down payment. Some theatre owners received settlements for their losses. later refunded one-third of the (US$3.9 million) loss reportedly incurred by distributors and exhibitors. He decided to pay them (US$1.2 million) ‘on a humanitarian basis’, who demanded a full refund and had threatened a ‘begging protest’ in front of the actor’s residence.</p>