Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Boycott 'Sivaji'

This is unheard of. Tickets are being sold for 16$ in the Bay Area and for over 20$ in other cities in the US.

This is a big ripoff. Just for the distributors to make money and for the big guys who are paid in Crores or several lakhs.


Should we encourage this trend ? I am planning to Boycott 'Sivaji' and watch it on DVD when it comes out.

Hello AVM/Shankar/Rajini and Co. - This is one reason why piracy is so rampant. Just for you guys to make money if the theaters charge us so much, why won't people go and watch it free on the NET?

You've lost 4 tickets from my family. I'll wait for the 20$ DVD to comeout.

24 comments:

Unknown said...

this is like legalizing black tickets in USA !!

next thing you know, Rajni movie opening day tickets will sell for 100 bucks on ebay...

will wait for the dvd or wait for price to drop to the 5$ tuesday show.

Anonymous said...

Inna Narayanan sir didn't expect u to justify Piracy. Just like we teach our children not to steal, Piracy is wrong no matter what the other person is doing.

Regarding the ticket rates, its market - supply and demand. As long as demand is there - people are going to set such outrageous rates. Same goes for oil, or hybrid cars. When are u going to boycott oil ??

Anonymous said...

Good for you two. I think I will do the same, though all the hype and pressure(to see by friends) had shaken my previous decision to not see. I guess now we know how they had planned to make back the money. I shall boycott. Hmmm...hold on, I am not a Rajni fan. Watched Padayappa 2 years after release and Chandramukhi 6 months after...didn't go near Baba. All other films are a maze in my head, barring Thalapathy, Baadsah and Annamalai.

Narayanans,
How many people do you think will be able to hold back like you two?:-) Hmm...vitta thamizhar USA-la Rajni-kku kovil kattinaalum aacharyam illa(sigh)...


-kajan

Cogito said...

Its purely a question of demand and supply.Happens everyday all around you in every other sector.

Its neither a rip-off nor is it unethical.

narayanan said...

I agree with the 1st anon here. peak time'la flight ticket jasthiya vikkudhunu neenga oorukku pogama iruppeengala ?

priority differs. sivaji for some, the money saved for some.

Balaji S Rajan said...

No problem. I do not go to theatre. So DVD varattum parthukalam.

gP said...

support you sar. Its true, blackmarket prices will be hiked up. Any Kamal or Rajni movie here automatically cost 3 to 4 bucks extra. Ill just wait for the DVD...thats a legal buy, atleast it trickles down to the store owners. Watching in cinema is like giving money to boss only. It doesnt trickle down to anyone. BoxOffice ticketer paid peanuts, distribution company pay 2 mill minimum per country and get back a few hundred % profit and keeps it. In the end, Sivaji, just like Chandramukhi and baba would have made money and profit even before it is released. Pity.

Anonymous said...

I defenitly agree with you on this one Narayanan sir, it is way too costly, what the hell are they thinking???? I can just watch it online anytime, anyday I want from the luxury of my Home, i don't have to spend money for gas and drive to crowded theater or pay extremely overpriced tickets for whole family, rather I can simply go to the internet on my laptop and connect the laptop to the TV, and simply go to Tamil Movie Websites and click a button and enjoy without paying a penny.

Anonymous said...

If it is good , then I will watch it again on DVD once it comes out on DVD until then I will watch it on internet .screw those guys, they are allready very rich.

Balaji said...

just curious... what did u pay for the rahman concert tickets?? more than $16 i'm sure. can't u hear the same songs on CD?? u went because u thot it was worth that money. You didnt see any non-rehman fans say it was too expensive and ask others to boycott it. so please give the same respect to people who pay to watch this. they go for the experience, they think its worth the money and they buy their tickets. don't use this as an excuse for piracy :)

Unknown said...

I am with you on this. Increasing the ticket price by 25% is something, but in this case it is increased 100%. May be Shankar did not budget right, or Rajini asked too much or the distributor is really greedy or the distributor is too skeptic that the movie wont run for long! Whatever the reason, I think everyone is cashing in on Rajini mania and the ticket price hike is a bad precedent.
Viswa

Anonymous said...

I don't think Narayanan is justifying privacy. He is just giving one reason why it is rampant. I agree with that whole heartedly. I have been in the will-wait-for-DVD list for almost half a decade now.

Narayanan Venkitu said...

Thanks for all your comments

First off- I am not justifying piracy in any way here. I merely pointed out why piracy happens.

==

Balaji - The movie Reviewer asked me why I went to ARR concert - Let me tell him this - I don't know what the price was the last time ARR came here, this was my first ARR concert, but if the price goes up by 100% the next time...heck even by 50%..I'll definitely Boycott it..and even write about it.

--
So, if this trend continues, the next film ( if Sivaji becomes a blockbuster) will be priced at 30$!

--

Demand Supply - IMHO if the tickets were released in EBAY for demand supply to take over, we'll know the true picture.

Again - Thanks all of you. I still believe, that the best lesson to teach these guys is to wait for the DVD.!

Anonymous said...

Ramesh,
DVD mattum $20 ku kidaikkumnu eppidi nambara?

Vichu

narayanan said...

IMHO if the tickets were released in EBAY for demand supply to take over, we'll know the true picture.

It would sell more than what it is now. Gmail invites panathuku vitha idam dhaane adhu.

but if the price goes up by 100% the next time...heck even by 50%

If % increase was your only concern, then it hasnt changed much. I've seen Baba (for 15$ in Chicago) and Chandramukhi (for 14$ in Atlanta). So selling in CA for 16$ is no big surprise.

Kartik Kannan said...

15$ is daylight robbery. Thanks for your comments on my Blog sir.

Regards

Kartik Kannan

Anonymous said...

narayan, I saw your comments here and on Balaji's blog:

1. First of all it is YOUR decision to go to the movie or not.Maybe if enough fans dont decide to go the first few days, probably the ticket prices will come down.

2. Prices have been cut down by more than half in TN. So AVM is probably trying to make as much money from overseas markets. Not that the price hike needs any justification but just FYI

3. This wont start a trend. If they continue charging $20 for Ajith and Vijay films and if few show up, they will be forced to cut down on their prices

4. Regarding your argument that "flight ticket price adhigam'ngradhunaala ooru pogaama iruppeengala?" The answer is no. And though I feel sick about it I cant do anything about it. I HAVE paid high prices for flights especially when booking at last minute and during peak seasons like December, when going to India. Thats how it works.

and thats how this works too. You have to blame the craze of the fans in the end. Because thats what is being exploited upon here. I cant fault AVM or the theater owners. They are trying to see a big budget film overseas with reduced ticket prices in TN. If enough fans dont turn up then prices will go down.

(Though this avasaram for a movie cannot be compared to that of a flight ticket avasaram)

5. And if Piracy happens to be thriving because of it, so be it. Maybe that would actually help bring the prices down. People will always find a cheaper alternative. If enough of them decide to watch it on DVDs next time there wont be a hike like this.

Munimma said...

Watching it on dvd doesn't necessarily equate to piracy. I prefer waiting for the original dvds most of the time anyway, rather than watch some out-of-focus-bad-sound-pirated-copy.

Shouldn't ticket prices be fixed/regulated?

narayanan said...

vijay,
how much is that "reduced price tickets" in TN ? i have been hearing 200Rs prices in Hosur. one company in Bangalore has booked an entire show in Innovative for 68K (240 tickets). The scanned copy of the receipt is making rounds as email forward too.

You have to blame the craze of the fans in the end. Because thats what is being exploited upon here.

Exactly!

Anonymous said...

Viva la piracy!!!!!!!!!!!
yeahhhhhhh

Anonymous said...

Rich Getting Richer
Poor Getting Poorer
(according to someone)

That said, while I will avoid the movie while tickets are $16, I dont think there is no injustice in it. Nobody is coercing us.

If you feel its worth, watch it. If not, dont.

\Peace.

Anonymous said...

Shut up... If you want to watch the movie then go watch it. Don't whine. All the dwag here is to make money.

Suresh said...

I paid $16 for the movie and I find it fully justified as the moment I landed in the US I went for my favorite star Kamal's movie (VV) for which I paid $15. So I assumed that this is the price for Tamil movies in US (obv Hindi tkts are little cheaper and English is cheapest). Compared to VV, Sivaji is a much more hyped movie cos of Rajni, Shankar and Rahman's presence and so I feel the $1 increase is justified(for me atleast.. dont know how much you ppl generally pay for Tamil movies). And that too I paid $15 for VV in TX and $16 for Sivaji in CA. Big diff in pricings for other items between the two states and so $1 was pretty acceptable.

Anonymous said...

In Toronto , Canada the tickets were real cheap , only 9.95 Canadian dollars on the day of release (June 16). Only in U.S and Europe are tickets expensive. (It was 20 Euro in Germany!)